If you ask any older relative of yours if they have heard about evaporative coolers, many of the answers may be no. However, the idea behind the evaporative technology can be easily seen by the older generations. How?
Well, before the era of air conditioning, people slept outside on a screened in porch in order to stay cool at night. Hanging up damp sheets over their screens was a common attempt to cool the air, as the hot air cooled off as it passed the street.
Well, the same idea as this one today exists in a form of evaporative cooler. If you ever wondered what is an evaporative cooler, it is a machine with a wonderful cooling mechanism for people who live in hot areas with dry climates. Commonly known as swamp coolers, these evaporative coolers can also be misleading because they do not work at all in swampy or humid conditions (check efficiency chart).
Before you buy an evaporative cooler, you need to know how it works. Instead of the common belief that evaporative coolers actually add some humidity to the air, the truth is opposite – hey need dry and hot air in order to work. Why? Well, in order for the air to be cooled, it must be able to pick up or evaporate some of the water. In a case where the air is already saturated, picking up water and cooling it down would never happen.

Composed of a fan that pulls the hot dry air inside of the cooler, the evaporative cooler then passes the air through the damp pads. The pads are kept damp by a pump which has water in constant circulation. Therefore, the dry air picks some of the water, drops its temperature a few degrees and blows the cooler air into the room. Another great thing with the evaporative coolers are the pads that not only cool the air – but also filter it. As the air passes by, substances like dirt, dust or allergens and other pollutants are always captured inside the fibers of the pads. This results with not only cooler, but also cleaner air in your room.

If you are in doubts of whether or not to invest in a evaporative air cooler and have asked yourself 100 times the question: ‘Why should I buy an evaporative air cooler?’, you should know that if you are living in a low-humidity area, an evaporative cooler can provide an energy efficient and natural method of cooling.
Being a better choice compared to the famous air conditioning or ‘refrigerated cooling’, which uses a tremendous amount of energy which shows up on the electricity bill with higher price, evaporative cooling is tied with low maintenance and incredibly filtered air. Another major benefit is the low cost in installation as well as the cost effectiveness of having an evaporative cooling system.
If you suffer from health problems, or breathing problems, an evaporative cooling system may be the perfect choice for you. Not only it will provide you with constant and fresh air- it will also escape the common practice of air conditioning units – re-circulation of the same air over and over again.