cooling your tent or van

[FIGJAM]

If your having trouble finding pads, I think this stuff will work and you can find it at upholstery supply and craft stores.

http://www.perfectproductsonline.com/bondeddacron.html

[rgk]

Please, people, use caution when handling/testing the fan that fig recommended. Don't put a huge gash in your thumb like my dumb ass did. Turns out the fan is, indeed, quite powerful. It can split you wide open with just the residual spin it puts out after being turned off. Better now than on the playa, I suppose. I've learned my lesson.

[FIGJAM]

You are the 2nd or 3rd victum!

Be careful people.

[daveywavey]

hey hommeee, thanks for the swamp cooler thing,,, im making mine,,, hanging in my van i want a few extra hours of cool sleep if you know what i mean... and i know you do....soo do you think i need the shade cover on the outside of dura pad? and is it cool to use 2 and half inch holes versus 2 inches,, all ive got is a 2 and a half inch bit...also is one fan good enough? i ordered the one you have but the wires look the same how do i know what is positive and negative,, i got a battery at coscto so im not doing solar...thanks again for all that you put up.. my wife thanks you to...she is the one that wants to sleep in the heat of the morning as she is a night owl and dances until sunrise.. so we need the extra slleep......

[FIGJAM]

hey hommeee, thanks for the swamp cooler thing,,, im making mine,,, hanging in my van i want a few extra hours of cool sleep if you know what i mean... and i know you do....soo do you think i need the shade cover on the outside of dura pad? and is it cool to use 2 and half inch holes versus 2 inches,, all ive got is a 2 and a half inch bit...also is one fan good enough? i ordered the one you have but the wires look the same how do i know what is positive and negative,, i got a battery at coscto so im not doing solar...thanks again for all that you put up.. my wife thanks you to...she is the one that wants to sleep in the heat of the morning as she is a night owl and dances until sunrise.. so we need the extra slleep......

If you build it by the page 1 design, you don't need the shade clothe.

Park so that the bucket sets in the shade of the van and it will help cool a little better.

Touch test the wires too the battery, it will only work one way and will not hurt the fan.

[Canoe]

...I'm also working on sewing a burlap sleeve for the 3-4 feet of tube that will be exposed to the sun on mine...

Radiant bubble wrap instead?
Doesn't need water, insulation can't absorb water/rain.

[The CO]

That would be cool, but I have burlap already. So far, the only purchase for my entire swamp cooler was the ducting & filter pad. (1" dense cell craft foam works well in a pinch and was handy, but the filter & dense foam together is awesome!) Everything else was scavenged or found around the house & reused.

I'm $12.97 in costs so far.

[rgk]

I've attached the fan that fig recommended to the underside of the 5-gal bucket lid, and glued the sewage pipe to the top.

1. A couple of concerns: the fan actually has 1.6 amps printed on it, whereas fig said his total draw was 1.4 amps.

2. The air seems to be blowing out of just one side of the sewage pipe. When you face the pipe, it is blowing only out of the left side. Is this normal?

[FIGJAM]

Yes it's normal.

The specs on my fan say 1.25 amps.

With the pump 1.5 amps.

[rgk]

Hopefully that solar panel will offset some of the draw. I assume the panel will be connected to the battery the entire time, whereas the fan will only be on 4-5 hours a day. Hopefully the constant .3 amp input will cut the sporadic 2 amp output at least in half. If that fails, well, I just heard that my camp is bringing a generator. ;/

[Asherbeez]

DONE DONE DONE DONE DONE! Woo!

[emayess]

After learning about these a year ago, I have waited till the last minute to decide I'm gonna try to make one. I know I can get all the parts locally and will have the time but have a question on connecting the fan and pump to the battery. I read through many of the pages in this post and even tried a search (knowing the odds of success were slim) and can't find an answer. Apologies if this is already explained, and thank you in advance for any help that can be provided.

My question is "how do you connect everything to the battery"? Can I just twist the pump and fan wires together and then wrap them around the terminals of my 1045AH deep cycle marine battery, or do I need a switch or other parts?

Thank you!

[Asherbeez]

After learning about these a year ago, I have waited till the last minute to decide I'm gonna try to make one. I know I can get all the parts locally and will have the time but have a question on connecting the fan and pump to the battery. I read through many of the pages in this post and even tried a search (knowing the odds of success were slim) and can't find an answer. Apologies if this is already explained, and thank you in advance for any help that can be provided.

My question is "how do you connect everything to the battery"? Can I just twist the pump and fan wires together and then wrap them around the terminals of my 1045AH deep cycle marine battery, or do I need a switch or other parts?

Thank you!

If you want to be able to turn the cooler on and off with any ease, I would suggest wiring in a switch. The other option would be to attach gator clips so you could just unclip from one of the terminals. As far as connecting the wires, I suppose you could twist them together and use an electrical cap. I personally prefer soldering and wrapping with electrical tape or heat shrink. It's a bit stronger and looks cleaner.

[emayess]

If you want to be able to turn the cooler on and off with any ease, I would suggest wiring in a switch. The other option would be to attach gator clips so you could just unclip from one of the terminals. As far as connecting the wires, I suppose you could twist them together and use an electrical cap. I personally prefer soldering and wrapping with electrical tape or heat shrink. It's a bit stronger and looks cleaner.

I can sodder and tape the ends with gator clips. Thank you for the quick response and help!

[sjs]

My double-barreled swamp cooler is nearing completion.

As described in earlier posts, if the pad is right up against the inside of the bucket it will tend to leak water out through the holes. I can't take the approach outlined by figgy in post #1 because I have two fans which are mounted to the underside of the bucket... they would collide with the drip line if my pad were tall enough to pinch the drip line into the top of the bucket. This seems to be a disadvantage of the two-fans approach.

So, I am left to take the "shade cloth" approach and line the inside of my bucket with some material that will help coax the water away from dripping out of the holes. However, there is no shade cloth at my local home depot. I tried instead some of the "professional" weed block material, which seemed to prevent drippage but also added air resistance and slowed the rate of air coming out of my fans considerably.

What are the relevant characteristics of the cloth I should be looking for, and are there any tips on what I might try from the fabric store?

[FIGJAM]

I would move the fans to the outside (top of the lid) of the bucket and get rid of the clothe.

This WILL work.

Another way to make the pad tube is to staple the seam.

Post a pic of the ducting and lets see what can be done.

TIC, TIC, TIC!

[psyki]

I have a solar powered pump that pushes about 40GPH with a max lift height of 20". Will this move enough water?

BTW I'm in Seattle and it's cloudy for the next couple days so I can't even really test the full output of this pump. There are a couple I can get on Amazon prime but I need to know ASAP heh

[The Bee]

sjs - run the pump for an hour or so to gauge how much water really dribbles out. It may be a non-issue. Just put your bucket on a shallow tray to catch the drips if it's not too bad. If it gushes out then you have a problem. Can't you make your drip tubing into a tighter diameter ring at the top so it drips on the inside of your cloth?

[Canoe]

...move the fans to the outside (top of the lid) of the bucket and get rid of the clothe.
This WILL work...

Vote for this.
Getting your two fans going and ducted is independent of the simple, reliable, proven pad layout inside.
Then you don't need to test the pads inside the bucket, just do it and move forward to getting the two fans setup on top of the bucket, ducted & wired.

[sjs]

I would move the fans to the outside (top of the lid) of the bucket and get rid of the clothe.

Yeah, perhaps that would be ideal but I think it'd be a real challenge to get the ducting mounted on top of the fans. You see, my design is two independent ducts so I can share one with a friend.





I'm going to experiment with a couple different types of material.

sjs - run the pump for an hour or so to gauge how much water really dribbles out. It may be a non-issue. Just put your bucket on a shallow tray to catch the drips if it's not too bad. If it gushes out then you have a problem. Can't you make your drip tubing into a tighter diameter ring at the top so it drips on the inside of your cloth?

Yeah, it's not too bad but I do think it might help to get the right material. I already have my drip tubing in a tighter diameter, and that helped.

[FIGJAM]

I have a solar powered pump that pushes about 40GPH with a max lift height of 20". Will this move enough water?

BTW I'm in Seattle and it's cloudy for the next couple days so I can't even really test the full output of this pump. There are a couple I can get on Amazon prime but I need to know ASAP heh

The power of the pump drops off the higher it moves the water.

40gph is what it will do if it does'nt have to lift it.

It's the trick bag you have to watch out for.

I saw one that was rated 50gph, but on their scale it showed 11gph at 20".

[sjs]

I was inspired by this post:
http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic. ... 10#p702008

I made up a prototype and persuaded my brother-in-law to try it out:


I have since created two suits that can connect to each of my output vents by cutting the legs off of a third tyvek suit and sewing them in as vent hookups. Stop by Bioluminati at Anniversary and 6:30 to try it out.

[FIGJAM]

I would move the fans to the outside (top of the lid) of the bucket and get rid of the clothe.

Yeah, perhaps that would be ideal but I think it'd be a real challenge to get the ducting mounted on top of the fans. You see, my design is two independent ducts so I can share one with a friend.





I'm going to experiment with a couple different types of material.

sjs - run the pump for an hour or so to gauge how much water really dribbles out. It may be a non-issue. Just put your bucket on a shallow tray to catch the drips if it's not too bad. If it gushes out then you have a problem. Can't you make your drip tubing into a tighter diameter ring at the top so it drips on the inside of your cloth?

Yeah, it's not too bad but I do think it might help to get the right material. I already have my drip tubing in a tighter diameter, and that helped.

If you move the fans to the top of the lid, then you can goop a 4" septic line connector right to the top of each fan.

Don't glue any other parts, just sleeve them on.

Don't do the over and under, keep the ducting symetrical, side by side.

They have a white pipe that comes in the same dimentions as the septic that has thinner walls.

And now you know why a single fan is easier.

[FIGJAM]

I was inspired by this post:
http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic. ... 10#p702008

I made up a prototype and persuaded my brother-in-law to try it out:


I have since created two suits that can connect to each of my output vents by cutting the legs off of a third tyvek suit and sewing them in as vent hookups. Stop by Bioluminati at Anniversary and 6:30 to try it out.

Nice suit!

Are you going to carry a 20 pound bucket cooler around the playa?

That's what it will wiegh with 2gal. of water in it.

[sjs]

Are you going to carry a 20 pound bucket cooler around the playa?
That's what it will wiegh with 2gal. of water in it.

Ha, no. It will be a "cooling station" that will stay in one place.

[sjs]

And now you know why a single fan is easier.

Yes, but I had a vision... a vision I'm telling you!

[FIGJAM]

Nothing wrong with the vision, you just have limited space inside the bucket, and plenty of room outside the bucket.

[psyki]

I have a solar powered pump that pushes about 40GPH with a max lift height of 20". Will this move enough water?

BTW I'm in Seattle and it's cloudy for the next couple days so I can't even really test the full output of this pump. There are a couple I can get on Amazon prime but I need to know ASAP heh

The power of the pump drops off the higher it moves the water.

40gph is what it will do if it does'nt have to lift it.

It's the trick bag you have to watch out for.

I saw one that was rated 50gph, but on their scale it showed 11gph at 20".

I understand that, but if my setup is otherwise identical to yours, how much will my cooling power be affected?

[kman]

Well THIS thread just got more interesting...

EDIT: Wow, those mods move FAST!

[FIGJAM]

I have a solar powered pump that pushes about 40GPH with a max lift height of 20". Will this move enough water?

BTW I'm in Seattle and it's cloudy for the next couple days so I can't even really test the full output of this pump. There are a couple I can get on Amazon prime but I need to know ASAP heh

The power of the pump drops off the higher it moves the water.

40gph is what it will do if it does'nt have to lift it.

It's the trick bag you have to watch out for.

I saw one that was rated 50gph, but on their scale it showed 11gph at 20".

I understand that, but if my setup is otherwise identical to yours, how much will my cooling power be affected?

As long as the whole pad stays wet it will work just fine.