cooling your tent or van

[benjamd]

Thanks for the response FigJam (and the great designs!)

Only reason I thought of taking the housing off was that it might save another couple of inches. (We're packing an awful lot into our little Honda CR-V!). But I will take a closer look when the EB arrives.

I've looked at a bunch of smaller pumps, I guess I'll just pick a couple and test them out. Would be nice if it was one that would last a few years this time, I think I will try and add additional sealant around the wires since thats often where these cheap pumps fail I think.

We'll really only need the cooler for a few hours during the late morning / early afternoon, we have a good shade structure, 80% shade cloth and the canvas tents keep pretty cool on the playa anyway, so I'll just hookup a switch we can hit from inside and have it on for a few hours so we can lay in a bit longer. Hopefully with that reduction in size it won't run out too fast.

[FIGJAM]

Although the original pumps are pricy, I've got 2 of those that have lasted 4 years so far.

[MFOB]

I've asked figgy a number of questions.

I'm really fn butt hurt about fans for the unicooler. An EB fan is 67 bones. Other than that I got pumps and pads.

What is anyone's experience using a bucket cooler for a 885 sf hexayurt. I know it's probably inefficient, but I've also read that a $8 garden sprayer with a mister tip cools a haxayurt down a bit.

I'm kinda a cheap ass I suppose and don't want to drop 100+ bones for a cooler. Although I know a $100+ cooler will kick ass. For a few more bucks I could just buy a gd AC unit.
Any suggestions would be kick ass.

Thanks

[benjamd]

Honestly in the grand scheme of things a 100$ cooler will probably be your best return on burning man expenditure!

I have decided to go with the recommended pump. If its survived 4 years then it has paid for itself over the cheap ones.

[FIGJAM]

I've asked figgy a number of questions.

I'm really fn butt hurt about fans for the unicooler. An EB fan is 67 bones. Other than that I got pumps and pads.

What is anyone's experience using a bucket cooler for a 885 sf hexayurt. I know it's probably inefficient, but I've also read that a $8 garden sprayer with a mister tip cools a haxayurt down a bit.

I'm kinda a cheap ass I suppose and don't want to drop 100+ bones for a cooler. Although I know a $100+ cooler will kick ass. For a few more bucks I could just buy a gd AC unit.
Any suggestions would be kick ass.

Thanks

The bucket cooler WILL work for the yurt!!!

It just won't be AS effective as the bigger units!

[LowePro]

I've had good luck "stretching" the 5gal bucket cooler to a larger space, (not a yurt in my case, but a 18' camper/trailer).
Agreed w/ the godfather FJ that it will work, just not as well,
It becomes even more important to pay attention to the design details and use the proper fan and other gear as spec'd in this forum, don't try to cut corners on the components. And make sure to vent the yurt adequately so the air-turnover isn't constrained unnecessarily. For even more bang/buck, put the cold air output next to your bed and you could loosely hang a bedsheet or curtain around your bed in the yurt and keep the cold air contained near your sleep/nap chamber; works for me.

[GreyCoyote]

Do you really have an 885 sq/ft yurt or did a decimal point go walkabout there? If so, you need to be looking at a 2000 to 3000 cfm evaporative cooler. Even a half dozen of the bucket coolers wouldn't make a dent in those thermodynamics in the midday sun.

[Papa Bear]

I'm guessing that's cubic feet, not square feet.

[MFOB]

Yep. Papa is right. It's just your regular old hexayurt. 166sf. 885 CUBIC feet.

But, I decided f- it. I bought a lotto ticket after lunch and just scratched it. 25 bucks. And played some pull tabs at lunch and got 55 bucks. Problem solved, so I bought a trash can , duracool pad and an endless breeze. I got a harbor freight 42 gph solar water pump, went to Dome Heapo got some tubes, corners, grills, etc.

As soon as the shit gets delivered, Unicooler galore!

Thanks benjamd you pushed me over the edge. I'm all in with a fucking sweet unicooler that will be a great.

Now I'm questioning the solar HF pump. 2.62' head, 42 gph. Will that be enough for the Unicooler?

[FIGJAM]

It's too weak for that cooler, get this one.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-mini-DC5-5- ... 1c40daa88c

[MFOB]

I'm on it, but is there a comparable one in the us. Amazon and eBay say it'll be delivered sometime in September. 17-28 days shipping. That ain't gonna work.

[FIGJAM]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ultra-quiet-Min ... 2a40574e0e

[MFOB]

Is the the same unit? Im pretty sure it is, same specs and all. I am in possession of one of these. I was a bit suprised as it is about as big as a doughnut hole, so I went to HF and got a different one. Easier to go back to HF than send this one back.

[schickimiki]

I so love this thread. Thanks Figjam!

I am also thinking about building the universal cooler, but for the 10' Hexayurt which has 1200cf. Running Endless Breeze on medium should be ok to cool the yurt down. Figjam, you recommended earlier that an intake area of 20'x20' is necessary for medium setting. How about if I would use



attach a 16'x20' air grille to one side, and additionally punch holes like in the bucket cooler into the other sides? Do you reckon that should work?

[MFOB]

Itll work dood. I got this one and look on page 90 and youll see that itll work. Just need to figure out a lid, Saran Wrap........

Edit to add. Getting a black can will keep your Unicooler temps way warmer. Black absorbs heat right.That black can will keep your resovoir at a higher temp, when it is pumped into the Pad, it will already be warm and not have a very evaporative cooling effect. Youll either have to wrap it in silver wrapping or paint it white to keep the heat down.
If you went instead with the one below, you could save yourself a step of painting and wrapping IMHO.

[FIGJAM]

The unicooler is meant to be inside the yurt with the air intake pushed against a hole in one of your walls.

If you put holes on the sides it won't work as designed.

The larger intake allows the cooler to work at maximum efficiency at all speeds.

If you came into a hot yurt in the middle of the day and turned the cooler on high, it will replace that hot air with cool air in about 5 minutes.

[pug]

I've been gathering materials for one of these, but the thing that's not so easy (in the PNW where I live) is that pad. Home Depot has it online, but it's not in any stores near by, and they won't ship it - local pickup only.

Basically I'm trying to save some money on all this. Not cut corners, but not splash out a lot. I have seen it on Amazon, not the most expensive thing but still, more. And I'd like to KNOW I have it rather than assume it will show up. Lowes can send a pad to me it looks like, for about $7 + another $7 for shipping - at least I know I'd get that in a few days.

I have thought of making a big bat using coarse canvas or coarse jute mesh perhaps. Foam rubber seems way too dense to allow much air through.

Any thoughts or experiences on what else would work?

[FIGJAM]

$14 isn't bad for a pad that will last for years.

My first cooler still has the original pad!

[pug]

True nuff!

[Jyman]

Overbuild and you won't regret it. I failed once on my first cooler, and got great results the next yr. with a box cooler with 3 intake sides. I spent so much energy my first try and it didn't work because of a few basic details.
IMO theres no other fan to use besides the Endless Breeze. Counting my deep cycle battery the whole deal costs nearly $200, but that's under $30 bucks a day for the 4 of us to sleep through the day's peak heat. It was in the mid 70's inside the yurt! And this yr it will work well all over again and we'll get even more value out of the thing and more well slept hrs to experience the burn.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/[email protected] ... 688220753/

It's nice to try new innovations on the design, but 1 fatal flaw and the whole thing might not work just like my first attempt with the nice looking but ineffective Dog-food container (don't use that clear charcoal / dog food container btw). It was when I tried to get a nice, straight and flush container that was closest to Figjams design that I got good results.

MAX AIRFLOW, KEEP COOLING PADS WET, MAX SEAL ON ALL CONNECTIONS (no air leaks and a flush window/wall fit) = MAX COOLING

[Disco_Steve]

Oh Man! It took me over a week but I finally made it through all 93 pages of the Figjam’s ultimate swamp cooler thread! And yet, I still have some questions.

My friend and I are cooling our two 6’ Stretch Hexayurts. We built the hexayurts last year, and while we loved them, felt that the addition of a swamp cooler would really perfect the whole thing. Go big or go home, right? Because we’re only in 6’ stetch-yurts, we decided the bucket cooler would be a good fit. We have our buckets, lids, ducting, hole cutter drill bit, and the duracool is on the way! However…

Fans:
We picked up a cheap fan recommended earlier in this thread, The Scythe Ultra Kaze:
http://www.amazon.com/Scythe-DFS123812H ... 001JKNMBE.

It was mentioned positively earlier in this thread and has a decent CFM and size. However, after more reading, I realized it was mostly used in two fan set-ups. Is it sufficient in a single fan system, or do I need to just bite the bullet and get something more powerful still?

Such as http://www.amazon.com/Delta-Electronics ... B004XJLOG8 (130cfm vs. 190cfm)

Pump:
I picked up this pump
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B009X6 ... TF8&psc=1)
Thought that would do the drink, but MAN is it tiny! Does this little guy have what it takes? It says 60 GPH, but Im not sure. The original Figjam pump is pretty expensive in comparison.

Power:
Our Theme Camp has a generator, so there is a potential power source available. However, I don’t know if we want to deal with the generator every time we need power, or compete with camp power needs. Would it make our task considerably easier (or cheaper?) to just bite the bullet and plug in, or should we stay the 12V course?

Of the 12V options, I think the Costco battery is the best buy. But would a smaller AH battery work if we could set it up with a trickle charger to the generator? That might be a minimum impact option, although I don’t know if the potential price saving would be worth it.

The other thing I was wondering about is would a Costco Deep Cycle battery run two identical bucket coolers? My friend and I have our yurts set up pretty close usually, so sharing a power source might be a cheaper option. Don’t know if it could handle all that though.

Thanks for any help you can offer, and a HUGE THANKS to everyone for their amazing contributions to this ancient tome of cooling knowledge.
Looking forward to joining your ranks this burn!

[olegnyc]

Thanks so much for posting all this helpful information!
Would it be less effective to direct the airflow INTO the bucket, so all the holes become exhausts? I'm hoping to simply place the cooler in the corner of my canvas tent by my mattress and try to surround the mattress with my stuff in a way that keeps the settled cold air around me. What do you guys think?

I'm asking because my camp actually provides electricity and I wanted to make a cheap and efficient cooler using an AC Vornado 533 fan and the $7 AC pump below:

It's totally cheating, but it's my first crack at it utilizing the luxuries I've been afforded. I'd appreciate any feedback you can provide!

[unjonharley]

Pulled the cooler out of storage.. Today will have it up and running..

[FIGJAM]

DS, You are going to want as much air moving as you can get.

I haven't used the sythe fans, so I can't vouch for them.

The 190 cfm is the best fan for the power draw that I've found.

That pump should be fine.

If you are able to recharge a single deep cycle battery every other day, then it will handle two coolers.

olegnyc, you won't be happy if you reverse the flow.

The air doesn't get a chance to settle, it's a constant exchange of air through the space that makes these work.

[DestinyRoyale]

1. So, I got the new solar pump in and there are two wires: red and blue. The rep at SilverStone informed me the the fan wires are: Red (power), Black (ground) and yellow is for the RPMs, so I splice red to red and black to blue?

2. My fan, while it is the SST-AP181 12v .45amp, it is .7' in diameter and is touching the cooler pad when the lid is closed. I'm thinking, I'll lower the hose and cut the cooler pad down a bit. I'm concerned the fan will get wet.

3. Wondering if the van will actually run off the solar panel which has a peak power of 1.2watts, but it's 7volts arrrrgh. What is the model and make of the pump in the photo?

[FIGJAM]

Which photo?

This one.......

https://www.greenlivingforu.com/dc-subm ... or-battery

or this one..........

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Ultra-quiet-Min ... 2a40574e0e

[DestinyRoyale]

The picture on the first page of this forum ; ). I'll look into these two. Thank you!

[DestinyRoyale]

Sorry for all the questions and thank you for your patience. I thought this was going to go much smoother, but I bought the wrong pump twice ; ). I currently have a 100w Solar Panel, two 35amp Deep Cycle Batteries, two small wind generators and an inverter. Rather than returning this second 7volt solar pump, Is it possible to wire my SilverStone (SST-AP181 12v .45amp) fan into my inverter (Go Power GPSW-300 Pure Sine Inverter)? It's output is 115VAC RMS or is it possible to wire the fan directly into the DC option on my charge controller (Renogy PWM30CC)? In that way I can run the pump on it's 7v solar panel and the fan off my current system with quick connects.

[FIGJAM]

That sounds right, but you have a lot going on there.

I don't know what the inverter is for.

My pump and fan are 12 volt DC, so I spliced the fan into the pumps 15' wire.



I left enough slack to disconnect the drip halo for changing the pad.



I fed the wire out through one of the holes in the side of the bucket and wrapped the extra wire around the septic connector on top of the cooler.



I put regular wall outlets on my playapod, so I put a plug on the wire for the cooler.

Here it is plugged into the adapter on my test battery.



The only difference is that you would hook your solar set up to the battery to keep it topped up.

[snardy]

I tried to use the search function on this thread, but it doesn't seem to be working. Apologies if this has already been covered.

What would happen if you put some dry ice into the water in the swamp cooler? Is this dangerous? Would it ruin the pump? Would it freeze the water? How long would the dry ice last?
I imagine the air coming out of the cooler would be very cold. And you would need to get "food grade" dry ice which has lower levels of CO2, rather than industrial dry ice. Correct?