Reply #13: Isn't it the evaporation that gives the cooling in a evaporative cooler? [View All]

So you would need dry hot air for one to work very good and not dry cool air. Not much evaporation going on when the temp is low no matter the moisture content of that air. As a kid we cooled our house with an evaporative cooler and it worked the best when it was setting out in the hot sun so as to increase the evaporation of the water from the water saturated filter. The hotter as well as dryer the air is the more evaporation there is and with each bit of water turned to vapor goes with it heat being remove from the air making it cooler. The amount of cooling is directly proportional to the amount of evaporation so increase that and you have more cool air so I don't think your idea will help much but will only increase the complexity and cost of cooling. Use an air conditioner in humid places and a evaporative cooler in less humid places but for the most part not the two together except where noted.

From wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

An evaporative cooler (also swamp cooler, desert cooler, and wet air cooler) is a device that cools air through the simple evaporation of water. Evaporative cooling differs from air conditioning by refrigeration and absorptive refrigeration, which use vapor-compression or absorption refrigeration cycles. In the United States, the use of the term swamp cooler may be due to the odor of algae produced by early units.<1> Air washers and wet cooling towers use the same principles as evaporative coolers, but are optimized for purposes other than air cooling.

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 Fresno where sufficient water is available. Evaporative air conditioning is also popular and well suited to the southern (temperate) part of Australia. In dry, arid climates, the installation and operating cost of an evaporative cooler can be much lower than refrigerative air conditioning, often by 80% or so. However, evaporative cooling and vapor-compression air conditioning are sometimes used in combination to yield optimal cooling results. Some evaporative coolers may also serve as humidifiers in the heating season.

In moderate humidity locations there are many cost-effective uses for evaporative cooling, in addition to their widespread use in dry climates. For example, industrial plants, commercial kitchens, laundries, dry cleaners, greenhouses, spot cooling (loading docks, warehouses, factories, construction sites, athletic events, workshops, garages, and kennels) and confinement farming (poultry ranches, hog, and dairy) all often employ evaporative cooling. In highly humid climates, evaporative cooling may have little thermal comfort benefit beyond the increased ventilation and air movement it provides.

The bolding is mine and I'm not sure where they are going with that. Maybe it's what you're talking about but I suspect it is used to remove some of the heat from the hot side of an air conditioner, in other words the same as locating the airconditioner in a cooler location where more heat can be liberated from the hot outside coils which would increase the amount of cooling on the inside coils.

From this I will say that the two will work together for a common cause if the evaporative cooler is located on the condenser (hot) end of the air conditioner and not on the evaporater {cool} end.