Evaporative cooling
- Cheapest to run
- Constant fresh air
- Suits dry heat
- Whole-house coverage
How it works
Draws outside air through wet pads and pushes it through the house with the windows open.
An evaporative cooler sits on the roof. A fan draws hot outside air through filter pads kept wet by a pump, the water evaporates and takes heat out of the air, and the cooled air is pushed down through ducting into the house. Because it is pushing air in, a window or door has to be open a little in each room to let it out again.
There is no refrigerant and no compressor, which is why it costs so little to run: a fan and a small pump. It also means the air is fresh rather than recirculated, which some households strongly prefer.
Why Perth
Evaporation cools best when the air is dry, and Perth summers are dry most of the time. That is why the system is so common here and so rare on the east coast. On the handful of humid days each summer it loses ground, and the fan-only mode is what you use until the air dries out again.
Straight up
What it does well, and where it falls down
For
- The cheapest of the three to run, by a wide margin
- Whole-house coverage from one unit
- Constant fresh air rather than recirculated air
- Simple mechanically, so repairs are usually straightforward
- Suits Perth’s dry heat
Against
- Does not heat
- Loses ground on humid days
- Windows must be open, which is a security and noise trade-off for some
- Needs an annual clean and flush without fail
- Uses water
The Perth homes it suits
- Homes in the drier inland, northern and eastern suburbs
- Larger houses where refrigerated running costs would bite
- Households that like the windows open and the air moving
- Sheds, workshops and warehouses
- Homes with a separate heating solution for winter
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