Do you have an ugly evaporative cooler? If so, I’ve found a solution to making it look great! One minute you have an ugly old calcium laden gigantic metal structure sticking out of your roof or taking up some important living space in your back yard and the next minute – it’s all beautiful!
I dreamed of this day. The day my ugly evap cooler would look good. Well, that day has arrived. And, I’d like to share with you how I did it.
But, first let’s discuss evaporative coolers … what are they? How do they work? Why would anyone have one?
Well, evaporative coolers are very popular here in Central Australia; Alice Springs to be exact. Virtually every older house has at least one. You see them in all different kinds of places on the home. It seems the most popular spot is on the roof.
Apparently, someone years ago discovered the concept by hanging a wet towel in front of a fan. The cooling effect from this setup can be quite refreshing especially in a dry climate area like Alice Springs. Next thing you know someone decided to capitalize on this concept and the evaporative cooler was born. They started popping up everywhere.
Evaporative coolers work pretty well as long as you have a dry heat. The minute the humidity level starts to rise, these cooling devices lose their effectiveness. And, as the name suggests – evap cooler – they provide absolutely no heating relief. In other words, during the freezing cold Alice Springs winter nights, the evaporative cooler is useless.
I suppose a newly installed evaporative cooler looks ok … not sure because I’ve never seen a new one. But, after a few years, they can start to look awful. Especially when they acquire the distinct calcium stains from the water here in Alice Springs – not a good look. And, if the bleed off pipe empties into your roof gutter system, you can count on more ugly looking calcium stains on your gutter.
So, how do you go about making this big ugly metal calcium stained monster look good?
Well, here’s how. It’s one simple step as follows:
GET RID OF IT!
That’s right. Get it off your property.
And, replace it with a reverse cycle air-conditioning system.
I’m in the process of taking this step now at one of my rental properties here in Alice Springs. There are two evaporative coolers – one for the ground floor; one for the upstairs – so I’m getting rid of two of these ugly eye sores and replacing with reverse cycle air-conditioning.
And, I had to get a bit creative as the downstairs evap cooler sat on a brickwork structure. Now, by removing the cooler, I’m left with the brick structure and a 600 by 600 mm hole on top where the cooler blew the air under the home and up through floor vents. Why this design, I can’t tell you.
My problem – what do I do to cover this gaping hole?
Solution: Put a decking cap on the top and make it a feature!
This morning, my handyman Kim and I, rolled up our sleeves and came up with this nifty solution as shown in the photograph above.
And, that’s how you make the ugly evap cooler problem go away – get rid of it and then make any remnants left behind into a feature.
Can’t wait to apply this solution to my other rental properties here in Alice Springs!