Anyone have experience with Evaporative Coolers?

[General of Darkness]

My house is 1600 sq ft and the central air system is a POS, and I don't feel like coughing up $3K for a new one so I was thinking of an evaporative cooler like this instead.

http://www.air-n-water.com/product/MMB10.html

[hoarder]

Swamp coolers work well in areas of very low humidity, but the hazards of black mold increase with humidity.

[Saul Mine]

Swamp coolers work OK in areas of very low humidity. Not "well". They are not going to pull the temp down anywhere near 72 degrees. You can be sort of comfortable, but you will need at leas FOUR blowers for a house that size. Expect dampness inside, depending on humidity outside. Replacing pads every season is only a slight nuisance, but forgetting to replace them is a worse nuisance.

You know what? Three grand is actually a good price for a much better system. You'll never be sorry!

[iOWNme]

Also keeping the calcium buildup from the water off of everything. You need to try and keep the pump, pads, water lines as clean as possible. I use CLR on the ones at work and it keeps them pretty damn clean.

CLR = http://www.google.com/products?q=CLR&oe=utf-8&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=EsB1TKX-DIi6sQOQuPSgDQ&sa=X&oi=product_result_group&ct=title&resnum=3&ved=0CEYQrQQwAg

Like hoarder said, humidity is everything. If you live a dry area in the summertime, you should be good to go.....

I have one on my house, but have never used it. It is mounted right next to my A/C, and then piped into the main duct system. Maybe i should try it out to save some damn money....LOL These A/C bills are killing me. Our local provider (SRP) just had another price increase....Imagine that! Government monopoly ending in me getting raped!

[Phoenix]

Swamp coolers in SoCal won't do much for you. They're the poor man's AC. Upgrade the central AC or get a couple of removable window AC units.

[General of Darkness]

Thanks for the advice guys, I guess I'll just deal with the heat for now. Today it was 104, and on Saturday it's suppose to be 75, go figure. ???