cooling your tent or van

[FIGJAM]

Just put 8gal. in and turned it on so Ill let you know later today. Im guessing 1/2 to 1gal per hr., but we will see.

[FIGJAM]

Just checked the total amp draw on all three speeds. Low 250cfm 1.44amps, mediem 500cfm 2.08amps, high 900cfm 2.95amps.

[FIGJAM]

In 2 1/2 hours, water used 2gals.

[FIGJAM]

Slite miscalculation. Cooler holds just shy of 6gals. Lasted 7hrs.

[capjbadger]

Ahhh ok. That makes sense. I kept racking my brain trying to figure out how you were getting 8gal into that thing.

Hmm... so about .86 gallons an hour. Good to know. Water is heavy and i need to plan out roughly how much to bring.

Thanks

-Badger

[FIGJAM]

That was a guess as I just put water in a 5gal. bucket to fill the cooler and since the fawcett was about a 100ft away, I did that twice and must of had 3gals. per trip. This time I emtied the cooler and used a 1gal. jug. Pored that in and measured (1 1/4in.) then put hash marks up the inside to see what it would hold. 6 marks, 6 gal. right to the bottom of the holes on the sides. The more exposed pad area, the more water its gonna use due to more evap.

[Nitevenus]

I've been watching this thread for awhile now as a fellow Arizonan is posting his work and I've been wanting to ask my bro who is an HVAC tech to come up with something for me, I've got to show him this one! Thanks FIGJAM, yes, you ARE good.... Oh, and if this is your first year, what a way to gift before you get there.

[FIGJAM]

I got a thurmometer that I could put right in the water and it read 58 degrees. When I stick my hand in the water it feels alot colder then that. How cold does beer need to be when its 100 degrees outside? Might put a warm one in there and chill it for a test. Testing, testing, tasting, tasting.

[FIGJAM]

Some of you have wondered about useing ice chest water or grey water for your cooler. My concern would be bacteria in the water growing on the pad when the cooler isnt running. Simple fix! Harvest gray water where ever you can find it, then add a couple of tablespoons of bleach per gal. of gray water. Shouldnt let the cooler turn into a giant petre dish and wont smell like bleach. Walking camp to camp with an empty 5gal. bucket asking if they have ice chest or gray water thier not useing should be a great adventure and conversation starter...........lol

[yellowdog]

Safest way would be to freeze water in milk jugs for your cooler ice. That way, no chance of contamination from cooler items. And, you have cold water to drink as it melts, as well as safe swamp cooler water.

Last year we used alum (it clumps particulates and they fall to the bottom)(just about a teaspoon per 5 gallon bucket) to rapidly settle our grey water including shower water , decanted off the clear water which was then treated with bleach as you suggested. Gave the bleach time to dissipate. We then used that for playa dust abatement, but it certainly seemed clean enough to use in the swamp coolers. We didn't, because we were uncomfortable about the potential of aerosolizing bacteria into our lungs. Not worth the risk, we decided. YMMV.

[whaleboy]

last year, chuck made this awesome swamp cooler that used no drip system at all, just a superefficient wicking material set with it's bottom end in a reservoir of water. The wicking membrane was something from a humidifier. It wicked well enough that the water drew up into the membrane on its own. It was also set up with a/c intake air filters so the dust didn't kill the whole operation. Come see ten coolers like this this year at Camp Wet Dreams! Take a midday nap in the air-conditioned shade!

Ok but seriously- figjam- have you experimented with putting your cooler both inside and outside the cooled region? Was there an appreciable difference in the degree of cooling? I want to know since we're going heavy into swamp coolers and want to know.

[FIGJAM]

If its inside the structure it will work untill it builds up the humidity inside the structure because the evaporation stops when it gets humid due to lack of evaporation. Thats how the cooling takes place. When the monsoons hit here and the humidity gets to 50% thier basicaly just blowing air. Thats why a sealed space with just enough venting works best. Too much outside air in a fairly open stucture will make it hard to cool unless you stand right in front of your cooler. Hope this anwered you question.

[FIGJAM]

Oh....my buissiness partner took the bucket cooler to the corner to peddle cactus so she wouldnt have to use the air conditioning in the truck. It worked great (105 degrees outside), but after awhile it started to feel like a sauna because of the buildup of humidity. She had it sitting on the passenger side floorboard. Once she cracked the windows a little it worked fine.

[whaleboy]

sort of. I'm figuring on keeping the coolers outside the cooled structures to maximize their efficiency, cold air ducted in, but then again you get direct sun on your cooler which can screw up the process.

[FIGJAM]

No.....most of the coolers here are mounted on the roofs of the houses and are in totel sun all day, but if you set up a little shade over your coolers it will help a little. I dont know of any material that will wick fast enough or thurogh enough to work the way you discribe, but I do know that I dont know everything so best of luck with wick cooling.

[whaleboy]

sort of. I'm figuring on keeping the coolers outside the cooled structures to maximize their efficiency, cold air ducted in, but then again you get direct sun on your cooler which can screw up the process.

[whaleboy]

yeah, I don't know what the stuff is called, but it totally worked last year. It was 20 degrees cooler on the inside of the tent.

[FIGJAM]

Id love to see a pic of it. See how porse it is for my purpose.

[FIGJAM]

This is for the science geeks (or anyone interested) of how well the science of evapoative cooling works.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler

[ellorbito]

You are fucking good. I don't need to ask you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[AntiM]

I have a swamp cooler on the roof of my house; if I know it will be a hot day, I start it up before the sun bakes the housing. Otherwise it blows hot air first. I also have to keep windows open in the rooms I want cooled, not all the way, but enough so there is airflow. I use a fan too on really hot days. On super hot days I just go hide in the basement.

[FIGJAM]

Most coolers here have a switch so you can run just the pump for a few minutes. That way you dont start with that blast of hot air while the pads saturate.

[kman]

[quote="FIGJAM"][url]http://www.lambertvetsupply.com/FanTastic-Vent-Endless-Breeze-12-Volt-Box-Fan--pr--010FTV01FAN[/url][/quote]

Good price ($54), but shipping kills you... sure to be at least $10 if not more. Cheaper at Amazon, since it's $66 with free shipping. Not to mention as reliable as Amazon usually is.

This is a great project, though! I'm seriously considering putting one together for my hexayurt this year.

Adding the solar pump means the only other powered part is the fan, right? I wonder what size solar panel would be needed to drive the fan (the endless breeze one) directly, without any need for a big marine battery?

[FIGJAM]

Im still learning about solar. I hope someone that is reading the thread can answer. Just remember, the bigger you make your cooler, the bigger the pump, fan, and water needed to make it work properly. A full size cooler for a house here uses like 5gal. an hour so the 2.0 cooler was about as big as I wanted to supply water for. Im bringing Two 92ah and one 55ah battery to run my cooler and trike.

[kman]

[quote="FIGJAM"]Just checked the total amp draw on all three speeds. Low 250cfm 1.44amps, mediem 500cfm 2.08amps, high 900cfm 2.95amps. The bucket cooler was only .7amps, but for a wisker over twice that, im getting 1 1/2 times the cool air on low speed with the new cooler. I dont know anything about wind generators, but I have an idea that might work without a tower or prop. Ill get a big squirrel cage out of a old swamp cooler and mount it verticaly on a box with a generator in it. Should be able to set this anywhere to charge batteries without a gas generator. let the r+d begin.........[/quote]
Any chance I can get you to test that fan again, and see if it draws a lot more when it's starting up? I'm trying to figure out if a solar panel I'm considering will spin one up...

[FIGJAM]

Check this sight for the amp draw of the fan alone.

http://www.metaefficient.com/cooling/endless-breeze-fan-12v.html

[Token]

@FigJam. If you really want to geek out, I got some dangerous words for you that can keep you busy for a while.

Water Efficiency
Dew Point
Semi-closed System

You can probably cut down water use to a fraction if you use block ice in the design.

Phase change works in both directions so long as you can remove heat out of the system (that would be the block ice part)

[FIGJAM]

I think you just flew right over my head. It seems to me that ice is gonna melt too fast to be practical. So what am I missing? It doesnt change how the cooler works in my configuration. Illuminate me.

[kman]

@FigJam. If you really want to geek out, I got some dangerous words for you that can keep you busy for a while.

Water Efficiency
Dew Point
Semi-closed System

You can probably cut down water use to a fraction if you use block ice in the design.

Phase change works in both directions so long as you can remove heat out of the system (that would be the block ice part)

Hey, that's an interesting idea. Plus it's pretty easy to have another significant chunk of block ice (or perhaps frozen milk jugs?) on hand with a spare cooler and some dry ice, kept sealed until needed. Too bad center camp doesn't sell block ice instead of cubes. (I think)

[kman]

Check this sight for the amp draw of the fan alone.

http://www.metaefficient.com/cooling/endless-breeze-fan-12v.html

Thanks! Interesting that your measured usage is a bit higher than what that site quotes, and your highest cfm is a bit lower.

Your measurements:
Low 250cfm 1.44amps
medium 500cfm 2.08amps
high 900cfm 2.95amps

Theirs:
Low: 1.18 Amps
Medium: 1.62 Amps
High: 2.58 Amps (and 1000cfm)

I'm just going to buy one, regardless. It's clearly going to be useful no matter what.