[Greenbuilding] Air Conditioning for Phoenix

[Lawrence Lile]

My Brother in Law lives in Phoenix.  I decided the best reason to live
there is, you can get a taste of what the Devil's Sauna is like without
actually visiting the place.  You know, 120F in the shade in July.  But
it is a dry heat. 

He is replacing his air conditioner, which is sort of a matter of
survival in Phoenix. Sort of like the requirement to have a wood stove
in Vermont, ice skates in Minnesota, or a pickup truck in Missouri.   He
knows absolutely nothing about AC, so if I don't help him out he'll get
ripped off by the cheapest fly-by-night contractor.  

Now, the mechanical part I have figured out, I'll recommend an SEER 16
air conditioner with a variable speed indoor fan.  The reason for the
variable speed fan is, at least in the brands I have seen, this is the
most efficient arrangement, and also, the higher SEER rating is only
achieved with the variable fan.  He'll probably have simple electric
heat, for the few days a year it gets below 72F.  

But in Phoneix, you can also have a swamp cooler.  For significant
periods of the year, you can add water to air, which cools it off, and
use that instead of the expensive mechanical AC.  This only works in a
super-dry climate.  

I don't know much about swamp coolers, but I do know they are very
efficient, but wonderful places to breed bacteria and algae.  I have
heard about a kind where the outdoor air is drawn directly through a wet
filter, then into the house (yuck).  There is another kind that has an
indirect connection, that might have less potential to breed bad bugs.
Can anyone educate us more about swamp coolers?  
 
 
Lawrence Lile, P.E., LEED AP