[LVAllen]

Over the past several years, I've been using a window-mounted swamp cooler to take advantage of March-May temperatures and save money on AC during the summer. We've moved a few times in the interim. First, we were in a two story ~1900 sq. ft. We had the cooler on the first floor, and in order for the air to flow upstairs, it had to navigate a relatively tight stairwell into an enclosed hallway. The upstairs was noticeably warmer, despite my best efforts to direct the airflow upwards. As a result, we tended to kick on the AC more frequently.

Then we moved into a single story, with all the bedrooms on one side of the house. Overall, it was bigger, but we could easily close off rooms we didn't need or want to cool. We mounted it in the master bedroom, and froze ourselves out until late July. It was glorious.

Now we're in a 2 story home, much larger than the first. The floorplan is considerably more open (half-wall balcony, open staircase), but I think I want to invest in a second cooler. My question is whether we should put both on the first floor (and thus force the combined mass of cool air up, venting the hot air out the attic/windows) or whether I should position one on the bottom floor, one on the second floor. Maintenance would definitely be easier with both on the first floor, I'm just wondering if the cooling would suffer.

[ScoopLV]

Two coolers, and an attic fan for draw. That's what works best for me. I have a half-wall balcony as well. Our music room is a big empty space, but we still need two coolers during July and August.

EDIT -- We rarely have both coolers going simultaneously. When we're asleep, we have just the upstairs cooler blowing directly into our room (and out the attic). When we're up and about, we're almost never upstairs -- unless we want to shoot some pool. But the attic fan is still key to proper circulation and just proper evaporation.

If I was stuck living here permanently, I would build a proper riad and never worry about this again.

[braindead0]

We have a swamp cooler in our 2 story house, second floor. Cools the first floor (and the garage even) just fine, the key with swamp coolers is that you have to open windows to direct the flow of cool air. If I open the side door in the garage, and the door to the house I get a ton of nice cool air coming into the garage. Likewise my wife can open/close her studio as she sees fits to control the temperature there.

A second one would be necessary if the capacity of the first isn't sufficient.

I would recommend installing what you have on the first floor and seeing if it'll keep up. Adjust window openings in rooms to control the air flow to cool where you want it the most.

[OmegaSupreme]

Originally Posted by LVAllen

...

Did you figure this out op?

I have a swamp cooler downstairs, but master bedroom is upstairs and struggles to keep cool

I was considering an attic fan, but the room faces south, so not sure it will be effective... That and I don't really understand how attic fans work

[lvmensch]

Originally Posted by OmegaSupreme

Did you figure this out op?

I have a swamp cooler downstairs, but master bedroom is upstairs and struggles to keep cool

I was considering an attic fan, but the room faces south, so not sure it will be effective... That and I don't really understand how attic fans work

Scoop has a grill or opening into the attic and simply pumps the whole house out through the attic. So you have the swamp cooler pumping air in and the attic fan sucking it out. If you move enough air you can get 20 degrees or so of cooling.

The name of the game in evaporative cooling is moving enough air. Saw a house in the NW of 3500 SF that simply had two big swamp coolers in the family room that could blow the entire home. That place had built in vents in each outer room that could be closed to control the flow without using the windows.

[OmegaSupreme]

Originally Posted by lvmensch

Scoop has a grill or opening into the attic and simply pumps the whole house out through the attic. So you have the swamp cooler pumping air in and the attic fan sucking it out. If you move enough air you can get 20 degrees or so of cooling.

The name of the game in evaporative cooling is moving enough air. Saw a house in the NW of 3500 SF that simply had two big swamp coolers in the family room that could blow the entire home. That place had built in vents in each outer room that could be closed to control the flow without using the windows.

Yeah I messaged scoop, I know he doesn't post on here anymore

I need those vents. My house is only 1600sqft, but the swamp cooler needs some help getting to the master bedroom (facing south), ideally a vent in the ceiling that exhausts air towards the north side

[lvmensch]

Originally Posted by OmegaSupreme

Yeah I messaged scoop, I know he doesn't post on here anymore

I need those vents. My house is only 1600sqft, but the swamp cooler needs some help getting to the master bedroom (facing south), ideally a vent in the ceiling that exhausts air towards the north side

Direction faced is not an issue. Just open the windows. If you have enough air flow it will work fine.

Vents are a convenience thing. They don't generally work as well as open windows.

Close off all the other exits. You can even put an exhaust fan in the bedroom window blowing out.

[OmegaSupreme]

Originally Posted by lvmensch

Direction faced is not an issue. Just open the windows. If you have enough air flow it will work fine.

Vents are a convenience thing. They don't generally work as well as open windows.

Close off all the other exits. You can even put an exhaust fan in the bedroom window blowing out.

That's what I'm looking at. I might just build a frame for a 20" box fan with wood and some insulation foam board

That, and I may move the cooler upstairs or buy another one, but two may just be overkill for such a small house

[LVAllen]

Originally Posted by OmegaSupreme

Did you figure this out op?

I have a swamp cooler downstairs, but master bedroom is upstairs and struggles to keep cool

I was considering an attic fan, but the room faces south, so not sure it will be effective... That and I don't really understand how attic fans work

My current setup is still one cooler downstairs. In the hallway upstairs, I've positioned a large fan. That helps the air move to the bedrooms and out the windows (and up through the attic hatches). Installing a second cooler proved difficult, because the 2nd floor windows are located above an aluminum patio cover, thus the only access would be from the interior.

[OmegaSupreme]

Originally Posted by LVAllen

My current setup is still one cooler downstairs. In the hallway upstairs, I've positioned a large fan. That helps the air move to the bedrooms and out the windows (and up through the attic hatches). Installing a second cooler proved difficult, because the 2nd floor windows are located above an aluminum patio cover, thus the only access would be from the interior.

thanks, this is what I'm trying now. I have a box fan just outside the master pushing air in, seems to be help a lot