The 'swamp cooler' is an engaging way to keep the house cool. I live in a two-story building built almost 100 years ago and nicely renovated--Fr. Bill is handy with fixing things up, and has many contacts in the fields of carpentry and masonry--with a built-in alternative to air conditioning.
Air is forced over a body of water before being circulated throughout the house. That's the principle behind the system, but to make it work effectively I have to compare temperatures outside the house with those inside at any given time of day, because the system is wasted if the air outside--say, at night--is cooler than the air inside.
At those periods, it is wiser to set the ventilation-control on both the first and second floor to "High Vent" or "Low Vent"--the two speeds that merely circulate the air, without passing it over the body of water in the tank built somewhere within these walls. In the afternoon, on the other hand, windows and doors are shut, blinds are drawn and the air is no longer merely circulated, but drawn over the water by setting the controls at "High Cool" or "Low Cool".
It takes some getting used to, but I find that it works well--and keeps the air moist, as well, which feels better. It's also a good feeling not to be buying air conditioning units, which I associate with contamination of the environment. Our Mission Center, composed of both the building I and another priest, Fr. Dennis, live in, and the neighboring building, similar in structure and age, where Fr. Bill lives, promotes environmental responsibility as an essential aspect of mission today, and there are other signs of this.
The solar panels aren't installed, yet--it's something we've talked about since I first arrived here about three weeks ago--but Fr. Bill has made sure that gravelled areas surround the houses, to permit a return of the water to the earth, and that plants are watered with what is drained away by the swamp cooler systems in each house. Plastic bottles are forbidden. Clothes and sheets are dried in the sun. My fellow priests live a simple life, and the houses are easy to keep clean with so little furniture to clutter things up. The rooms feel cooler, as well, and spacious--no rugs, no curtains (just Venetian blinds).
Cool and simple--it helps, dealing with the hot issues and complex realities of the borderland.
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