Bonaire Evaporative Cooler: Awesome!Review Bonaire Durango 4500E, Purchased 5-27,15, SLC, UT
Summary: Relatively easy to install. Much better than anticipated cooling. Quieter operation than expected. Almost free to purchase with Utah’s public utility rebate.
I did a lot of research before making this purchase and landed on this style of cooler and model for four reasons: ease of self-installation, flexibility, cost of operation, public utility rebate. I compared it to a similar model at another box store and chose the Bonaire Brand because it received many more positive reviews and far fewer negative ones.
A few specifics might be helpful: Evaporative coolers don’t work when it’s humid. If you are used to AC, this kind of cool air, with lots of moisture in it, will feel different and maybe not as cool. Since I was switching from a large AC window unit, I wasn’t sure if the cooler would ultimately be in the right place and that is why I chose a window unit as opposed to permanent. After a week, I doubt I will change its location because it is performing excellently, even at the opposite end of the house from where most of the living is done.
Cost: This is probably a bit more expensive than a typical “box type/squirrel cage” evaporative cooler. But… our public utility is offering a significant rebate on “premium evaporative coolers” and since I installed this myself, after rebate, this will cost me very little.
Installation: The installation instructions are straight-forward although they assume you live in a modern “builder” style home. If not, you’ll have to improvise. I have a late 1800s frame home with thicker walls. The cooler fit almost perfectly in my situation and only needed a 1” filler board outside. The inside window trim made the suggested bracket installation impossible so I created another solution. For lifting and leveling the cooler, you’ll need two people, and once it’s resting safely in the window opening, one person can finished the job. If you are lifting the unit into a higher window, as in my case, three would be better at least until you have the cooler through the window and resting on the sash. The third can help guide in the fan assembly and hold it in place and/or close the sash until you can attach it.
Installation issues: I noticed a few things that may cause confusion: First, the cooler is shipped with the fan assembly not in the fully extended position, presumably to cut shipping dimensions and cost. This will require you to hand fit 9 screws, which is simple with one catch--pay close attention that you are getting the screw through both holes thereby connecting the two pieces. In a few spots on mine, on the first try, this did not happen and caused a slight bowing of the fan housing. In some cases the holes weren’t exactly aligned so I used a twist tie to run through both holes showing the proper screwing angle. I would definitely hand screw. Your electric driver won’t give you the feedback you need to see if both holes are penetrated and… could strip the plastic.
Leveling: This is emphasized in the manual, but if it’s not obvious, if the cooler is not plumb and level, water may not drain over the pads uniformly and the effectiveness of the cooler will be reduced. In SLC, you want all the cooling power possible!
Water pump: When I originally switched on the cooler for the first time, after letting the reservoir fill with water, the pump did not work. I read the manual, took off the back panel to see if the supply house had come loose from the water delivery tray, which it had not, and then restarted the cooler and it worked. In retrospect, this certainly was an issue of pump prime and nothing else. I drained the water as recommended after ten hours of use and experienced the same thing. I just shut down the cooler for a few seconds and turned it back on and the pump worked. If the pump is working, you will be able to hear falling water, see water trickling from the top of the pads and they will be uniformly moist. You will smell them for two days but…
Water change: The instructions recommend changing the water twice, each time after ten hours of continuous use. Do it. You will notice, almost immediately, that the smell of the new pads goes away. With the water off, this will require that you unscrew the exterior nut of the overflow, push the overflow back into the cooler and let gravity do its thing. But… you’ll have a hard time getting the overflow tube back into the hole without removing the back cover, and in my case it’s trickier because it involves going up a ladder. So, I handled this issue on the second drain by making a long “S” hook with a smaller hook on one end and a larger on the other to grip and pull. I fed the smaller hook up into the overflow, next to the bleed off line, until it cleared the top then pulled it snug against the top of overflow. After the water drained, I simply tugged on the hook until about ¼” of the overflow extended from cooler housing, reattached the nut then retightened it, which drew out the overflow stem into the correct position. Much less work than taking off back panel. Especially six feet above ground.
Cooling effectiveness and noise: Some have claimed that the cooler was neither as effective as they had hoped or made more noise than they expected. Regarding effectiveness: SLC, UT has been over 100 many times already this summer. My interior temp was 77 in the middle of my house and 78 at back on those days. My house is 2000 sq feet and I am only cooling the upstairs 1100 sq feet. The cooler is located at the front of the home, about 50 feet from the back where the main living space is. While the cooler is not in a direct line of site to the back of the house or bedroom, each of those rooms is only 1-2 degrees warmer, which seems remarkable seeing that there is 16 lineal feet of glass facing South or West at the back -- 50 feet from the cooler.
Noisy: My experience does not bare this out. I tested the sound level on mine with a Radio Shack sound level meter, set to “A weighting”, the standard for sounds heard by the human ear, and got the following readings five feet to the side of the cooler: low cool 52 dB; medium cool 58 dB; high cool 64 dB. I doubled checked these numbers with a free app on my phone and turned in similar results.
Sizing and venting: I learned that sizing and especially venting are crucial to how evaporative coolers work. Cooling power is determined in cfms, not btus like in AC. Sizing is determined by calculating cubic feet to be cooled divided by 2, ie: 1000 square feet with 8 foot ceilings would be: (1000*8)/2 or 4000 cfm. Regarding venting, evidently it’s the thing most people, including me, get wrong as it seems counter intuitive. The rule I found,and you can verify this by googling the topic, is 2 square feet of venting for each 1000 cfm of blower capacity. For this model that would be 9.8 square feet (I presume this is when cooler is on high)! I have spread the openings out over the rooms I want the most cooling in, and have used the flue in my wood burning also as a vent also. I have also been opening the cover to my attic space about 1 square foot and letting that help exhaust the hot air up there. And, after the sun goes down, I turn the blower on high, close up most of the house, and turn the cooler into an “attic fan”, so to speak, to help rid that blanket of hot air before the evening. Anecdotally, it seems much cooler!
Finally, I called Bonaire’s customer support line and they were friendly, helpful and offered some good suggestions, like at the end of the season soaking the media in light vinegar water then rinsing to get scale off to prolong the life of the media. They also suggested a MaxCool Scale inhibitor, but I am skipping that for now to see how the pads do without help.
I know this is a long review, but hopefully it was helpful.
by DLSLC