Swamp cooler opinions

Here's the story. Bought a house last year, bought the home warranty to go with it. It covers our swamp cooler. The swamp cooler has leaked almost as long as we've lived here. At one point last year it stopped, probably just clogged the hole with sediment for a couple months. We finally called the home warranty people and they sent a guy out. He checks it out, tells me, it's shot. Leaky tub, no fixing it. He wrote it up as such. "Water tub rusted through, recommend replacement" is what was on the form. The warranty people call us back and tell us it needs electrical work, new mounting brackets, and disposal of the old unit, along with replacement of the entire unit. Right now, it gets power, the electric works. There's no problem there that I know of or was told of. The current brackets are holding the current unit up, and we have a dump card and can dispose of the unit ourselves. None of that beyond replacement of the old unit is covered by the warranty apparently. We were quote $300 out of pocket. Disposing of it with our dump card took off $70, so now $230.

Those of you acquainted with the heating and cooling business, does this make sense? I need to talk to the warranty company and find out where all this extra came from and also if they can just cash us out for the replacement cost so we can do the work ourselves.

Lol justin, they just replaced mine, due to leaky,rusted tub. warranty man didnt mention,brackets or electrical did he? if not demand they replace it. and you will haul old one off.they are not required by law to haul it off.it's yours and you can do as you please with it. let them know there wasn't any mention of a bracket or electrical problem.

They know my company, tell them our OLD name (Desert cooler specialist)..Said you don't need the bull crap they are talking about..You can give them my cell # if you want, i will talk to them.. See if they will send you the cash to replace it yourself?
If they do, you can get a single air inlet cooler..These have a 12" pad..Alot cooler air, about 15 degress cooler than a aspen pad cooler..
Good luck

Home warranties are a JOKE!! They are fine for minor repair, just not the big ones. They make contractors discount there rates so much they try to find anything to charge extra that the home warranty will not cover. If the contractor recommends replacement they have a set amount they pay the contractor that does not include code upgrades (ie: permit) or extra material such as electrical disconnect, copper tubing, etc, they just pay for the unit. The rest is up to the homeowner.
Answer to your other question, yes they will cash you out, but don't expect much though. This is why my company won't touch home warranty, i would have to hand out food stamps to my service techs with there paychecks for what they pay.
Good luck.

Justin, swamp coolers are not hard to work on. See if they will just pay you the cash it would cost to get a company to do the replacement and we can have a swamp cooler wrenching party! I always wondered if a hybrid air conditioning unit, one that used a swamp cooler like system to cool the condenser, would be more efficient than either a swamp cooler or a regular air conditioning unit. I guess not because they would have done it by now

Swanpers are a piece of cake.
If you own a Cherokee, you can figure out a swamper.

But like they all said, warranties are jokes. Won't ever buy one again.

You know what i can do for you, just call when you get done ..It will only take about 3 or 4 hours to do it right..
By CA law a company must have a permit to change out said cooler..Elec must be up to code, thats the easy stuff..We will need to know if the roofjack is good and size..Do you have A/C in your home to? Single opening or does it run thru duct work? IE ( is it tied to your A/C )

Yeah, I've been tinkering with ours for a while, and there's absolutely nothing to it. Its just hot up there on that roof!
The company that came out and looked at it was California Express. The guy was pretty cool, he figured it would need to go just from me telling him it leaked. I've coated the inside like 4 times and nothing has made a difference. It leaks like a fargin sieve.
My hope was to either have them replace it under warranty (before I knew they exclude "vital" parts from coverage) or have them cash me out for a new one then install it ourselves. If I do that, do they make replacement weld on tubs? If so, are they worth anything? I'd like to keep the old one if it can be sealed and use it for the garage...

For your garage, just go to home depoo to buy a window unit like mine..We can install it with a t-stat so you won't forget to turn off after a long day in the garage..These things are easy to install..I have done a couple...LOL

scottmcneal said:

You know what i can do for you, just call when you get done ..It will only take about 3 or 4 hours to do it right..
By CA law a company must have a permit to change out said cooler..Elec must be up to code, thats the easy stuff..We will need to know if the roofjack is good and size..Do you have A/C in your home to? Single opening or does it run thru duct work? IE ( is it tied to your A/C )

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There are a couple small wall mount a/c's, one in the entryway (makes no sense, it blows into a wall, and it doesn't work anyways) one in our room that I crank up at night before we go to bed to precool the room. There is no ductwork, just a single roof mounted downdraft (I think that's the correct terminology...) with a vent/box blowing into the house. The guy mentioned that if he needed to get permits it would be extra since the warranty company doesn't cover that. However, I think we are in an unincorporated area, Wonder Valley. It's kinda like Sky Valley, we show up as Twentynine Palms in the mail and on maps, but we're in Wonder Valley for the internet, cable, and pizza delivery people, meaning none of them will come out here...

Not a problem, You won't need one to do the install on a weekend..Do your search, DON'T BUY MASTER COOL..They went under...Hard to get parts for..I have brochures out in my truck if you want one..You will want to buy whats called a SINGLE AIR INLET...Trust me, the only way to go..
Can you buy from HAJOCA? They sale the one you want..
If your roof jack is like 20x20 you have a 6500, if it is 17.5x17.5 you have a 4500..
I could be wrong on these sizes..

I think the guy said it was either 45 or 55. It's not small, but far from the biggest I've seen on a house.

Tape measurer is your friend.. and as Scott said they are easy to install.

Just measure the roof jack, that will tell you the size..You can also find the size by measureing the blower housing, where it goes thru the pan.. I can make the clips and legs for it, so you won't need to buy them..Come to think of it i have these in my truck now

scottmcneal said:

Just measure the roof jack, that will tell you the size..You can also find the size by measureing the blower housing, where it goes thru the pan.. I can make the clips and legs for it, so you won't need to buy them..Come to think of it i have these in my truck now

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I am bettin there's nothing wrong with the existing legs or electrical! this house id old and mine was leaking and legs and electrical were fine!

Well, update: We finally got an answer from the warranty people on cashing out. They're giving us $1034. I figure that can buy a decent cooler and have a little left to take care of other needs as well. Recommendations?

scottmcneal said:

They know my company, tell them our OLD name (Desert cooler specialist)..Said you don't need the bull crap they are talking about..You can give them my cell # if you want, i will talk to them.. See if they will send you the cash to replace it yourself?
If they do, you can get a single air inlet cooler..These have a 12" pad..Alot cooler air, about 15 degress cooler than a aspen pad cooler..
Good luck

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Scott does this for a living, he knows best...i would take his advise..

" You better listen to him Flounder. He's in pre-med."

builder said:

Scott does this for a living, he knows best...i would take his advise..

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Well, yeah, but that's all greek to me...I need ideas like make and/or model. Sources, etc. I'm liable to go down to Home Depot and find one that seems to fit the description and buy the wrong brand. Didn't Mastercool just go out?

Darky said:

Well, yeah, but that's all greek to me...I need ideas like make and/or model. Sources, etc. I'm liable to go down to Home Depot and find one that seems to fit the description and buy the wrong brand. Didn't Mastercool just go out?

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Did you ask him?