[aim120]

Originally Posted by anupmathur

What you say is not correct. In a smaller room the temperature will not come down; you are equating this cooler with the principle that air conditioners work on.
And, further, if this same cooler is mounted in a window it will manage to bring the temperature down by at least another 3 to 5°C.
With a large (3X3X5½ feet) cooler mounted correctly in a window my entire home, including bathrooms and kitchen, (approx 1700 SqFt) is at 21 to 24°C with RH in Delhi these days at 7 to 14% and ambient at 42°C. Hard to beat with ACs.
The performance of an air cooler depends on the RH - the lower the RH the better the cooling. The ambient temperature is not important; it will manage to cool the house the same even with ambient of 50°C.

I am just saying what I observed practically.
The temperature near the vents are 21°C ,so if you put a air cooler (with dimension of 60" x 26" x 22" and advertised for 550sq feet ) in a small room with proper ventilation,then you can easily see those temperatures that I am talking about.If you close the windows and doors or both and switch it On ,you will start to feel uncomfortable .The key to get good temperature is ventilation,the sheer volume of air being displaced itself will absorb some of the heat and fact that its chilled due to water,one can easily get 25 to 26°C.

Also as the humidity increases like in night ,there will be lower temperature drop more like 1 to 2° c.

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by aim120

I am just saying what I observed practically.
The temperature near the vents are 21°C ,...

No sir, those are the temperatures anywhere in the room (in my case). With coolers there is never a great difference between the temperature at the outlet grill and well inside a room because of the sheer volume of air being thrown out from the cooler. Again, it is AC behaviour you are comparing coolers to!

[aim120]

Originally Posted by anupmathur

No sir, those are the temperatures anywhere in the room (in my case). With coolers there is never a great difference between the temperature at the outlet grill and well inside a room because of the sheer volume of air being thrown out from the cooler. Again, it is AC behaviour you are comparing coolers to!

Well in bangalore,when I try to cool a area of 400+ SQ FT (with the ceiling temperature at 37°C to 40°C) I get about 29°C but the same air cooler if I put it in a smaller room I see a temperature of 26°C.
FYI the surface temperature on the roof is 60°C.

May be your roof as a floor above and you have a very low humidity.
Just out of curiosity do have the make and model number of your air cooler or at least the fan size

[anupmathur]

Originally Posted by aim120

....
May be your roof as a floor above and you have a very low humidity.
Just out of curiosity do have the make and model number of your air cooler or at least the fan size

You are getting close! It has nothing to do with whether or not there is a room on top (which, by the way, we do not have) but entirely to do with relative humidity!
Our cooler is just one of the many that are 'unbranded' and sold in Delhi by small timers. The fan size is 24 inches. It is a GE Alstom 920 rpm fan (15 years of age) and I run it at about 500 rpm via a 600 Watts dimmer (no, the fan does not consume anywhere CLOSE to that kind of wattage). Believe me, there is an art in setting up AND operating a cooler the correct way.
No cooler that is kept WITHIN a room can ever ever hope to deliver what a properly mounted cooler is capable of!

[aim120]

Wow 24" fan is huge compared to mine which has a 17" blade.

But you have to understand that the air cooler needs to defeat the temperature rise from the hot Sun which is constantly heating till sunset.If your cooler as enough air displacement it could maintain a low temperature.In my case a 17" fan can only maintain 29°C but in a smaller room it does a better job at 26°C.

So, yes it does matter if one has a room above the ceiling .

[heydj]

Originally Posted by Samurai

Bangalore is basically roasting me and family this summer. Since I am in a rental home, don't want to install expensive AC.

So I looking for air cooler instead. People are suggesting I buy local air cooler than a branded one. But, how does one buy a local air cooler, does Bangalore even have that option?

In Delhi there are AC rental shops, don't you have that option in Banglore?

[WindRide]

Coolers makes NO sense in Bangalore with humidity levels around 50%

[aim120]

Humidty in night or a cloudy day can be high but during day it can be less then 20 percent.

[anupmathur]

And indeed a cooler will work well even at 20% and still feel good up to RH levels at 30 or a tad higher. But at RH 50% it is time to switch to an AC.

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by adithya.kp

I dont know about the local coolers. I have been using http://www.amazon.in/Symphony-Diet-1.../dp/B00IYD419Q and found it very good. Its good enough for 2/3 people. Btw you get better deals in brick and mortar stores.

I might also have to buy an air cooler in next 12-14 hours. This model was in mind, as I read good positive reviews. How ever the nearest shop only has Orient and Butterfly models available. Do you have any information about them?

[csnanjappa]

Voltas has some good models for air cooler and they have their dedicated show rooms .

[sachinpk]

Originally Posted by sachinpk

How ever the nearest shop only has Orient and Butterfly models available. Do you have any information about them?

Bought the bare minimum feature model of Orient for Rs.6800/-. As has been the case with me always, the moment I made the purchase it started raining heavily . Tried out the air cooler later in the evening, and I must say it did bring down the temperature quite well. One thing I noticed is that the cooler's fan seems to be powerful enough to force air circulation in the room (much better than the ceiling fan). Let us see how the coming days go, and I shall give another update.

PS: I purchased the cooler from a small shop in the suburbs of Bangalore. That chap said he has sold around 300-450 units in the last couple of months alone. He had Symphony air coolers. All sold out quickly and the company now saying that they cannot replenish the stock faster. People were even willing to pay Rs.2000 extra if the A/C could be installed the very same day (of purchase).

[KD007]

From the scorching heat to the little flash of rain, the summer will still continue for a while - Wifey insisted on cooler and i was not interested in creating one more equipment which will add to the baggage of life so finally went ahead with renting from www.rentsher.com . it arrives on 3rd May and i do hope by then we will have a cooler bangalore so there will be no need

The prices are 1200 for a month + 300 for delivery. They also have daily/weekly rentals. there are several other online places for rental too. i went with rentsher since the owner is somewhere in my complex. I have no interest in the company and neither do i know the owner

[lurker]

the best air cooler, is the desert cooler. the best desert cooler is the one made with wooden shavings and small submersible pump. This setup works best when humidity is around 40%. The wooden shavings are replaceable and need to be replaced every season. They are quite cheap. But these wooden shavings retains most water and thus provide the coolest and driest air throw. The market made readymade air coolers come with polymer and plastic and maybe rexine or some artificial kind of system which simply does not work as well as the wooden shavings system.

Some thing like this is what I was referring to



something like this can also suffice if there are space constraints.

[abhi3284]

I recently purchased this Kenstar Cooler last month from an Electronics Shop in Pune. It has a 50 Ltr. Water Tank Capacity so frequent water refilling is not needed.
It also has the Wood wool Pads and not the newer Honeycomb Pads. It has Wood wool Pads on 3 Sides. Read that each has its own Pros and Cons.

However, i feel the Water Cooler Placement is not ideal. It's back is to the wall. After some time, it starts throwing humid air. It is mostly used during the night time while sleeping, so a bit risky to have the windows or balcony door open while sleeping.
Any suggestions ?