Showerthought: I was cleaning my swamp cooler pads the wrong way for 3 summers

Elliot Ross · 2026-10-16T22:25:05.237342+00:00

I used to just hose off the aspen pads every spring and call it good, and they would always look like gray mush by July. Last weekend my neighbor Dave from down the street watched me out back with the hose and said flat out, those things are done, you are basically growing algae in there. I pulled the panels and the bottom tray had about an inch of black sludge and the pads were crusty with hard water scale from our water here in the Northeast Heights. What finally tipped me off was the house never getting below 78 on a 100 degree day even with the cooler running all afternoon. Dave told me he swaps his pads every single May and it takes him 20 minutes, and I had been fighting the same pads for three summers trying to make them last. I finally replaced all four pads for 22 bucks at the hardware store and the difference was wild, the house hit 71 that same evening. Has anyone else been stretching their pads way too long or is it just me?

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Showerthought: I was cleaning my swamp cooler pads the wrong way for 3 summers | Albuquerque Homeowners - Discusd