Getting Your Evaporative Cooler Ready for Summer

Evaporative cooling works beautifully in Bendigo's dry heat, but it's a system that sits on the roof doing nothing for half the year. Dust settles, minerals dry onto the pads and pumps seize. Here's how to bring it back to life in spring, and what's worth leaving to a technician.

Start with the power and the water

Before anything else, turn the power off at the isolator and make sure the water supply to the unit is on. Many people close the tap over winter to stop the unit filling and then forget to open it again.

Check the pads

Take the panels off and look at the cooling pads. Good pads are evenly coloured, firm and free of holes. Bad pads are crusty with white mineral deposits, sagging, or have gaps where water isn't running through. Mineral build-up blocks airflow and drops your cooling performance badly. As a rule, pads need replacing every three to five years in our water, sooner if the unit runs hard.

Clean out the tray

The water tray at the base collects dust, leaves and sludge over the season. Drain it, scoop out the debris and wipe it down. A clean tray means clean water going up to the pads, which means no smell in the house.

Test the pump

With the tray refilled, turn the power back on and run the pump only. You should see water distributed evenly across the top of every pad within a minute or two. Dry patches usually mean a blocked distributor pipe – the small holes fill with mineral scale and can often be cleared with a bit of wire and a rinse.

Check the float valve

The float valve controls the water level, just like in a toilet cistern. Watch it fill. The water should stop at the level marked in the tray. If it keeps running and overflows, or shuts off too early and starves the pump, the valve needs adjusting or replacing.

Run a full test cycle

With everything back together, run the cooler on a mild day for 20 minutes with a couple of windows open. Evaporative needs an exit path for the air – that's not optional. Check that the air coming out of the vents feels genuinely cool, that the fan runs smoothly without new rattles, and that there's no musty smell.

When to call us instead

Anything on the roof is worth thinking twice about. If the unit is hard to reach, if the fan is noisy, if the pump won't prime, if there's water leaking into the ceiling or if the pads need replacing, give us a ring. We do pre-season evaporative services across Bendigo and it's a lot cheaper than an emergency visit in January.

Need a hand?

We're a local Bendigo team and we're happy to take a look. Give us a call on (03) 5444 4677 for honest advice and a free quote.