Champion, Essick and AeroCool Swamp Coolers

Three brand names cover most of what is bolted to Pueblo roofs. Champion and Essick are the aspen media side of one company; AeroCool is Phoenix Manufacturing’s rigid media line and a separate manufacturer entirely. Knowing which you have decides pad type, part numbers, and whether you can reach the larger Black Hills Energy rebate. Any dollar figure below also appears on our pricing page.

Champion and Essick: the aspen line

Essick Air Products and Champion Cooler Corporation share a trademark family that includes Essick Air, Champion, MasterCool, UltraCool, Super Wick, Masterstat and AIRCARE, and Champion’s parts catalog labels most items with a “previously Essick part number.” If your cooler says Essick and the part list says Champion, you are in the right place.

Champion’s own description of its aspen pads holds up: shredded aspen bound in plastic netting, built to spread water evenly over the face of the pad without sagging or leaving hot spots. Without that netting, water tends to find one path down the pad and leave the rest dry.

The ducted residential models are 3000 DD/SD, 4001 DD/SD, 5000 DD and 5000 SD, where DD is down discharge and SD is side discharge. Coverage by cooling zone runs from 1,100 square feet on a 3000 down to 2,400 on a 5000 DD in the most favorable zone. How much air you actually get depends on the motor and the static pressure in the duct; fitted with a 3/4 horsepower motor, a 5000 DD is rated at 4,780 CFM at 0.1 inches of static and 3,780 at 0.5. Motors ship separately on ducted units. Window units are WCM28, RWC35, RWC44, RWC46 and RWC50, fully assembled with the motor mounted and leveling legs included.

On an older Champion, two lines from the warranty can swing the repair-or-replace call, so keep them handy. Champion’s ducted coolers carry a one year limited warranty on parts and, importantly, a 12 year limited warranty on the bottom pan against leakage due to rust-through. So a Champion under twelve years old with a weeping pan deserves a warranty question before anybody, us included, prices a replacement.

Part names that help us bring the right part

Champion’s catalog uses specific names, and using them saves a second trip:

• Aspen pads are sold by dimension, not model: 20-1/2 by 21, 22 by 27, 27-3/4 by 22-3/4, 27-1/2 by 27-3/4, 27 by 54, and 32-3/4 by 36-1/4 inches. Measure before ordering.
• Pumps: the UL7500 Residential Pump with its mesh screen for 115 volt, the UL7500-2 for 240 volt, the 14-34 pump screen, and a range of industrial pumps. Purge options include the MCP44 purge pump UL5000 and the Clean Machine purge pump.
• Floats: the Float Valve Assembly is part 502389, and there is also a 3/8 inch industrial float.
• Blower bearings, listed by shaft and series: a 3/4 inch, a 1 inch inside diameter (the old Essick 60PB), a 1 inch industrial for the 100 Series blower (Essick 583004), a 1-3/16 inch for the 150 Series (583001), and a spider bearing assembly. This is the part behind most squeal and rattle calls.
• Motors: 175-20 is the 1/3 HP single speed, 175-25 the 1/3 HP two speed, 175-30 the 1/2 HP single speed, and 175-40 the 3/4 HP single speed; each also carries an old Essick number.
• Controls: the rotary switch, the Masterstat low voltage thermostat, the 27-132 pump receptacle, and the 27-139 five-wire motor receptacle. These are what a no-power call usually comes down to.

AeroCool: Phoenix Manufacturing’s rigid media

AeroCool comes from Phoenix Manufacturing in Phoenix, Arizona, a company that has been building evaporative coolers for more than 50 years. The residential line is single-inlet and comes in three discharges: TD or PD for down, TH or PH for side, and TUP for up. Put a U in front and you have the UL Listed model, which makes UTD6801C the UL Listed version of the down-discharge 6801. A standard AeroCool comes with a 120 volt pump, and you buy the motor separately; a Pro Series is shipped with the pump, a two-speed motor, and the Pro-Stat thermostat already installed at the factory.

These are Phoenix’s published figures, and they are what matter when choosing:

Note what the 12 inch media costs you in airflow and buys you in cooling: the 4812 moves less air than the 4801 at the same rating because thicker media resists more, but it saturates far better. By Phoenix’s own numbers, saturation efficiency is 80 percent with 8 inch media, 89 percent with 12 inch, and 93 percent on the Pro Series 4 by 4.

AeroCool’s features have plain-English equivalents worth knowing: the Pro-Armor liner is a polymeric shell around the wet section that keeps water off steel, Flomate is the water distribution system, Peblar XT is the powder coat, and the Pro-Clean System drains and washes the unit daily, which Phoenix says can save thousands of gallons over a season compared with a continuous bleed-off. The Pro-Shield panel is the factory winter cover.

The rebate line runs straight through these specs

Black Hills Energy’s 2026 Colorado rebate application pays $150 for any qualifying evaporative cooler rated 2,500 CFM or more, $450 for a central duct system at 85 percent media saturation or better, and $1,200 for a whole house cooler with 85 percent media, periodic purge water control, and remote thermostat control feeding at least four supply ducts.

Line those requirements up against the specs above and the answer is unambiguous. An aspen Champion 5000 DD clears 2,500 CFM easily and earns $150, and no aspen unit reaches 85 percent saturation. An 8 inch AeroCool at 80 percent also stops at $150. A 12 inch AeroCool at 89 percent or a Pro Series at 93 percent clears the saturation bar, and the Pro Series adds exactly the two extras the top tier asks for: the Pro-Clean purge and the Pro-Stat thermostat. That is a $1,050 difference on the same job. On a San Isabel Electric meter in Rye or Beulah, the co-op pays a flat $200 regardless, so the calculus changes.

For the rigid media line from the Champion and Essick family, see the MasterCool page. The rebates and permits page has the full 2026 tables and who issues the permit for your address.