Make a swamp cooler

[Radio]

So the roof top A/C just quit and the wife wants to pack it all up and head back home. Or more seriously, in an emergency there is a patient that MUST be kept cool.

You may be aware of a device called a "swamp cooler" which is just a box of ice with a fan blowing air over it.

So here's a set of instructions for building a box of ice with a fan blowing over it.

Amazing! Yeah I bet we could all put one of these together from stuff in the camper.

http://snapguide.com/guides/make-an-air-conditioner-in-5-mins-for-20/?_exp=02&utm_expid=69945963-37

[NN5I]

This might cool your camper, but how does it cool the swamp?

[KF5BET]

The blower fan on our camper just went out not too long ago. Compressor still worked but no go on blow... found and ordered a new blower motor off fleabay (new in box) for a third of the price anywhere locally.

Came in, slapped it in one evening and back up and running cool air. Perfect fit.

Maybe yours is a simple fix as well.

The swamp cooler is a pretty good idea. We were just talking about swamp coolers the other day. People were surprised that it worked. I also had to remind them that in the desert you are not drying out the air so evaporative cooling works very well.

[W9WLS]

Here in S.W. Ind. once the humidity comes up , there's no way to cool "The Swamp" except A/C .
Cooling is not as much of a problem as the "SKEETERS" and "Tic's" (blood sucking varmint's) .
Out in Colorado (years ago) we used a "Humidifier" type cooler , pumped water over a set of baffles which had a fan blowing air through them , worked surprisingly well.

[wa8yxm]

If your blower motor fails, and it's a Carrier Air V, and you are in eastern lower Mich (Flint/Port Huron area) I'm your man.. Spare in basement I'd love to get rid of.

[N3LYT]

Swamp coolers to us here in the humid NE just make it more humid!

[TXiceman]

Technically, the device you have shown is not a "swamp cooler". A "swamp cooler" blows air over a wetted pad and cools the air to the dew point by evaporating the water. The lower the dew point (lower humidity) the more effective the swamp cooler.

I high humidity areas, the dew point is too high and you do not get the cooling.

Blowing the air over the ice will drop the dew point a bit, but most of the cooling is sensible. To get much cooling, you need a lot of ice contact area.

Ken

[wa8yxm]

The real swamp cooler is an evaporation cooler, you blow air through a filter that is kept damp either by wicking action or by a pump, or you blow air through a MIST of water. It is amazing the amount of energy needed to make water into vapor (or ice into water).

As to how does it cool the swamp. The "Swamp" (Pan of water) is what provides the cooling. In dry climates they are very effective.. Where I'm at (Dew point in the 70s this week) not so much.

They also humidify, so if you are in say Airzonia where it's hot and dry (Not all of the state qualifies) it is a double "Threat" to the weather, by evaporation of water it cools the room, AND raises the humidity both of which are needed.

Alas, here it would only raise humidity (I am in Michigan)

[NN5I]

The swamp cooler is a pretty good idea. We were just talking about swamp coolers the other day. People were surprised that it worked. I also had to remind them that in the desert you are not drying out the air so evaporative cooling works very well.

Trying to understand the significance of that. You're not drying out the air with a swamp cooler, for sure, not in the desert, nor in the swamp -- nor anyplace else.

[TXiceman]

WA8YXM,

Actually the pan does not do any cooling.

Here is an explanation of how the cooling works.
http://www.coolbreeze.co.za/psyevap.htm

It is adiabatic cooling.

If you think about how you are cooled when you sweat. The water is not what cools you, it is the evaporation of the water on the skin...adiabatic cooling.

ken

[wa8yxm]

Re Read my explanation Ken, I said "It is amazing how much energy it takes to turn water into vapor" That, (Evaporation of water) is precisely what I was talking about. So yes, I knew that.

[N3LYT]

I kind of remember them renting swamp coolers decades ago for drives across the desert.

[TXiceman]

When we lived in west Texas as a kid, my parents had a swamp cooler for the car. It clamped on the passenger front door and air was pushed through it as we motored down the road. We did have to fill it with water every so often as it did have a tank to hold the water. It had a small fan to keep some air moving at low speed.

If beat the heck out of a hot road trip.

Ken