I just installed new mastercool pads for my evaporative cooler. Even though they've had more than a week to break in, they still put off a smell, something like urine. I put in a product that came in round form that was supposed to help with the smell, but it really hasn't. Any suggestions?
The cellulose pads in a mastercool are glued together and usually the adhesive is what you smell. It may take a while for it to go away. Strange as it may seem, as the pads get more mineralization and you use it more the smell will go away. Do not use a cooler for your whole house without plenty of exhaust through a window or an updux. Coolers work best when there is plenty of freely moving air.
Try draining the cooler at least once a day for a week you will see the smell will diminish rapidly
I have this same problem and my husband can't smell the "urine" smell :/ our previous house had a different swamp cooler and the new pads had a vague "citrus" smell. I now know that the smell at my elderly friend's house is the cooler - not some personal problem.
Our smelled like a nursing home for a few days (brand new pads) finally smell went away!!
My mother in law, has the same smell of urine, on top of "breaking in the pads" is there anything we can add to the water that has been used by others? WE are going to drain and clean it out and put in fresh water, however I think it just needs to be continuelly used and it will go away.
any new suggestions?
When water is first introduced to the cooler the glue that holds the media together may emit an odor that smells offensive. This smell will go away after the media has been soaked well and rinsed. Run the pump long enough to wet out the pads and then dump the water. Repeat the process. Finally you can add a cap full of Downy liquid fabric softener to the water before restarting your cooler. This should make the smell go away.
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My system has a purge pump (clean machine is the brand). It has a manual activation switch on the top.
When I change the pads, I unplug the pump and the purge pump from the controller inside the cooler and just plug them into a extension cord. The main pump will then just run all the time that way but the blower won't run. After you cleaned out the pan and refilled it, and replaced the pads, let the pump run for 10 or 15 minutes and then use the purge pump to pump out the pan and then put fresh water in. You'll notice that the water coming out of the purge pump is very foamy. Repeat this five for six times until most of the foam goes away and the smell will be very much diminished. Then plug the pumps back into the control panel and turn on your blower.
This was quite a bad surprise for me too, as I had my pads replaced during a very hot spell in Arizona and was unable to use them because of the smell.
It is now one month later: The smell actually did go away. In fairness I will say the pads seem to work well. However I stick by my earlier statement that I think its very important that the information about the smell be posted on the box to help consumers make a decision. I would not buy this product again. But my budget did not allow me to follow the advice of the man who suggested I just go buy another brand. $90 was pricey for me for these pads. What ended up working was only using the cooler when i wasnt home( my poor cat) and slowly slowly the smell disapated. It definately took longer than 10 days though.
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i have the same freakin problem, smells like a dog or a cat urinated on the freakin pad and makes me angry.
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