A zero-cost solution for the most common air cooler problem this summer

Summer is approaching and now most of the people in India plugs in their air coolers which is the cheapest and more efficient cooling solution. The initial cost of buying and even running cost is comparatively very less than that of an Air conditioner. Many people complaints that their air cooler is not cooling the room effectively. Even these complaints will be there with new air coolers too. Most of them think that the problem is with the machine, but in around 90% of cases, it's not !! 

Be it a symphony, bajaj, cello, Crompton ......or anything, the problem is just with the placement and ventilation provided in the room. If we can solve this problem then your cooler works at its best. Let's discuss a zero-cost solution for the most common air cooler problem this summer. 

First, let's see in brief how a simple air cooler works.

A simple air cooler will have the following major components

1. A Blower/ Fan
2. A Small Water Pump
3. Cooling pads made of grass/ cellulose/ special synthetic material
4. Outer body with electrical connections

When you switch on an air cooler, relatively hot air around the room is gets sucked into the cooler through the back right and left sides of the cooler. The water pump will make the cooling pads on both sides of the cooler wet by sprinkling the water on the same. The hot air then passes through these wet pads transfers its heat energy to the water droplets. Water after absorbing this heat gets evaporated and makes the air cooler. The evaporated water gets added into the air as humidity and the blower will throw this cool air into the room.

The key point to note in this process is the amount of cooling depends on how effective water is getting evaporated. Suppose if already the air is humid then no more it accepts new addition of water into it and evaporation doesn't take place. This results in no cooling or low cooling effect. That's the reason air coolers perform low at places where the air is more humid like coastal areas and all.

A similar problem will be experienced by many of the people where they will place the cooler in a room which is closed from all the sides and doesn't have sufficient ventilation. In this case, in the first few minutes water gets evaporated due to heat in the air and makes air saturated and since the same air is again recirculated due to lack of ventilation, then in the next circulation time air won't have any further capacity to take water and no evaporation takes place. Due to this, no cooling takes place and hence just the same hot air is blown again inside the room. This creates discomfort and feels even sticky. This is not the problem with the cooler at all and can be solved by providing simple cross ventilation to it.

Cross Ventilation Technique :

Cross ventilation is nothing but providing two openings in a room one just to take air in and then the other to exhaust it out. Typically, this is a wind-driven effect in which air is drawn into the building on the high-pressure windward side and is drawn out of the building on the low-pressure side. And the air cooler should be placed in such a way that it can easily suck in the fresh air and exhaust the air after cooling the room. If cross ventilation is provided to an air cooler then recirculation of air won't happen and every time when fresh air is taken it can have the capacity to evaporate more water and cools the room. Once the room gets cooled then the air will be exhausted out through another opening like window or door provided and avoids humidity saturation. 

This easy way doesn't require any investment or repair work and hence can provide effective cooling with the same air cooler you have. Try it out and get chilleddd !!!