Iwata Evaporative Aircon

[ramibel]

Good evening tsikoteers. Tanong ko lang sana kung mayroon sa inyong gumagamit ng evaporative aircon (Iwata et al)? Those so-called swamp coolers.
We're planning to get one to supplement our regular aircon and save on electricity bills. I just have some questions. Narinig ko na they might damage wooden furniture because of all the humidity they release? Is this true? Anybody out there using one long enough to notice? Thanks in advance for any replies.

[Horsepower]

If you wanna improve your AC's perf, make sure you've insulated well the area it's cooling.

as for the humid/wood effect, I didn't notice any so far in 10yrs we've had air coolers.

[ghosthunter]

Good evening tsikoteers. Tanong ko lang sana kung mayroon sa inyong gumagamit ng evaporative aircon (Iwata et al)? Those so-called swamp coolers.
We're planning to get one to supplement our regular aircon and save on electricity bills. I just have some questions. Narinig ko na they might damage wooden furniture because of all the humidity they release? Is this true? Anybody out there using one long enough to notice? Thanks in advance for any replies.

I used to have one when I had a pc rental shop. Humidity control is vital if you are planning to use one of these. I suggest installing an exhaust fan to vent out the inside air if it gets too humid. As long as you maintain humidity to a comfortable level, your wood furniture should be okay. The Philippines is already a humid place anyway.

Also make sure your aircon's drain is working 100% and the A/C evaporator fins are clean. The water vapor coming from the Iwata cooler will turn to ice on the evaporator fins quickly if it's dirty.

[OldSchoolHack]

..... Narinig ko na they might damage wooden furniture because of all the humidity they release? Is this true? Anybody out there using one long enough to notice? Thanks in advance for any replies.

Yes they will. Understand the Iwata cooler is designed to make a small space colder by increasing humidity and driving cold humid air to lower temp. An airconditioner does the opposite. It causes the humidity to lower (hence that dry feeling effect in an airconditioned room).

In thermodynamics you can only remove heat by transferring it somewhere, with an airconditioner the refrigerant running in the evaporator coils with a lower superheating property absorbs the heat and this is carried out to the condenser (yung sa likod ng window type aircon) and is blown out. Sa Iwata yung lower temperature air with a higher humidity is mixed in your room to lower the room temperature. As you see the heat inside your room raises the temperature of the colder humid air from the Iwata. And the Iwata will keep on pumping humid air into your room.

What this means is when an airconditioner and an Iwata is cooling the same room, natural mag lalabanan yung dalawa. The aircon keeps lowering your humidity and the Iwata keeps raising it. This means heavier loads for your aircon.

If you insist on using an Iwata try this solution. Use a timer set an airconditioner to cool a room for a specific number of hours. After that set the aircon to fan and turn the Iwata on. Since fan na lang ang aircon the humid air will not be an additional power load. As long as the Iwata blows far from the aircon (otherwise short circuited yung air flow) this would be workable.

[OldSchoolHack]

If you wanna improve your AC's perf, make sure you've insulated well the area it's cooling.

as for the humid/wood effect, I didn't notice any so far in 10yrs we've had air coolers.

Tama yan. Insulate the area being cooled (look at a refrigerator and you get the idea) to increase aircon effectivity. Static electricity na lang ang issue.

However the effects of a humidifier on equipment will not be seen immediately. Siguro sa wood di mo agad mapapansin lalo na pag hardwood yung furniture. Kahit decades halos wala effect. Pero sa electronic devices tataas ang corrosion at malamang shortened life ng mga gamit mo.

[ghosthunter]

The evaporative aircon is probably best used when you have the room open or at least there are two points open to the environment. You set the Iwata unit at one openning so it would blow cool air into the room and the other openning (window or door or exhaust fan) will let room air out.

Don't expect the evaporative aircon unit to be as cold as your traditional A/C unit though. Just expect a 5 to 8 degree drop in temperature from ambient. Enough to make it more bearable than the forecasted 32C to 35C temperatures for the summer.

[ghosthunter]

Pero sa electronic devices tataas ang corrosion at malamang shortened life ng mga gamit mo.

Maybe I was lucky but I didn't notice this with my computer rental shop. It was a concern that using an evaporative cooler would cause corrosion in my PC units but controlling the relative humidity by venting out the room air via exhaust fan was an effective measure.

One time, I forgot to switch on the exhaust fan, the air inside the shop became "heavy" after a few minutes. I didn't notice it at first because it was gradual. After that, it became SOP to only use the cooler unit in conjunction either with the A/C unit or exhaust fan to control room humidity.

[chua_riwap]

I have one but a different brand. Nilalagyan pa namin ng yelo yung tubig, para lumamig pa ng konti. Pero wala rin. Yung mga kids ko nga, lumalapit pa ng konti sa unit, para ma-feel nila yung lamig na lumalabas........

Pero nakakatulong din kahit pa'pano.

[ramibel]

I guess the best recourse is to just use the evaporative aircon like an electric fan (at least, malamig yung hangin) at hindi sila pagsabayin nung regular aircon. Salamat sa mga nag-reply.