imanerdchick
they make hot dry air wetter. If you live in a humid climate, it will make you miserable.

Ruthie
No! Didn't you see that CSI episode??

EasyShopper
Swamp coolers work best where the air is hot and dry. For most of the Northern and Eastern USA this is not the case. They work well in Arizona, Nevada, Utah, New Mexico. According to Wikipedia: Evaporative cooling is especially well suited for climates where the air is hot and humidity is low. For example, in the United States, the western/mountain states are good locations, with swamp coolers very prevalent in cities like Denver, Salt Lake City, Albuquerque, El Paso, Tucson and Phoenix, where sufficient water is available. Evaporative air conditioning is also popular and well suited to the southern (temperate) part of Australia. In dry climates, the installation and operating cost of an evaporative cooler can be much lower than refrigerative air conditioning, often by 80% or so. But evaporative cooling and vapor-compression air conditioning are sometimes used in combination to yield optimal performance. Some evaporative coolers may also serve as humidifiers in the heating season.

mike1942f
No swamp cooler does much good if the humidity is middling or higher - they work by cooling the air with the heat of evaporation of the water. As such they will work fine whether stuck in a window or not, but raise the humidity where they are aimed. You get somewhat cool soggy air. Obviously a closed sealed space would quickly get saturated so they are more likely to help in a garage, shop or patio.

Thomas
I've never heard of portable swamp coolers but that sounds probable. Swamp coolers take in air, force the air through a wet mesh sheet, and blows out the cooled, moist, air. I would think it would be bulky and inconvenient but you never know these days. One thing you need to know is that swamp cooler only work in hot, DRY, climates. You don't want to use a swamp cooler in a swamp. Good luck and stay cool.