Evaporater cooler vs Air Con

Hello everyone, summer is on the door atep and I am thinking to put a split system AirCon and got couple of quotes. 1 tradie supported 7.1kw AC over 5 -better cooling , less breakdown etc. And anither one recommends Evaporater cooler because of the size of the property (4/2/2 with 2 living)-according to him it's not gonna make any difference if I install 7.1 or 5 split AC due to the huge area and if install Evaporater cooler with 7 outlets , the house will stay cool and less electricity charges.

In the other hand my PM provides the feedback that not many tenants like Evaporater cooler and the top range is around $10K too expensive.

As a rough guide 7.1kw air con ia coasting me around $3K and Evaporater cooler with 7 outlets is coasting ne around $4K (all prices are supply and install).

Can anyone provide any insights who is actually using any of the above. I am looking for something reliable but not too expensive as I can't increase rent more than the market to recoop the money.

Thanks in advance.

 

Not really sure in melb but in Perth and Adelaide I think it'd be fine. Some of my places have them. I think it depends on the type of heat too... Dry heat vs humid heat it'll perform differently.

Main downside is that it cools only and doesn't do heating whereas the splits do heating as well.

If you're going to pay that sorta outlay, may as well get a ducted system that heats and cools, or get splits in the main parts of the house.

 

• What's the location of the property?
• 
  
• Does the property have insulation?
• Swamp boxes don't work well in nsw coastal areas for to high humidity
• What is the norm for the area?
• Will the AC be ducted or just in an open plan area? Borrowed cooling for bedrooms?

 

Hi Guys,

Property is in Melb (WV) and it already have ducted heating not sure why the vedor never put the cooling.

Tradies did mention that Evaporater coolers are not in NSW but in Melb it works.

But I am not interested to spend $10K (top range). Can you recommend anyone to give quote and advise the best option?!

I do believe in Melb things fet done bit alow than Sydney. May be people are more relaxed lol but frustrating at times....

 

We rented a property with an evap cooler here in Canberra, I hated it! Completely useless when the temps get much over 30degrees. We have a much bigger house now and put in ducted reverse cycle aircon - huge improvement! Our energy bills are much lower here than the much smaller rental property as well so go figure (rental property was eeo6 and this house is supposed to be eeo1 but is cooler and warmer so I don’t understand the ratings).

 

Evap need dry hot weather and all windows open for it to work, it is no good if you have extreme temperature as evap works on temperature difference between the outside and inside

Aircon is better at cooling the room if it really hot as it compresses air with door and window close
and keep the cool compressed air in.

7.1K aircon wont be able cool a whole house, maybe a large living area, you look at 10-14Kw with multiple outlets if you want to cool the whole house

 

I live in Vic and have evap.

Just installed a split system (7.1kw) in the living room and love it.

Will prob need a smaller one for the bedroom, but it works sooooo much better.

The good guys often have a 20% off sale on eBay, that's where I got mine from.

The purchase price was 1699 - 20%.

Install depends on if it's back to back etc, but I think you are getting ripped at 3k unless there is something unique

 

Doesn’t get much hotter or dryer than here in summer - gets over 40. With open windows evap was at best really just moving around hot air. Go for aircon if you can.

 

Air conditioners do not compress air, they compress gas (coolant), the compressed gas is cold & lives in a sealed system, warm air goes through a heat exchanger (radiator) filled with coolant. Air loses it's heat to the radiator (coolant warms up), cool air is blown out into the room.

A swamp box sucks hot outside air through wet filters and blows it at high velocity into the rooms. The moist sit lands on your skin (& everything else) and cools by evaporation

 

We use our ducted evaporative cooler in fan only mode to "heat" the house late afternoon in early spring and late autumn when the outside temperature is warmer than inside and inside isn't quite warm enough. It is actually very effective in bringing the whole house temperature up for far lower cost than our split systems would to achieve the same effect.

The same principle in reverse goes for pre-cooling the house in early summer on cool mornings, giving the split systems a head start of a couple of degrees cooler by the time we use them later in the day.

In short, evaporative and split air conditioner systems can be used to complement each other and reduce overall energy consumption for the year.

 

I have always used Evaporatove in Melbourne and use ColbyCool. Very reliable, affordable and great service.

If you need extra boost (which I don’t) you can plug in a split system.

I find over 36 degreees the evap does struggle but only on repeat days (when the house never gets a chance to cool down).

Personally this isn’t an issue as I go to the beach/shops etc.

 

Thanks everyone for your contribution.

To be accurate the quote is for $3707 MITSUBISHI ELECTRIC INVERTER 7.1KW COOL / 8.1KW HEAT including wall bracket this top quality, medium quality is kelvinator unit for $3400.

These quotes has been arranged my my PM as I live in NSW and property is in Victoria so i am unable to take any advantage of ebay sales.

I do not want to install split air con +evap cooler ($4400 quote using inline quite service).

After reading your replies my decision is still pending. Melb foes have very hot days and if evap struggle after 36 temp and tenants complain then I am doomed and if 7.1 split isn't strong and 14kw is not an option to consider then I am doomed.

 

It's about 33 degrees here today - I have a love/hate relationship with our evaporative.

Today, it's lovely inside and definitely cooler inside than out. However on really hot days we need to leave it running allllllll day to make a dent in the inside temperature - which uses power that we wouldn't need to use if we had refrigerated.

I would still take a house with ducted evaporative cooling over one with a single split A/C or none at all. It's only the odd days or stupidly humid days that it's not great - but those are few and far between and at least for the ones like today my whole house is comfortable rather than one room out of a large house.

 

AC uses a compressor and a much larger motor/s compared to a swampy. Swamped have a minimal running cost look up in your local Bunnies - lots of Evans no air cond.

 

I go with either MHI (Mit Heavy Industries) or Panasonic brand
Panasonic seems to be the one to go for this year or the year before
MHI is not the same as ME though they share the same name, different manufacturing altogether

 

Swampys may have minimal electrical running costs, but water costs are something that should be considered and are often significant in comparison. eg. during last summer on a 35C day outside, 24C inside with our swampy on mid fan speed setting in evap mode, it used 5 cents in electricity for the hour and 17 cents of water. ie. electricity was only 1/4 the total running cost.

Now that I have decent insulation in my house, I can run one of my split systems under the same conditions for maybe double the electricity cost of evap but no water cost at all, so overall it is half the cost of evap to run. It is even cheaper when considered that when it is hot like this, it is usually sunny so with solar panels in use the electricity cost is negligible.

 

They are called evap coolers for a reason. They arent a refrigeration system which is what a AC is.

Its like asking if a heater is better than a blanket

 

It will depend on the climate. Dry heat is good for evaporative but not so with humid heat as it leaves a coating of moisture everywhere. Combined with ceiling fans it can work really well.

Evaporitives are cheap to run and if maintained seem to go for a long time.

If cost is not an issue and you arent environmentally conscious then refrigerated wins the day.

 

Gee PM's really annoy me!

New Mitsubishi - MSZ-GL71VGD - 7.1kW/8kW RC Inverter Split System from Bing Lee | eBay

Shows this unit as $1999 (This is not a super eBay special, just a walk-in price - so you could haggle even). I could find 10 installers at the drop of a hat that would do the install for 6-800.

I'll make this very short for you, splits are heaps better than evap, and your PM is not working in your best interests.

We are actually having a few hot days in Melbourne atm, and I can not believe how much better my split is doing over the evap (which is no longer being used)

 

Got another quote :-

7 point evap:$4200
Refrig:$9500
5kw split:$2500
7kw split:$2900 (panasonuc or fuji) but if I want top of the range daiken then $3400


I have also contacted colbycool recommended by @GetRIDof5CENTpiece , let's see.