Australia · Dry-climate journal
Letter from the desk
Evaporative cooling is not air conditioning with a nicer name. It is a roof-mounted weather machine that trades water, airflow and honesty about humidity for a house that can be lived in when the wheat is ripening and the bitumen goes soft. This journal writes for the people who already know the smell of a wet pad in November.
Cover essay
Health · 27 October 2025
Public guidance is blunt: do not draw smoke indoors. Shut the cooler down, close the vents, and treat the pads as contaminated until you have cleaned or replaced them.
Costs · 18 August 2025
The fan is cheap. The water is the argument. Published Perth and Adelaide figures show how to estimate a household summer without inventing a tariff.
Care · 9 June 2025
A rooftop cooler that skips its annual service will leak, smell, waste water and blow warm air when the first heat arrives. The work is ordinary and it has a season.
Climate · 17 March 2025
Dry easterlies still make Perth evaporative country. Water Corporation’s figures, the Fremantle doctor, hard water and goldfields bleed-reuse habits decide whether the rooftop unit remains a bargain.
Health · 13 October 2025
Fresh washed air helps some households. Damp pads, mould and mineral dust help no one. This is a maintenance and shutdown guide, not medical advice.
Health · 29 September 2025
A working cooler is a whole-house outdoor-air machine. Pads filter some grit and pollen; they do not make a sealed house, and they must not run in smoke.
Costs · 15 September 2025
A cooler cannot outrun a dark tin roof and west glass. Bulk insulation, pelmets, roof colour and night purge decide how many hours the pads must work.
Costs · 1 September 2025
Restrictions are staged, local and changeable. Some regimes have exempted coolers; bleed waste and rainwater still decide whether the machine is decent in a drought.
Costs · 18 August 2025
The fan is cheap. The water is the argument. Published Perth and Adelaide figures show how to estimate a household summer without inventing a tariff.
Care · 4 August 2025
Pads do the cooling. Scale, dry streaks and a sour smell tell you they are finished long before the cabinet looks tired.
Care · 21 July 2025
Bleed-off exists to stop the tank turning into brine. The difference between 11 to 20 litres an hour, 3 litres an hour, and a hose that fills a bucket like a tap is the difference between clean pads and a wasted meter.
Care · 7 July 2025
Most rooftop failures are ordinary: dry pads, a blocked filter, a dying pump, a fan out of balance, a tank that overflows, or a musty smell from a cabinet that sat wet all winter.
Guest book
We commission reported essays from technicians, water planners and householders. Read the guidelines, then send a pitch.