Evap Cooling. Please Help!

[oohsam]

Hey all.
My wife and I have decided to get evap cooling in our home b4 summer hits as its BOILING in our house.

I have recived about 9 quotes and they are all round the same price ($4500).
My problem is I dont know what to get. Every installer slags off the other brands and claims they do it better and the brouchers are biased (as you'd expect) and I can find no websites that compare the units.

I research everything I do to a fine T but Im having alot of trouble. Im very confused.
The brands we are looking at

breezair (i feel they are overpriced)
cool breeze (my favourite)
Braemar (dont really know much)
Bonaire (not too sure about this)

If you have one of these units or know anything about the systems could you please help point me in the right direction. The guy who is selling me the cool breeze came to my home, offered great service, explained everything and the system comes with all the bells and whistles, and was the only installer who listened to me, hence why i like that system the best so far. They also have a 10 year warranty, and to me, that says something about the company if they are preared to back themselves for 10 years.

Im very confused and would like some advice. Thanks guys/gals.
Sam.

[Honorary Bloke]

I think I'd go with the one seeming to offer best service. Evap cooling is not rocket science--basically a fan blowing across water. So . . . robust fan, non-rusting case, dependable float device. Looks like the service aspect might be the most important.

[thatirwinfella]

make sure they have a service/repair technician available in your area, not just an installation guy. it's no good having a 10 year warranty and a whizzbang evap. cooler, when during the 6 hottest weeks of summer and you're waiting for a bloke to repair it under warranty.

do you realise that evap coolers use heap of water and must periodically dump it to prevent disease? i'd recommend as a green offset, investigating a way of using the water with in the rest of your house, flushing toilet, watering garden etc. it shouldn't be too difficult to return the water to your garden, particulalry if your gutter is connected to a water tank... the cooler generally just drains into the gutter.

[Border boy]

Hi Oosham,
I did a lot of research into swampy systems last year. I was very impressed with the Breezair units & like yourself was quoted about $4500 to instal. The Breezair units have a drum type fan which I believe to be a fair bit quieter than a normal fan. At the time I could'nt afford that much & bought a second hand Brivis unit on ebay. This had a normal type fan & really it is not that loud, especially on 40 dregree days.I put new bearings in the motor, new float valve & cleaned it up. Ordered all the ducting & vents & insalled it myself for under $2000. Dunno if I would do that again as I did the install mid summer - bloody hot. Works great though!!
I'm with 'Bloke re service etc.If you feel that the cool air guy seemed to offer a good deal, then I'd go with him. There's not much to a swampy & not a lot to go wrong with them. Most have water dump features to ensure water purity but I think that it is a bit of a paranoid overkill. Just chuck a small bit of domestos or household bleach in the water reservoir every now & then & all will be good - drain & rinse at the end of summer & all is well.
Stay cool!!

[oohsam]

Geez thanks heaps fellas.
I have a water tank that is hooked up to the toilets. The evap system is being connected close to it and the water will be routed to it to fill it up during summer.

I have been doing alot of research and have found that the most popular and reliable units are the Brivis units. They offer great warranty and they are locally made. THey are the same price also. I will be getting a brivis unit. I have heard about the drum fans,but the noise does not really bother me, I just wanna be cool.

I'll make sure to keep the domestos handy : )

[Tools]

I have recived about 9 quotes and they are all round the same price ($4500).

9 quotes??????? And people wonder why tradies charge like they do, when at least 8 of these guys have absolutely wasted their time.

Tools

[Honorary Bloke]

9 quotes??????? And people wonder why tradies charge like they do, when at least 8 of these guys have absolutely wasted their time.

Tools

Well, how would you have it? Most likely didn't go on site. Marketing (including quoting) is a cost of doing business. If he gets only two, at least one wasted his time. But if he got bad quotes from some, they were wasting HIS time.

A good tradie would have asked "what is most important to you?" and gone on from there. If you just mouth a price, then you deserve to have your time wasted.

[Tools]

Two or three quotes is enough. As Oosham said, all of the quotes were much the same, so what was he trying to achieve? At best these guys have a one in nine chance of winning the work.Do you think quoter number number nine would have bothered if he was told that there were already eight other prices? No doubt he would prefer to spend his time on quoting work he actually has a good chance of winning.

Tools

[oohsam]

sorry Tools, but thats a croc.

I see what you're saying, but the traides i dealt with were absolutley usless and unreliable. Firslty, in order to get my quotes, I called each one, then Told them I would fax through a floor plan.
2 of them got back to me within a week. When I did follow up calls, they lost my paperwork and asked for it to be refaxed, the I had to call again after 3 days to get a price, which some of them lost yet again.

Only one person came out to see me,none of them bothered to call to discuss what I wanted, they just threw out a model number and a price. I had to do all the research myself. Back in th day, ppl took the time to speak to you and advise you what to do, now all they want is your money an.; Some of them even told me i better hurry up and book or else i'll be watiing up to 2 months when others said they can start right away so i wanted to find out who could do the work ina resasonable time.

The one guy who came out to my house was amazing, and I would go with him however I do not really like the unit. Most companies only sell 1 brand and I wanted a comparison between brands, and what they were offering.

It is the tradies respnsonability to provide quotes so the consumer can have a fair choice, if the tradie doesnt like that, then maybe the should be in another business. Shopping around for a good price and brand is normal, I dont see why you're so cut up about it.

When u buy a new plasma tv, you go to a few places get prices and try and get the best deal, this is no different. Some could argue you're wasting the salespersons time at the tv store...I say its you're right to waste whatever time you need to as a consumer.

sorry for the babble, I just think you're views are a little obscure in this industry.

[juan]

3 is not enough!!!

I got 7 quotes for a sewer main installation. Prices ranged from $2400 to $8450. I went with the lowest and was very happy. It was the 6th quote I received. The lowest of the first 3 was $4950.

I rest my case.

Cheers

[MrFixIt]

Hi

I bought the materials form the supplier and did my own

I saved on the installation cost, about $2800.

All up for 8 outlets including a VERY awkward second storey outlet - it required an external duct, made to my specifications.

It cost me $3000 plus $600 for the insulated external duct. It's a Coolbreeze unit.

[China]

oohsam I had a bonaire evap in my old house for 13 years never had a problem with,it I had the lastest model bonaire installed in the house I'm in now, ran it all last sumer with no probs (well you would expect that)

[oohsam]

Thanks China.
The problem I have, is trusting a $4500 investment in my home with a brand that I know will work. With cars, you can test drive them, with TV's you can see them work b4 you take it home...with air con...I really have to take a guess. Im giong by the 2 ppl I know that have aircon have brivis and they are great. I dont doubt that the other brands will be good...but I just dont konw anything other than the brivis..its all I've expereienced.

It would be great if they had a show room, where one room was 35 degrees, then you walk into a room for each brand of aircon and it shows you how much it cools..but then agian it will be different in your home...hehe..there is just no winning.

I will get the brivis installed in the next week or 2 and let you all know how it is..
Im pretty excited bout this...our house is a sauna in summer...even warm spring days are hot.

[Jacksin]

I had ducted evaporative in a previous life with wife #1 and found it awfully humid, especially here in Adelaide and would never have another.

They work on cross airflow through windows which is bloody useless when a hot northerly, on north facing windows, backs up the flow. We had a Breezeair with a sensor for when the water got salty (remembering we were using Murray water at the time) and it dumped around 70litres every 40mins.

I have recently spent $7.5K on a reverse cycle ducted inverter system and couldnt be happier, until I get the electricity bill. But then its only money isnt it?

[oohsam]

hehehe..yeah its only money Jack.
Well. After doing more research, I found that the Brivis system would not actually be suitable for my home. As I have 3m ceilings and they system would struggle to keep our house cool. The most powerful system on the market at the moment is the Bonaire system...which is the same price as the brivis..so we'll be getting that..

I could find no other system that had the power of the bonnaire, and although I heard bonaire is a budget system, It seems to have everything the other brands have..
Its booked in for next week....My wife and I have decided, that if the evap cooling is good but not GREAT, we'll put a split system in the family room and hang out there during the stinking hot days..otherwise the evap should last, We'll see how we go this summer..somethin tells me its gonna be a scorcher.