Aspen Pads vs Blue Synthetic (Dura-cool) Pads - Which are cooler for swamp / evaporative coolers?

Long time Aspen pad user here and this year I decided to try the Blue synthetic pads and discovered the Aspen wood pads cool much better so its back to Aspen pads.

So much of cooling-efficiency depends on the "salt" content of the water. I note in your video that there is a LOT of lime depositing on your pads and even on the metal parts (!) of the cooler panels. Bad! It would be good to install a "bleed" provision, which bleeds off a small portion of the cooler water reservoir contents continuously when the water pump is running. You can route the bled-off water to landscaping or to buckets (it won't be too salty for plants, because the solids will be diluted, not concentrated as they are on your cooler now). Yes, this will result in more water-usage, but you can control the amount of water that bleeds-off with a small constrictor that slides onto the water tubing. Else, if you don't use this bleed-system, you can empty the reservoir about once a week, and flush the reservoir (and pads!) with water from a hose (flush thoroughly). If there is a lot of dissolved solids ("salts") in the water, it will not evaporate strongly, and hence will not cool. I'd say that clean water (minimum amount of salts that you can feed into the cooler) is MUCH more important that which kind of pads you use. And, until you try each test with CLEAN water -- obtained by flushing and refilling, or else by using the bleed system -- the "tests" are pretty unreliable. I hope this helps all swamp-cooler users. Allowing the water to become briny and deposit salt on your pads and metal parts is also a reason (and prescription... ) for rapid corrosion of the metal cooler and ruination and blockage of the pads. A plastic "bleed-valve" tube, and some tubing to route the bled-off water to the ground, to plants, or to buckets, would cost well under $5. --Joe / Tucson ARIZONA / Sonoran Desert

Thanks for sharing

I switched to the blue for a number of years and had to supplement the cooling. I thought they will last longer, and they did. But they didn't cool as well and over time they got coated in lime. I didnt realize that they were not cooling as well as the aspen pads. I went back to the aspen pads and it made a drastic difference in cooling my house.

Did you check the humidity on both days

Yeah I went from Duracool to aspen pads and I'm never going back. People are fooled into thinking the Duracool is better because it's more expensive. Technically, it does last longer than aspen pads. But I don't even care if I have to replace my aspen pads more often, it's totally worth the cooler temperatures. There are some people who think a swamp cooler is far inferior to air conditioning. I was not impressed by my swamp coolers performance when I used the Duracool pads. But then you use the aspen pads and it really makes you a fan of swamp coolers. Especially in a very dry climate. 90 degrees outside and I'm rocking 70 degrees in my house

Thank you

Bro you completely left out humidity. Which is one of the biggest factors in how effective an evaporative cooler is. The lower the humidity, the cooler the air.

Aspens are better. I’ve used synthetic blue for 11 years changing them either each year or every other year. Then this is the 1st year running Aspens and 💥, it’s way cooler. Which is mind blowing to me.

what about double up on the cheap, thin ones?

I hear some pads are made with formaldehyde. Which one is healthier?

But did you measure the indoor HUMIDITY?

Which is better Apen pads, or the Paper Honeycomb pads?

Thanks for the vid, but...think about being bit more empirical with your "experiments" before recommending one pad over another. First off, looks like you're comparing an older, used blue pad to a new aspen pad. No. Then---what's the RH outside and indoors on each day of your test? Was there any sediment dislodged when you removed the old pads? What were the cloud conditions and wind like on each day? Do the measurements for each pad over several days and get an average

Totally disagree. those who give advice about "pad is better tales" must have developed their misconceptions about material science. You, OWNER of the machine should be "don't care how water is running through or water absorbing fiber PERIOD". You should care about how water is EVAPORATING off the pads. Now, different materials pad has different evaporation properties. Like you, I tried all three and realized should have paid attention to evaporation effect from the materials. The best pad is your (that is owners, not installers, not manufacturers, not other bragging twits) habit on using the machine's evaporation, not the material selection. a) blue pad (duracool) is spun plastic then fused, forcing water to spread out into air space (imagine waterfall- curtain) and evaporate. manufacturer states supposedly last longer [ this claim is irrelevant, because calcium buildup still blocks "curtain" passageway]. b). aspen pad (fibers) does absorb water until it is waterlogged, then fiber expands, then excess water starts to evaporate. THE CATCH!!! evaporates begin after pad is waterlogged [not before]. when calcium binds to wood fiber, it stops water from absorbing; thus retarding the evaporation. This does mean you want the water pump to run continuously to keep fiber expanded (and not to dry-up and re soaking, encouraging early calcification). c) there are greenish-brown pads, they are paper impreganted with something then sandwiched, somewhat waxy chemical or thin plastic??. This pad has the widest "air opening cavities" but is misleading on cooling. the waxy or plastic coating is helping 'bead up' the water into the cavities. Whereas at start of machine water pumping pad is somewhat like air curtain effect (look at duracool); then starts soaking and expanding the paper, behaving like aspen pad. This means when material starts to calcify to certain quantity, the bead up technique or swelling fails. d) on different notes: if you are going to reference on clay and sand type materials [AFRICAN and ARABIA is using those type science]. I have not used this. The process relies on reuse and renew materials. example with calcified sand, just stirring up or turning over the sand. for clay, brush-scrape off calcification off the surface. That does sound like cheaper expense on materials.; but the reports indicates from what I believe "weak cooling-evaporation" by the way SAND and clay is heavy. REGARDLESS SECTION homeowner with swamp coolers should haven been told and know!!! 1) when temperature soars to greater than 97 degrees Fahrenheit. Water evaporates so fast and water never had chance to completely saturate the pads... this results in faster calcification build up [and ineffective evaporation and cooling.] 2) outdoor higher humidity does retard cooling; ranging somewhere 35% ish maybe 40% ish. PAY ATTENTION: calcification does not encourage evaporation. Retarded cooling does NOT stop calcification. In other words, turn off your cooler with pump when weather is not favorable!