Air cooler suggestion needed !

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dreamCatcher

dreamCatcher

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Bangalore has become unbearably hot and is turning into a desert. Running fan at full speed is also not helping and I live on the top floor. So guys please tell me is it advisable to go for an air cooler? I have read a few bad reviews about the service and support for all leading cooler brands and therefore would like to know what you people feel, those of you who are using.

I don't want to go for an air conditioner because of high cost and power drain.
My room is 13x13 and would prefer something small in the likes of a personal cooler.
Also how is Kenstar's after sales service and support? I kind of like Kenstar Slimline.

Guys give your opinion on other brands and suggest a few models as well, keeping in mind the after sales support.

Thanks in advance :)
 
First things first...

An Air Cooler, however practical, isn't quite "effective".

Unless of course, you need temporary relief, with the air from the cooler blowing right onto your face. You will also need to keep refilling the reservoir with water, to make good use of it.

Yes, an Air Conditioner is expensive and consumes a lot more power but the cooling effect makes a world of difference. Ideally, you could even consider a .8 or 1 Ton AC, something with a good Star Rating perhaps!?

If you would still like to go ahead, Kenstar is your best option.

My 2 Cents. :)



P.S: I have a Bajaj Air cooler, sitting pretty in my room and collecting a lot of dust. It was replaced by an AC, which serves its purpose rather effectively. Mind you, I live in Chennai :P
 
well in bangalore,although i have air conditioner in bed rooms,the living room would require a 2ton+ AC,so i bought a air cooler,the biggest one i could find,sure it doesn't cool like a AC,but it lowers the temperatures by around 5°C,that makes a huge difference.

i would avoid kenstar,in my search i found the best is from the OEM manufacture MCcoy from canabara industries they are ones who make the plastics for kenstar,bajaj air coolers a part of the huge VK group which makes moulded plastics for tv manufactures,home appliances like murphy richards etc.

i bought a desert cooler which is advertized to cool a area of 600sq feet although praticaly its more like 350 sq feet.

those personal coolers are best if they blow the air right at you.

a desert cooler on the other hand lowers the entire room temperature,only drawback is the size it occupies and the noise,costs about 6.3k vs the equivalent kestars,babaj,symphony which cost around 7 to 8.5k.
 
Go in for Air Coolers From Symphony the best ones that are available now with good cooling. I have not used them gonna buy one for me
 
Never lived in Bangalore. Current humidity for Bangalore, on Yahoo weather shows 52%. Coolers in my opinion are no good at this level of humidity.

Delhi Is @ a dry 18% - Prime conditions for a cooler. Then again if it's externally mounted on a window, not internal etc.

I would not even invest in a cooler at 52% unless drier weather is in forcast for future months.

Agree with thetoxicmind, get a .75/.8 ton Ac.

Edit to add: Bangalore is @ a balmy 33-35C max compared to Delhi 41C yesterday. A small Ac should more than suffice by removing the humidity. 24-25c without humidity feels pretty good..

Cheers
 
Both AC & Coolers have their specific pros & cons well known. But its not like cooler are completely out. In a dry climate they work like a charm... For Bangalore cooler would not do since humidity is quite high.

I would have suggested Symphony Winter otherwise. Consumes 175 Watts & cools quite good. But its better to get an AC in your specific case.
 
I live in BLR too and I recently got a cooler since I didn't see the point in investing in an AC as of now. It's a Bajaj Cooler something, about 3.5k. It isn't the most effective thing in the world but it helps me sleep comfortably at night. If you have the moolah, get an AC.
 
Seems like the advice on this topic is quite muddled so lets set it straight.

I had one, and dumped it as it made the room even more humid. We got it a long time back from the Gulf, and seemed like a very good idea at the time. But Bangalore is a mile high so it has a higher humidity than low lying areas in the interior.

COOLER's ARE A WASTE IN BANGALORE!
 
Well, even if you do invest in a cooler, be rest assured that by the summer of next year, the cooling efficiency goes down and you would have to spend a bomb on its maintenance. Irrespective of great A.S.S. good reputation and all that, fact is, even if you buy an AC which consumes a moderate amount of Electricity, it would incur much lower or almost the same expenses as that of a cooler. Since you mention your room size to be of 13x13, go for a .75 or a 1T AC with a 3-Star rating and you can sleep in peace.
 
I use kenstar vibrant during dry season since 2 yrs. Its really good only in dry season. Its quite enough for 12x12 ft room.
 
well i don't know about others but i stay in bangalore,the air cooler does work,u need to place it near windows or at the doors and also door/windows in the other end should be open,in this way humidity doesn't build up.

the apc ups in my living room which has the air cooler, internal temperature is like 37°C but with the air cooler blowing at 10 feet away its internal temperature dropped to 26.5°c.
sure with the AC it can go well below that but in a living room which is big like in my case its a good alternative to a AC.since i would require a 2ton+ ac.

but in the bedroom i have the AC,since the air coolers major drawback is the noise and space it occupies.other drawback is that if the water stops flowing into the cooling pads,foul smell will fill the room in about 10min.

most common error people do is shut the windows and place the air cooler in a room that has no ventilation,hence the humid air is recycled and makes the place warmer.
 
We had aircooler in chennai for 3 years. we open all windows one for sucking air and another for expelling out. Its was really good for high humid climate like chennai.
Last year I made a setup with copper coils surrounding the table fan and pumped cold water surrounding the coils. It worked like a charm for almost 2 hrs.After the water will become warm. This year i planned to use with a refrigerator compressor to create cold water channel. So this can be used in the Hall and other places.
 
adder said:
most common error people do is shut the windows and place the air cooler in a room that has no ventilation,hence the humid air is recycled and makes the place warmer.
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Yep, that would have been exactly what I did, no ventilation in my room at all so that would be a required condition in this case.

What you said about having an opposing window is the indian style of building here, few modern homes follow this practice because space is much limited now. Opposing windows makes a world of difference, in a relative's home nearly every set of windows has an opposing one or door and there is a wonderful ventilation in that house compared to more modern styles. It amazed me to know they don't even use cement in these homes, just mud, bricks & chunam but thick walls. Of course they are not multi-storeyed but have very high ceilings. These houses do not need more than a fan to get by.

Coolers are good upto a humidity level of 20%, Bang is 60% plus. So the cooler is already handicapped. On the coasts where the humidity level is even higher it would be next to useless. However if your humidty is low like Delhi (not in the monsoon) or similar, then its a great buy.



If it were possible to overlay on the above map, areas where humidty is 20% or less over the red & yellow areas, you have the ideal areas in India where a cooler works best :)
 
Thanks a ton for all the advice guys,

There are a few things I should have made clear, the reason to shy away from a full fledged AC is not only the initial cost and increased power bill, but also the fact that we live in a rented house and will be moving to our own apartment in approximately a year (somewhere in the next summer) and will have a AC in every bed room. Apart from the said reason, I really don't think buying a AC of lower capacity, say 0.75 TON to save on electricity is a good option as it will have to over work to do the required cooling. Its like opening the refrigerator door and asking it to cool the whole kitchen, sure the temp in this case will drop by a degree or two but you cant expect the room to freeze like the freezer. The efficiency goes down !. Add to that another burden of living on the top floor with direct sunlight hitting you from all directions.
So, the cooler will serve me temporarily and later on can be used in the living room for occasional use.

And Bangalore is a very dry place with humidity not soo high, it is one of the driest cities in south India.

@sikvik
Yes the humidity for the past 2 days is very high, in the upper 50 range and this is abnormal in this city and an indication of the expected lite shower. We actually experienced light rain fall last night :hap2: God, what a relief!.

I agree with adder that for effective cooling the windows in the room need to be open and this will reduce the humidity. A few of my relatives here are using coolers for 2-3 years without any issues of humidity buildup.

And dude, blr_p come on, On that climate zone map it is very clear that BLR falls on the yellow band, indicating it is dry like Delhi and yesterday's humidity of ~56% is the highest we have experienced in years.

No offense guys :P, but I appreciate everyone's effort and keep the suggestions coming :ohyeah:.
 
Under dry conditions even if there is no ventilation & you place the cooler outside on a window so that it suck outside air, cools it & then blows this cool air into the room then it works wonders... I had used such setup & temps were down quite good.. so much so that it matched most AC's...

Of course it was installed in my older home with thick walls, but even in newer apartments it should work albeit with some less efficiency.
 
dreamCatcher said:
And Bangalore is a very dry place with humidity not soo high, it is one of the driest cities in south India.
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Have you seen any data for Bangalore ?

In Feb the avg humidity was 50%
In March it was 40%
In April '09 it was 45%
In May '09 it was 60%
In June '09 it was 60%

Compare with Delhi in May '09, and its half as humid.

The only months you need cooling are mid march-jun, after that the monsoons start and its cool for the rest of the year or why this place is reknown for its weather.

The humidity value you read in the paper is an avg of max & min for the day. In Bangalore its lowest from 12pm-6pm (best time to use a cooler if you have to) and highest from 12am-6am (Bad idea at night)

dreamCatcher said:
and yesterday's humidity of ~56% is the highest we have experienced in years.
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Nah, what was the highest was the max temp, and that too only in the last 20 years, ie did not break all time record.

Anyway, you have a respite, when it gets this hot for a few weeks, it rains eventually, second day of thunderstorm in the evening and i'm loving it :D

dreamCatcher said:
And dude, blr_p come on, On that climate zone map it is very clear that BLR falls on the yellow band, indicating it is dry like Delhi
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Yeah, but we're a mile up in the air, that changes things which is why I added that it needed to be cross-referenced with humdity in the area concerned.

You might get lucky at a certain time on a certain day of the month where the humidity is low and you find the cooler works, but thats not the point is it. It has to cool things down when you want it and I think your results are going to hit & miss and hence my objection to the idea of cooler in Bangalore :)

adder said:
well in bangalore,although i have air conditioner in bed rooms,the living room would require a 2ton+ AC,so i bought a air cooler,the biggest one i could find,sure it doesn't cool like a AC,but it lowers the temperatures by around 5°C,that makes a huge difference.
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I bet you could match that performance if not exceed it with just a ceiling fan :)
 
blr_p said:
I bet you could match that performance if not exceed it with just a ceiling fan :)
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well the ceiling fan is just going to blow the hot air around,in fact in a room that has a air cooler or a air conditioner turning the fan ON is a bad idea especially if the rooms ceiling has no floor above. it only makes the room even hotter.
 
I meant just using the fan alone, will give you a comparable drop in temperature not using it with the cooler or AC.

The question is whether that makes you feel cooler or not ? I'm not sure how to show that it will. Anyone know ?

It's a pity he cant install a split, whats that require ? 2 holes punched in the wall for the pipes and thats it, easy to putty/cement up when rennovating and no permanent damage at all. But if the owner does not agree then thats it.

The other possibily Ii thought of was putting a plastic sheet a foot off the ground on the roof. That would keep the sun heating the roof up. We did disuss the same idea a while back with someone else.
 
dreamCatcher said:
No offense guys :P, but I appreciate everyone's effort and keep the suggestions coming :ohyeah:.
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Err...looks like you have it all figured!? :P

well the ceiling fan is just going to blow the hot air around,in fact in a room that has a air cooler or a air conditioner turning the fan ON is a bad idea especially if the rooms ceiling has no floor above.
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Very true.
 
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