My swamp cooler quit on the hottest day of the year, and I learned something about the pads

Emery Owens · 2026-09-29T17:50:05.483024+00:00

So last Tuesday it hit 102 here in the Heights and my swamp cooler just stopped blowing cold. I went up on the roof around 6pm and found the pads were basically crusted solid with that hard water scale, like rock. I ran to the hardware store on Juan Tabo before they closed and grabbed a new set for $23, plus a $9 tube of pad cleaner. Here is the thing nobody tells you, the old pads were only two summers old, but I guess our water is just brutal on them. Took me about an hour to swap them out and bleed the line, and it was blowing cold again by 8. Now I'm wondering if I should just replace them every spring no matter what. How often are you all swapping yours out, and does the pad cleaner actually help or am I wasting money?

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My swamp cooler quit on the hottest day of the year, and I learned something about the pads | Albuquerque Homeowners - Hub Chatter