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Topic: leaking swamp cooler after rain (Read 486 times) previous topic - next topic
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leaking swamp cooler after rain
After recent heavy rains our swamp cooler leaked into our '91 Lazy Daze. It seems to me that should not normally happen, is there a way for us to tell if it needs some repair or do they normally leak like that from heavy rain?
Re: leaking swamp cooler after rain
Reply #1 –
Two ways it could leak:

Roof puddles and cooler-roof seal has failed.
rain fills and overflows the water tray.

Remove the inside air distribution baffle unit to determine which is the cause.

Steve
2004 FL
2013 Honda Fit
Re: leaking swamp cooler after rain
Reply #2 –
Hi CJK7; welcome to our group.  I put in a RecAir swamp cooler on my previous (not LD) motorhome.  The house water pump has a line running to the cooler and fills up a tray with water. The cooler has a cone shaped spreader that picks up that water and flings it around into a plastic sponge air filter material, that also has fan air going through it.  The first time I used it, subsequent driving around would slop that water enough to run into the rig. So before moving you could turn off the water going to the roof,and let all of it evaporate first.  Or, I put in a quick disconnect and short hose to drain the water in the tray, into the sink.  
   Water on the roof from rainfall could make its way into that tray and overfill it so that it leaks into the insides. Sort of a normal thing. A temporary dam around the sides on the roof might prevent that from happening. 
   Otherwise the gasket sealing the swamp cooler to the roof is leaking and letting rainwater underneath and into your coach inside.  Replacement of that gasket shouldn't be too hard. Finding the right gasket may be near impossible, since that company (?) is probably not in business. Generic gasket material should be available, such as for an air conditioning unit.
    Many people have removed the swamp cooler and just put in a standard roof vent instead.    RonB
RonB (Bostick) living in San Diego
Original owner of "Bluebelle" a '99 TKB
Re: leaking swamp cooler after rain
Reply #3 –
" The first time I used it [RecAir evaporative cooler], subsequent driving around would slop that water enough to run into the rig."

We've had three Recairs on four RVs, using them for over 35 years; in fact, still using one in our current Class C. If water slops into the RV, the float switch in the Recair is set too high. Lower the water level the float switch allows, and the slopping will stop, but the Recair will continue to operate properly.

For our purposes (a lot of time spent in desert areas like Nevada and Utah), it's a terrific alternative to cooling, compared to the refrigerated A/C, because it's so quiet. It also works well enough in most other places, unless they are extremely humid. My wife says she'd stay home if she had to listen to the A/C and generator humming for hours and hours, and I believer her (I don't like it either). The only downside is we have to fill the water tank more often, but we are almost always where that is possible; rarely, I've put a 20 gallon tank on the roof to supplement the RV water tank.
2005 Jayco 24SS
Re: leaking swamp cooler after rain
Reply #4 –
Hi Eric;  That water intrusion problem went away when I sold the rig and got my Lazy Daze 24 years ago.  Mostly I just shut off the water by closing the valve in the line I had installed. This let the cooler use up most of the water.  The swamp cooler also collected a lot of dust and dirt in the air so draining the water out into the sink, removed some of that dirt. That reduced the number of times I needed to go on the roof to clean the sponge and water tray. 
    Mostly used in the surrounding Julian and Anza Borrego desert area. Still used as a quiet ventilator in less arid areas.  I did install a generator and roof air conditioner in that motorhome. It had neither a roof vent (in the right place) or a place for a generator. Also no dash air, so I arranged the generator to be start/stopped from a switch on the dash and the air conditioner could be left in the on position to run when the power came up. A slightly used 2.6 KW Onan (Microlite) ran a 13.5K BTUH scroll compressor Dometic A/C unit.  RonB
RonB (Bostick) living in San Diego
Original owner of "Bluebelle" a '99 TKB