What Does Ducted Evaporative Cooling Cost to Install?

Evaporative cooling remains the cheapest way to cool a whole house in this part of the country, both to install and to run, and it is worth knowing what a fair price looks like before you start collecting quotes.

For a typical home, a new ducted evaporative system generally runs somewhere around $3,000 to $6,000 fully installed. Larger homes, difficult roof access, or a complete set of new ductwork will sit above that. A straight like-for-like replacement, where sound ducting is already in place, sits at the lower end.

What moves the price

**Capacity.** Evaporative sizing is about airflow, not kilowatts. The unit has to move enough air to change over the volume of the house several times an hour. A bigger or higher-ceilinged home needs a bigger unit, and undersizing to save a few hundred dollars is the most expensive mistake available, because no amount of servicing fixes it later.

**Number of outlets and ductwork.** Every outlet is materials and labour. Where the house already has ducting in reasonable condition, retaining it takes a substantial slice out of the price. Where the ducting is decades old, crushed or badly insulated, replacing it is the honest recommendation.

**Pad type.** Aspen pads are cheaper up front and need replacing more often. Rigid media pads cost more initially, last considerably longer and generally cool more effectively. Across the life of the unit, the rigid media option is usually the better value, particularly on harder water.

**Water, drainage and power at the unit.** The unit needs a water supply, somewhere for bleed-off to go, and power. Where those are already at the position, it is a small item. Where a new run is needed, it is not.

**Roof type and access.** A steep pitch, an elevated block or a fragile older roof all change the access equipment and the time on site.

Three things quotes leave out

First, removal and disposal of the old unit — ask whether it is included or whether it is being left for you to deal with.

Second, the relief path. Evaporative pushes outside air into the house continuously and that air has to get out. In an older home with gaps everywhere it looks after itself. In a newer, well-sealed house it does not, and if nobody plans for relief the system will underperform from day one. This almost never appears on a quote and it should be discussed.

Third, the outlet layout. If the existing layout was wrong — too few outlets, or positions that let air short-circuit straight back out of the room it entered — connecting a new unit to it buys you the same disappointment with a newer badge on it.

Running costs

This is where evaporative earns its keep. The machine is essentially a fan and a water pump, so electricity consumption is a fraction of a refrigerated system's. The trade-off is water, consumed continuously while running, which is a genuine consideration for households on tank water through a dry January.

If your summers are comfortable and open windows are not a problem, that combination is difficult to beat on cost. If the system regularly gives up on humid days, that is a limitation of the technology rather than a pricing question — and refrigerated is the conversation to have instead.