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Air Conditioning help

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Savante

Savante

The Ruler's Back
Okay, so my apartment last year had central air, and we ended up spending too much on our bills because it's hot on campus, but mostly because we would keep the air on, and since at least one of us was almost always there, we had bills over 100 bucks.

This year, no central air, which I figured was fine because there was a ceiling fan, and I have a nice big ass fan I bought at Walmart that works fine. Or worked, anyway...

Anyway, the ceiling fan sucks in that it's connected to the light, so I can't have it on while I'm trying to sleep, and my big fan is about to kick the bucket. It gets jammed all the time, so at 5:00 in the morning I'll wake up to it stuck, and boom, I'm hot again.

So, I've got money now (a little bit) and I'm wanting to invest in AC. Unfortunately, I can't have it in the window (it doesn't open, just the screens), so I have to look into portable AC. Now, from my research I've done, portable AC units seem to cost at least a couple of hundred bucks, but I came across something called an "Evaporative Cooler". Apparently, the idea is that you put a bunch of water (up to a few gallons) in this thing, and it evaporates it into the air, killing the humidity and cooling the place down. However, I have heard less than nothing about these things and don't want to make an uninformed purchase.

Can anyone offer advice? Are these "Evaporative Coolers" as good as regular AC? I have a very small room (my guess is probably about 150 - 200 square feet) and as such, I think this would be fine, but I was curiousif anyone had heard anything.

Thanks in advance.
 
I am not going to be much help but the evaporative coolers really start to lose their efficiency as the humidty rises. They call them swamp coolers and a lot of the less expensive homes out west use them. They have low humidity so the units work and are less costly than A/C.

If the air has high humidity the cooler will be less able to evaporate which is actually a method of heat tranfer. I would have to look in my old thermodynamics and heat transfer books but I believe that is the theory.
 
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EVAPs are mostly for states like AZ and the like.
I just installed a window AC unit in my apt yesterday.
Was a pain in the butt, as the window slid sideways instead of opening up and down.
So I had to put some plywood above it.
One of my buddies just got this big, robot looking AC unit that has a tube you just run to the window to vent outside, works great.
 
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If you have to have AC I can't help you, other than to say, if it's your house get rid of the screen and get a window unit, until you can afford a central air install.

As for the ceiling fan only working with the light on. If it works on a wall switch, then there should be two pull switches on the fan itself. One for the light, and one for the fan. Assuming that you already knew that much, and it still doesn't work, then it is probably wired incorrectly. If you rent, then get your landlord to send maintenance out, and fix it. If it's your own house, you can find instructions for just about anything at http://doityourself.com/ . They have information on just about every home improvement project imaginable.
 
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I spent a couple of summers in Utah during summer break of college. Swamp coolers were all over the place out there... they really did work well... As stated I doubt it would work unless you are in an area with little to no humidity...
 
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Well, I'm here in Columbus, and the humidity isn't too bad but it's 50%, so too high for the "swamp cooler", which sucks. The website of the company says it works well in conditions under 50%, but Columbus is in the 80's, so it ain't gonna work. I get tired of the fan because for me to be comfortable, it needs to be blowing on me, which makes it hard to sleep (especially if I roll around).

I appreciate everyone's help. I don't know what I'm going to do, it's quite the dilemma. :( I'd love to buy an AC unit, but the big issue is this -- I need a shade over my window so that the light doesn't get in, because there's a light on the building right next to me that's on at night and it's really fucking bright. So it looks like I'm stuck with fans.

Thanks for the advice, it's much appreciated.
 
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Yeah, but I'm not sure I can really remove the screen, as I live in an apartment. If I can, I'll probably get some cardboard and put it in myself, although I can't promise I'd be able to it (I'm not inclined to installing things!)

Thanks again, guys.

Edit: Is http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0007XSMZK/qid=1118084689/sr=8-1/ref=pd_csp_1/103-9722321-3830226?v=glance&s=home-garden&n=507846 the same thing as the Evaporative Coolers? It looks like it's just a fan. I'm just curious about all this stuff.
 
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