No water at spring start-up: the freeze split your line, and here is what it costs

No water at start-up almost always means the supply line froze and split over the winter. It is the single most common spring repair on Albuquerque coolers, and it is entirely preventable. The repair runs $100 to $300 with the $150 to $350 service call, and it goes higher only if the same freeze also took the pan or the pump.

Check this first

Open the supply valve slowly and listen. Water audibly running inside the wall, in the attic, or on the roof with a dry pan tells you where the split is before anyone climbs.
Look at the pan. Bone dry with the valve open is a split line or a float stuck closed. Full and still, with dry pads, is a pump problem instead; that is the pump not pumping page.
Follow the line. The classic split is on the vertical run up an exterior wall, at a bend, or at the compression fitting into the cooler. Look for a green stain on copper or a split seam in poly tubing.
Check the shutoff. Sometimes the answer is simply that someone closed the valve at shutdown and nobody opened it. That is a free fix and you will be told so.
Look for winter damage nearby. A line that split usually did so because the cooler was not drained, which means the pan held water through the freeze too. Check for rust at the seams while you are up there.

What is usually wrong

What you find	Likely cause	Fix and cost
Water running inside the wall, dry pan	Split on the vertical supply run	Line repair, $100 to $300
Wet spot at the cooler fitting	Compression fitting split at the ferrule	Repaired with the visit
Dry pan, no water anywhere, valve open	Split line or float stuck closed	Line $100 to $300 or float $100 to $250
Dry pan, valve closed	Shutoff never reopened after winter	Free
Water arrives, pump does nothing	Pump seized or burned over winter	Pump $150 to $400
Rust or holes at the pan seams	Pan held water through the freeze	Replacement conversation

Same ranges as the pricing page.

Why the valley splits first

Freeze dates in this metro are not one number, they are a map. Daily minimum temperature records from NOAA cooperative stations for 1996 through 2025 show the Albuquerque Sunport averaging its first fall freeze on November 5 with about 91 freezing nights a year. Down on the valley floor the Albuquerque Valley station averages October 24 with about 124 freezing nights, the Rio Grande Nature Center station averages October 21, and Corrales averages October 16 with about 144 freezing nights. Los Lunas averages October 15. East over the pass, the Moriarty station averages October 7.

Cold air drains downhill and pools on the valley floor on calm, clear nights, which is why a house three miles from the airport can freeze two weeks earlier than the airport does. If you scheduled your shutdown off the Sunport number, you scheduled it late. The earliest fall freeze in that record at the valley stations is late September.

What it costs to skip a shutdown

A $100 to $200 fall shutdown shuts the water, drains the line and the pan, dries or pulls the pads, covers the unit, and seals the damper. Skipping it buys a $100 to $300 line repair, often a $150 to $400 pump, sometimes a pan, and a week without a cooler during the first hot stretch in May when every schedule in town is full. That is the entire economics of the thing.

When it is not worth fixing

If the freeze that split the line also rusted the pan through, stop repairing. A patched pan on a cooler that is already fifteen years old buys one season. New roof-mount and side-draft units are $1,500 to $4,000 installed on the installation page, window units $600 to $1,500, and a down-draft or side-draft with 12 inch rigid media currently qualifies for a PNM rebate of up to $400.

What to expect on the call

Say what happened when you opened the valve and whether you heard water where there should not be any. Our trucks carry line, fittings, and shutoffs, so most of these finish on the first visit. Ask for a drainable shutoff while we are there, because the reason this repeats every few years is a valve that cannot fully drain the line above it. Then book the $120 to $250 spring start-up and the fall shutdown as a pair and stop thinking about it.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why is there no water at my swamp cooler in April when it worked in September?

Because the quarter inch supply line still had water in it when the first hard freeze arrived. Water expands as it freezes and splits the line, usually at a bend, a fitting, or the section running up an exterior wall. Nobody notices until the valve gets opened in spring and water goes somewhere it should not.

How much does it cost to repair a split swamp cooler water line?

$100 to $300 for the line repair, done with the $150 to $350 service call. If the split flooded the pan through the winter you may also be buying a pump at $150 to $400, and a rusted pan turns the whole visit into a replacement conversation.

When should I have drained it to avoid this?

It depends where in the metro you are. NOAA cooperative station records for 1996 to 2025 put the average first fall freeze at November 5 at the Sunport but October 24 in the Albuquerque Valley, October 21 near the Rio Grande Nature Center, and October 16 in Corrales. The earliest recorded fall freeze at the valley stations is late September. Mid-October is the safe answer on the valley floor.

Can I just cap the line and run the cooler off a hose?

People do it and it works for a season, but a hose across a hot roof degrades, and a garden hose left pressurized is a bigger leak than the one you were avoiding. Repairing the line properly and installing a drainable shutoff costs about the same and ends the problem.