Mother's Niche

Enjoying the Ride

You are here: Home / Household / cleaning / How to Clean, Disinfect a Swamp Cooler {& Make it SMELL GOOD}!

By 41 Comments This post may contain affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.

How to Clean, Disinfect a Swamp Cooler {& Make it SMELL GOOD}!

One day we will have central air.

But that day is not today 🙂 and due to warmer weather that is approaching (can I get a “hoorah!”?) we needed to turn on our swamp cooler the other day. Only here’s the thing with swamp coolers. Ours has never smelled that great. As much as it gets cleaned there always just seems to be this “musty” swamp-cooler smell to it! NOT THIS YEAR! Listen up:

My Swamp cooler finally smells fresh and clean and not the typical "musty" smell I get every year!

If you are fortunate enough like me to own a swamp cooler yourself, here’s a great way to clean and disinfect:

At home with the kids? Instantly access any of these printable activity bundles to keep them learning!

1. Make sure you replace the pads every year. This will make a big difference

2. We then followed the basic steps for cleaning a swamp cooler (on Ehow) but this year I filled a spray bottle with a mixture of vinegar and my favorite essential oils .  I was so pleased with how our house smelled when my husband turned it on!

Here’s what I put in my spray bottle:

  • Vinegar
  • 10 drops of Purify Oil. This oil is known for eliminating odor and cleansing the air…both qualities you really want in a friend…err..swamp cooler.
  • 15 Drops of Citrus Bliss. Okay, so you don’t actually have to use 15 drops, but since I LOVE the smell of this oil, I went to town. I don’t even actually know that it was 15 drops, I kind of just let it drip until I felt satisfied 🙂 If any of you are Jamba Juice fans, this particular oil smells like an Orange Dream Machine Smoothie. I use it for cleaning my kitchen all the time! It cleanses and disinfects, but it’s also known for uplifting moods and reducing stress (and come on! what swamp-cooler owner out there doesn’t want a little mood lifting??).
  • (optional) You can add other oils like Lavendar or Peppermint if you like the smell, but I stuck with just those two.

When my husband turned on the swamp cooler, he walked in the house, smiled and said “do you smell that?” (He knows that I hate our swamp cooler, especially the “swamp cooler” smell).

But this time it smelled lovely! Clean and sanitized, and like Citrus! Hoorah for awesome husbands (and rockin’ essential oils)! Sadly, the blissful citrus smell did eventually wear off, but it wasn’t replaced by a yucky smell, so I am a happy camper! And yes, camper feels like the right word until we one day upgrade! The funny thing is I even had a hard time finding a photo of  a swamp cooler that I could use for this post!

Is there anyone else out there still using a swamp cooler??

Please tell me I’m not alone….

photo credit: RightBrainPhotography via photopin cc

Tina M

Tina M

I'm six-foot tall mother of three and I'm enjoying the view! I'm currently fighting a battle with Lyme disease and am determined to come out victorious. I enjoy warm summer rain, peanut butter everything, having dance parties with my husband and kids, natural remedies and healthy living. Most days I'm just looking for another excuse to avoid the piles of laundry.
Tina M
Tweet
Pin96
Share47
143 Shares

Comments

  1. So glad you finally did it! I miss our swamp cooler mainly because it was SO MUCH CHEAPER to run! My favorite pads were the cedar ones. They smell so good the first week after changing them, like freshly chopped wood!

    Reply

    • Amazon…………. I spray pads with Lysol Linen scent. Put a touch 1/4 cup Lysol liquid in water.

  2. Use my swamp cooler from May to sometimes late September…live in Palm Springs (and MUCH cheaper to operate than AC). I have a service that cleans them, etc. I have a very keen sense of smell so oils, etc would drive me nuts, but as my water is cycled out and refreshed every 8 hours, it’s not a problem. My pads are 4 year pads (I splurged about two years ago for one of the best models.
    However this is great info for my friends, Thanks!

    Reply

  3. We live in Tucson, so use the swamp cooler until, or if we get monsoon rains. I love having the house open when the winds aren’t blowing (I swear we have become the Chicago of the southwest in the last few years).

    Reply

    • I love having the house open too! I was listening to birds singing this morning for at least 20 minutes. Made me feel cheery 🙂

  4. We have lived with a swamp cooler for the last 4 years! I didn’t even think of cleaning it! Duh! I am definitely going to get my swamp cooler smelling awesome this year!

    Reply

    • Haha, it’s ok! My sister laughed at us when we told her we didn’t know we were supposed to replace the pads every year!

  5. I love my swamp coolers. They save so much money in the summer. I use a refrigerated window a/c on damp days, but when weather is dry, I love the air blowing through the house. It is usually dry here in WTX.i have used liquid fabric softener to smell good and help with water scale. I do clean the box every year at the beginning and end of summer. I like the smell of the pine pads, but this year I am using hypoallergenic pads I got at Lowes. I an going to try a drop or two of essential oils inside the box. Thanks for the tip!

    Reply

  6. I use bleach in mine which disinfects and gets rid of the algae smell and the bleach smell doesn’t last long at all.

    Reply

  7. Where do you get cedar pads? I live in the ABQ, NM area (been here 30+ years) and have never seen them — we buy the double thick aspen pads every year and love the smell. But this year the “fish tank needs to be cleaned” smell is BAD. The “purge” system is okay if you have enough water in the area, but don’t want to do that when we have a severe/extreme drought.

    I had a plumber warn me never to use bleach in a swampy as it corrodes the metal if not fully flushed out.

    So I’ll try the essential oils — just not the vanilla — I’d be hungry all the time!

    Reply

    • Hi, also in ABQ and new pads put in and the swampy smell is overwhelming, sadly just a hint of new wood smell from aspen pads but too much of the swamp smell. Thx for letting me know bleach may corrode, so I will also try my essential oils up there.

  8. I use citric acid for cleaning the paper pad. Some people say it is good and others say it damages the pads. For me it works well and cleans the calcium off. Anybody have any comments on this?

    Reply

  10. We also have a swamp cooler. Just started smelling bad today. Thanks for the info. I am getting the citrus bliss and purifying oil tomorrow!!!

    Reply

    • Totally agree! When I start smelling that wet dog scent I take my ladder out, flush out the water and pads, give it just a quick rub down with a rag (no soaps, just water) give it a final rinse, then fill that bad boy up and smell is all gone! 🙂

  11. How much vinegar do you use in your spray bottle? The eHow says to use 1 gallon and let it soak in the reservoir, how do you use the spray bottle?

    Reply

  12. I love the picture of your swamp cooler, as it gave me an idea to put a solar panel on ours. Thanks for that, the electric is not very consistent where i am. My husband and I just bought one. I am amazed at how cool it makes the air. I would not have believed such a simple system worked so well. Its as good as AC. Its 40 degrees here at the moment, but it drops the temp by more than 10 degrees. My husband just put lysol disinfectant in the water so I was looking to see if it was ok (as i was worried about breathing in lysol fumes), i might try vinegar and citrus oil. I guess essential oils like that also help avoid things like mosquito breeding in there.I hear the ancient egyptians used this system for cooling air. Piping it into rooms.This thing is great, I can finally stop wearing wet tshirts to bed and get a good nights sleep.

    Reply

  13. If you are looking into getting central air, keep your swamp cooler!!!!

    When we moved into this house, it had both a swamp cooler and central air. I thought I would love the central air and looked forward to using it, but I found that it has distinct disadvantages. After a couple weeks of central air use, I noticed that everyone in the family had dry skin problems, all my house plants where shriveling, and my hair was very static.

    Every house gets a funky smell once in a while and the central air seemed to trap that smell inside and multiply it. Scented candles worked in localized areas for a while, but the house just smelled (maybe that’s because I have a much higher boys to girls ratio in my house, with all the dirty socks that implies).

    Within a month, we got the first electric bill since the central air had been running and we turned it off immediately. I cleaned the swamper in a similar manner to what is suggested in this post, replaced the pads, and on it went. House smelled wonderful with all the boy funk being blown right out the cracked open windows. The swamper also works wonders when I manage to burn something for dinner which is more often than I would like to admit.

    The house stays cool with the swamper running except on extremely hot and humid days (about 10 a year) when I turn off the swamper and on the central air, just for those days. No skin problems with the nice, fresh, humid air blowing through the house. This would be a totally different story if I lived in a humid area, but outside humidity here is rarely above 45%, pretty much only on rainy days when it is cooler outside anyway.

    I’m glad I have both central air and a swamp cooler and will not remove either one.

    Reply

  14. Swamp coolers are alive and well. I’ve been using one for 15 years. The only drawback is the wet dog odor I get occasionally. I change my filters 2-3 times a season, because that odor is due to biological contaminants in the natural filters I use.

    Reply

  15. My first year and I love it, except for the wet dog odor, that being said as soon as that smell starts it’s because of the standing water is turning to algee. Clean and add vinagar to the bottom as it’s filling the pan.and it’s fine. I use about a 1/2 cup of vinagar.

    Reply

  16. We have used a swamp cooler for 24 years in the same house. This is the first year we have had the wet dog smell and it is horrible. We installed a water softener and water purifier in the house before the beginning of the hot season. This must have something to do with the smell as we have never had it in all the years we have owned this house. Gag I cant stand it! I will try some of your suggestions.

    Reply

  17. Yes we’ve had one since last Summer. In my area people have’em cause it’s cheaper than running an ac!

    Reply

  18. Swamp cleaning

    The way you clean and make the swamp cooler smell better according to you is just masking the bad bacteria growing in there. The especial oils that you are emphasizing to use makes the bacteria grow and reproduce faster. So, before you tell people how to do something wrong, just investigate it to see if what you are doing is good or bad, in your case everything you said is bad. Typically the swamp coolers smell bad because they have bacteria and in need to be thoroughly clean, which means taking it apart and wash it with bleach and white vinegar and you do these steps every couple months at least, better yet sooner! Also you need to go buy a couple of things from the hardware store to give care to last a long time. First you need to buy a packet of scale eliminator, it will get rid of your scale in the water which, it will save your pipes and equipment from getting clogged. Also you may buy a tablet called “fresh air” it will give the water a fresh sent and keeps the water cooler. Also you could just add a bleach table made for toilets and that will keep the bacteria from growing. This is it. Do things the right way once and you will do less work at the end and you’ll have good results. This sections needs to hire someone like me. Experienced and knowledgeable about just everything you need in life even counseling.

    Reply

    • I think Frank should take his own advice and research before claiming to be knowledgeable. Essential oils have anti-bacterial properties with some even killing bacteria. The poster stated that the swamp cooler was cleaned based on steps on Ehow. So Frank should read more carefully and research advice before espousing incorrect information since most his post is irrelevant or incorrect.

  19. Hi –

    I live in Colorado where the climate is pretty dry in the summer, so I have always used a swamp cooler rather than an AC unit, since they are much cheaper to run. I have my cooler in a shady spot, and when the outside temps get into the upper 90’s, I can keep the house at 80F. The “swamp” smell is the only downside, but it sounds like a couple of drops of essential oils after a good cleaning with vinegar should take care of the problem. From other research, it sounds like bleach is a no-go, and any other chemicals that wind up in the water will be dispersed throughout the house, so I am hesitant to try anything like toilet products or other things along those lines. I recently found some information on using a Zinc Anode bar to help keep the bacteria levels down, and I am trying that this year as well. Thanks for the good tips –

    Reply

  20. I use the straw for pads but for some reason the straw is clogging the slats on the side walls. I live in Arizona And the unit works great outside of this problem. Change pads once a year. Anyone else have this problem.

    Reply

  21. I live in the Denver area and replaced an old rusted, 3-sided cooler with a Mastercool big boy with the fancy 8″ media last weekend and it simply smells noxious. My daughter got a headache from the smell. I came across this article in desparation to find a cure. Now, Frank, from a month ago, may have some good advice, but what about a brand new cooler that has a smell? It just did NOT have time to grow bacteria. I’m going to try some of your ideas first. I mentioned the essential oils, vinegar, and the lavender oil to my wife and she said we “have ’em all”.
    Great, I’ll let you know how it goes. Thanks for sharing your tips.

    Reply

    • Tony,

      We have the same problem with 12 inch Kuul media. Brand new with water in the pan for one hour before installation of media. Kuul says it will just go away after several hours of being wet and flushing water. I’m skeptical. How did it go with your cooler?

      Thanks,

      Houyhnhnm

  22. Yay for swamp coolers for those wanting to reduce their carbon foot print! Thanks for the cleaning tutorial. This is my 2nd summer using. Two friends convinced me and helped install s low profile window unit it’s awesome for my 900 sf cottage. I’m setting up last summer’s portable swamp cooler outside! Life must go on at 95°…gotta get ready for weird hot/cold weather for our beloved Earth.

    Reply

  23. We went high end in Albuquerque, NM, and have had Master Cool for over 20 years. Somewhere in there, I think, they got bought out and changed names. The first unit lasted over 10 years and we are on year 12 with the second unit. Massively better cooling than the flimsy pads and a lot less maintenance than the cheap unit that came with the house.

    We replaced the media today (what MasterCool uses instead of the flimsy pads). Samon’s carries the Kuul line and we bought that, but I’m thinking we maybe should have looked harder for genuine MasterCool. The moment they were wet, they reeked with a chemical smell (not swampy, more like solvent) as I stood beside them. The Kuul website claims this “minor” issue is just dust from manufacturing and it will go away after the pads are wet for several hours, then flush the cooler pan “until the odor goes away.” I don’t trust a company that will minimize a sickening solvent-like smell, so I’m thinking I should soak them in a tub, hose them down, and dry them in the sun repeatedly. Has anyone had a similar experience, and if so did it really clear up quickly, and how did you deal with it? I am sensitive to solvents and some other poisons. New carpet will make my throat tighten up and nasal drip, along with the horrible smell. Worse is the glue that’s used to tack down carpet in commercial settings.

    Thanks,

    Houyhnhnm

    Reply

  24. I rent,so I have to depend on them, my swamp cooler is old, the pads are like a weaved mesh and the pump sucks water from the bottom pan, my apartment is small, I would love to use it but makes me sick, had one growing up was awesome, this is horrible, anything I can put in the water while using it to help my breathing problems

    Reply

  26. I love having a swamp cooler. We live in Vegas where it’s HOT & usually dry. Ours is a window cooler that we run the water from a large tote into the cooler & the drip line runs back into the tote so no waste. I tried putting vinegar in the water, but it drew bugs; it’s great to clean with though. I’ve put essential oils in it, but read that the oils are corrosive to the internal of the cooler. I’ve used lemon juice as that kills bacteria, mold, & smells good. Right now I’m using hydrogen peroxide. I love the open windows, clean smell, and LOW electric bills. Ours may go up to $90 in a hot month, but never more. Usually stays around $50.

    Reply

  27. Hydrogen Peroxide, Your best choice. !!!
    Reduces scale, Kills germs and bacteria, smells fresh and clean.
    Be sure and use 35% Food Grade product.
    Available online, cheep and effective. Be careful of FAKE products, lot of scammers out there.
    About 1/2 cup to 1 cup every cuppel months depending on the size of your cooler does the trick

    Reply

What do you think?

Join the Mother’s Niche