I love my swamp cooler. Short of the entire body rusting through, there’s only 3 things that can break down. The fan motor ($90, 20 yrs), the water pump ($30, 3 yrs) and the fan belt ($5.70, 8 yrs). Guess which one I had to replace today? Yeah, last night I noticed that the fan was blowing the same amount of air on both high and low. I got out of the Chevron right around 8 tonight, looked up at the sky and thought “yeah, I have enough time to check out what’s wrong with the cooler.” So I climbed up on the roof, popped out the side and looked at the belt. Hmm, little cracked. Not good. Held the motor wheel tight and pulled on the fan wheel – it turned. Not good either. Oh, and I got the old belt off without loosening any of the bolts. Another bad sign, but convenient for repairs. Got to Home Depot and back, and had it installed before the sun went down. Yeah! Went into the house, turned the fan on low and checked the air flow. ‘Bout the same. Clicked it on to high, checked again and was quite happy about the result. Actual, full fledged normal high air flow. I’m gonna sleep great tonight.
8 comments:
Don't forget that plastic tubing leading from the water source to the cooler's reservoir. It's pretty cheap stuff, but when it splits, it's gotta be fixed pronto.
Fortunately for me, my cooler's on the side of the house and the water source is from the washing machine in the unfinished room right below it. This means that when I have water problems (the auto shut off getting corroded and not working or the tubing splitting), the water either runs onto the patio or down the floor drain -- not onto my roof, which is good.
And I don't have to climb on the roof to check my cooler. :)
That's why I built that whole porch on the back of my house - for easy access to the swamp cooler. So even though I am walking up onto the roof, it's no scarier than if it were at ground level. I was renting my front room to a roofer the year I installed the cooler, and he did some cool stuff such as having all the water lines inside and having a drain hose that comes out under the eves so it doesn't drain down the roof.
Oh, that's nice.
My evil neighbors have a really long chunk of that plastic tubing in big coils dangling from their cooler to their hose tap in the backyard and waving around in the wind all the time. Plus, it leaks a stream; I can see it.
Have to love the evil neighbors and their redneckedness. But I have to admit, I took their lead with the linoleum on the roof of my porch and it seems to be working great. But I am putting decking over it so you can't see it.
Word verification: iMist
I don't know what it is, but I bet Apple makes it. (Maybe it's the testing facility for waterproof iPods. And, by the way, you should read my post today.)
They didn't put in the linoleum on the roof; it was done years and years ago before they moved in -- before I moved in, I think.
Glad it's working. Glad I came up with something that helped you. And I'm glad linoleum's relatively inexpensive.
iMist - the new fragrance from Apple Computers. Smells like burning circuits.
.
And of course I read your post. I always do - well, not all the ones about books, but I do at least skim them.
That's what I get for assuming. Either way, I do appreciate the tip - the linoleum is working great. And it's really inexpensive if you don't care what it looks like. I bought the 'scraps' that other people didn't want for about half the normal price. Sure they don't match, and some are pretty ugly (fake alligator skin linoleum?) but they were big enough to fit where I needed them.
Post a Comment