Evaporative cooler start up-What do I need to know?

[zulu01]

Our new house has an evap cooler and I know squat about them. What do I need to do to get this thing up and running for the summer? Do they require periodic maintenance during the summer?

[Circuits]

Clean the basin, or at least make sure it's clean. Inspect the aspen wool or synthetic padding, you don't want excess dirt, certainly not old mold, and want to make sure it forms a fairly tight seal around all sides of the swamper. Some bugs will still be able to crawl in, but you don't want it wide open or having visible gaps.

If the system has a pre-soak (pump-only) setting you can invoke for a few minutes before firing up the fan motor on low or high, that can help improve cooling, but if not, it'll just blow hotter for the first few minutes, and may blow dusty those first few dry minutes, as well.

It is also possible, with a separate pump control to run it as a house-fan only (non-evaporative mode).

Keep the filter mesh or filter box around the base of the water pump clean.

Check and clear bugs from the basin every two weeks or month to keep the freshest, best-smelling water and prevent contamination of the pads. In very dusty climates, the basin may get choked with sediment at the bottom, and performance will be best if you have a way to flush that stuff out. I use a small squeegee to clean up sediment in mine out the drain hole two or three times a season.

[TFOGGER]

Yeah, pretty much what Circuits said, with the addition of :

Check the belt, replace if cracked or worn

Lube the motor shaft bearings and blower cage bearings

Inspect the blower cage for loose or broken blades

Make sure the water nozzles for the pads aren't blocked by mineral deposits

[Circuits]

Yeah, pretty much what Circuits said, with the addition of :

Check the belt, replace if cracked or worn

Lube the motor shaft bearings and blower cage bearings

Inspect the blower cage for loose or broken blades

Make sure the water nozzles for the pads aren't blocked by mineral deposits

Yeah, what he said, too! :)

Squealy motor easily fixed by oiling the bearings - they've got little spring-loaded reservoir caps you can get to with an oil can. I forget about them until the blower gets noisy.

[SideShow Bob]

You can also get the solid blocks of water freshener to put in the basin pan. They help keep away the mildew smell of swamp coolers.

[zulu01]

What's the best local source for Aspen media pads near Arvada? Home Depot lists them on their site but none of the local stores stock them.

[TFOGGER]

The Home Depot out by me (Tower and I-70) stocks the aspen pads. If they don't have your size, it's pretty easy to buy a bigger one and cut it down to size.