The Heat Is On

Discussion in 'Off-Topic Discussions' started by Diane Lane, Nov 20, 2016.

  1. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Tony Page

    We cool our house with an evaporative cooler. The week following this coming week temperatures are predicted to exceed 120 degrees! The evap cooling concept is based on low-humidity air entering the cooler, having water evaporated into the air stream, thus cooling it, then delivering the cooled air into the premises to be cooled. In other words, the COOLED air is NEW air, introduced into the living space. Refrigeration type A/C cools the existing air within, then returns it to it's inside origin. This process is much more expensive than evap cooling.

    Evap cooling FAILS when the air being cooled has relative humidity much above 25 to 30%. This introduces two ideas: first, it's NG where prevailing humidity is high, and second it relies on a CONTINUING supply of dry air. If operated within an enclosed area (like inside a house), it initially cools the air, but gradually FAILS as the air present becomes more and more humid. Therefore, @Tony Page , if your unit is intended to operate indoors, you may be disappointed. However, evap coolers are now available in small sizes which mount outside a window, and discharge cooled air into the room. They are not very effective in climates where the outside humidity is already fairly high.

    Please let us know how this turns out for you. As a person who grew up in hot, humid Chicago, and lived in the Desert Southwest half my life, I have experienced both extremes: high humidity, and no humidity.

    Frank
     
    #16
  2. Ken Anderson

    Ken Anderson Senior Staff
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    Is this what is sometimes known as a "swamp cooler"?
     
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  3. Tony Page

    Tony Page Veteran Member
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    Thanks for the information, I hope it just gives a little relief a drop of a few degrees would be great. It's been a constant 76 degrees tonight. The Instructions recommend saturating the filter with water then putting it in the freezer until Frozen for Optimum performance. I will try it tomorrow and let you know if it helped. They also recommend adding ice cubes to the water tank. I purchased the table top personal size unit, if it works I can always get a larger unit that would cool the whole apartment.
     
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  4. Tony Page

    Tony Page Veteran Member
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    I don't know, I just put out there on the internet how to cool an apartment where you can't use an air conditioner, the Air cooler came up as an option. I was in Home Depot today and the small units were on display so I grabbed one.
     
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  5. Don Alaska

    Don Alaska Supreme Member
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    Yep, that is a swamp cooler when in a primitive form.
     
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  6. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    Ah but in it’s most primitive form, a wet burlap bag over an open window was the beginnings then a wet cloth bag in front of a fan. Then someone came up with the concept of a water holding tank, a water pump throwing water through the spiders (tubing) into the pads and a fan sucking (or blowing) air through said pans and into the home.
    But as @Frank Sanoica wrote, if the relative humidity is above around 30% then the results are quite unsatisfactory.

    Greatest little part time endeavor I ever had was to go around trailer parks in my spare time during spring in Arizona and get swamp coolers ready to go. A half hour and $25 to clean ‘em and if they needed parts the price went up from there. Heck, I could replace every part in the things in less than an hour and a half.
     
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  7. Tony Page

    Tony Page Veteran Member
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    I guess that concept evolve into today's air coolers, this is the one I just purchased

    20210610_080042.jpg
     
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  8. Yvonne Smith

    Yvonne Smith Senior Staff
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    We definitely have so much humidity here in Alabama that we NEVER need something that humidifies any more than we already have, so that little Arctic Air cooler probably operates on the same basis as a swamp cooler and would not work here.
    When Bobby and I had the restaurant in north Idaho, we had a homemade swamp cooler there and also when we lived in Boise in southern Idaho, but it was much dryer air out there.
     
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  9. Bobby Cole

    Bobby Cole Supreme Member
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    Dunno.
    From what you wrote, you have to put ice in it or freeze the pad and as the ad says, it adds moisture to the air. If it works it works which is a good thing. :)
    For us, it’s a matter of removing moisture from the air rather than the other way around. A normal day here is somewhere between 40%-60% humidity so adding 80 degree temps makes it pretty miserable in the house hence using the de-humidifying option on the A/C.
     
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  10. Mary Robi

    Mary Robi Veteran Member
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    If I put any more moisture in the air here in Central Florida, we'd be dog-paddling our way from room-to-room.
     
    #25
  11. Tony Page

    Tony Page Veteran Member
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    We have extremely humid weather on Long Island also, however the basement apartment is very dry because the heating system is down here, and it's on year round for the hot water.
     
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  12. Bill Boggs

    Bill Boggs Supreme Member
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    Yep.
     
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  13. Bill Boggs

    Bill Boggs Supreme Member
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    This morning from around seven forty-five to eight -thirty a.m. I sat outside in my comfy chair
    Watched neighbors go to work and people come to work,.The roofers are swarming the
    neighborhoods for this is their busy season after a good hail. The wind was not calm but not
    bad maybe eleven or twelve mph. It isgoing to be over a hundred soon we are told by our
    weather people. I'm glad for the air conditioner.This is the first place we have lived that we had
    an air conditioner. We've always had an old or a new spamp box (evapertive cooler ) As Frank
    pointed out they do real good low humidity but not sowell when the humidity gets high.
     
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  14. Frank Sanoica

    Frank Sanoica Supreme Member
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    @Ken Anderson

    Yes, it is, in the old-school usage; nowadays "swamp cooler" is probably not a politically-correct phrase, but who cares?

    In reality, an evap cooler is nothing more (or less) than a humidifier. Machines designed simply to add water to the surrounding air, humidifiers, are used by folks in cold climates in winter (like Chicago) not to COOL the air, but rather only add water to it, to ease effects some experience of dry air on the nasal membranes. Humidifiers add water to the air by HEATING the water, while swamp coolers add water by blowing large volumes of air THROUGH a saturated medium, often shredded wet Aspen wood.

    Frank
     
    #29
  15. Tony Page

    Tony Page Veteran Member
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    I'm running the Artic Air right now the room that is in a 10 by 10 area does the thermometer is approximately 7 ft from the unit. The room is at 76 when I started after half hour down to 74 but feels much colder closer to the unit so I think it'll work out fine. The only issue I have they claim it's a "quiet operation" the fan hum on high is louder then I expected. It'll be used mostly when I'm trying to sleep at night as long as the hum doesn't affect that I should be good with it.
    The next question is how long it will work on one fill.
     
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