cooling your tent or van

[Token]

All this crazy effort to replicate this:

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~

[Canoe]

All this crazy effort to replicate this:.

~

Well, yes. But ours has more parts (looks cooler), is automated (except for adding water, charging, scooping wet dust), and makes noise so you know it's working.

[Token]

All this crazy effort to replicate this:.

~

Well, yes. But ours has more parts (looks cooler), is automated (except for adding water, charging, scooping wet dust), and makes noise so you know it's working.

Far Out! Making it shiny is definitely a bonus!

[worldjoe]

Thank you for all the help. I've never done a project anything like this before. Heck, before this, I was afraid to even touch a car battery. I am bringing a large Soulpad 5000 tent (16 ft across, 10 ft center pole), and I plan to duct this into it with the fan on medium.

23 gal trash can (returned my genuine joe because I didn't like the walls) with 14x14 air grille. Using a float pump to stop the pump if it runs out of water. Goop and brackets support the fan and grill.

Figjam, thank you.

I built one based on this design. Can you go into more details on your goop/bracket solution for keeping the fan and especially the grill attached? I tried JB Weld and 100% silicone and the grill detaches regularly. Right now I have the fan ratchet strapped to the outside of the trashcan with some weather stripping between it - which works well.
Joseph Elwell.

[Sham]

It appears that this thing is the same principle as the swamp cooler.

[FIGJAM]

World joe: get some small L brackets and small nuts and bolts.

Mount them top and bottom of the fan, then anchor to the bin.

seal with silly cone.

[worldjoe]

World joe: get some small L brackets and small nuts and bolts.

Mount them top and bottom of the fan, then anchor to the bin.

seal with silly cone.

I tested this out this weekend in the desert and it worked MUCH better than the bucket cooler for my VW van. I still only get about a 10 degree temperature difference. Ambient temperature was about 76 with 10% humidity. The bucket cooler saw similar drops, nothing close to what I've read is possible. But at least with this design the van was cooler than simply opening all the doors and letting the wind through. Which tells me I wasn't getting enough CFM with the bucket design, even though I did the math on the fan I it should have worked - maybe there are too many leaks in the van to push all air up to the roof vent.

I used duct tape becuase the silly cone'd grill kept detaching from the trash can. It might be as simple as using the provided holes in the grill to run a bolt through to a nut on the other side and silicone to make a water tight seal - but I'm afraid to drill a hole in the trash can, I'm worried I won't end up with an airtight/watertight seal.

For the fan I just used a ratchet strap to pull the fan tight to the outside of the trash can with a weatherstrip in between the fan and the can. I don't want to mount the fan permanently as we use that fan in the van more often than I need a swamp cooler.
Joseph Elwell.

[BrotherNomad]

I'm going to build the 2-stage evaporative cooler this year and looking at using Seaflo High Flow Blower Fan, 320 CFM 12 Volt fans sold at the rainforest online store. I'm posting this as ideas and don't recommend these fans unless you have the power and airflow requirements. Centrifugal blowers exert positive pressure, are used in whole house residential coolers, and are the most efficient fan design to channel lots of air through a duct, hence their use in HVAC systems. Since the fan will be next to the bedroom in my rig design, a hum is much better than a whirr if there's going to be fan noise, and the ductability and thus versatility of centrifugal blower fans is a big plus over the Fantastic Fans Endless Breeze.

Figjam, what do you think about using centrifugal fans compared of turbines in the unicooler and possibly even the bucket cooler, as there are small 12v centrifugal blower fans available which won't be overkill?

[FIGJAM]

If I understand that "blower fan" means it has a squirrel cage on it, then yes they are very good for coolers.

It was my first choice.

I wanted to use a blower motor from a junkyard as I could get it cheap and local.

When I found out how much power they used I searched the internet for days trying to find a blower with the power parameters that I was looking for.

Nothing I found could run a week on a single deep cycle battery.

The design is what the average burner can handle and has room in their car for.

[BrotherNomad]

How about this one? Brushless Radial Blower - UTUO DUAL Ball Bearing High Speed 12V DC Centrifugal Fan with XH-2.5 Plug 120mm by 120mm by 32mm (4.72x4.72x1.26 inch. It's small which means it may not have enough airflow.

What is the max airflow I can get out of the bucket cooler before it doesn't get sufficient dwell time? How many BTUs does it output in good playa conditions, bad playa? The unicooler?

Where on the internet did you learn the physics for evaporative coolers? Is there a book I can buy? I need to learn the physics of evaporative cooling to best build my 2-stage evaporative cooler.

[FIGJAM]

It says it's only 42 CFM.

That won't do.

I was born in AZ. in 1953, so most houses here didn't have AC.

I've lived with swamp coolers my whole life and just used my experience to build what I wanted.

I didn't consider dwell time.

As long as the pads are wet enough you can pull all the air you want through them as long as it's not actually sucking the water off the pad into your fan.

[dandandan]

I did a 120v setup so I can use a long extension cord and plug it into someone’s generator when they aren’t looking. My extension cable is 4 miles long so they will give up before tracing it back to its origin.

Am I doing it right FIGFAM?

Also any advice on keeping this shit from blowing over, mine ended up quite too top heavy...

[FIGJAM]

Cut the bottom half off another bucket.

Drill a hole in the middle of the bottom.

Screw it to the playa with a lag screw and washer.

Set cooler in it .

Shout TAA DAA!!!

[Canoe]

... My extension cable is 4 miles long so they will give up before tracing it back to its origin...

Definitely.

I can't tell from the photo; essential that there's a gap between the blue pad and the side of the bucket. Air going in the holes needs to have a path to all of the pad that is above the water level.

[cakeman]

"... My extension cable is 4 miles long so they will give up before tracing it back to its origin...

I'm just imaging a hilarious installation of taking some power from a camp, extending the line 3 miles through all the other camps to a single light at a bar with a sign saying, "Eternal Light"...

[dandandan]

... My extension cable is 4 miles long so they will give up before tracing it back to its origin...

Definitely.

I can't tell from the photo; essential that there's a gap between the blue pad and the side of the bucket. Air going in the holes needs to have a path to all of the pad that is above the water level.

I do not have a gap. Why does air have to go thorough all the pad? I’m worried a gap will let air bypass the pad where the halo part of the hose is.

[FIGJAM]

The pad needs to be tall enough that the halo acts as a seal that forces all the air to go through the pad.

The 1/4" gap exposes the most pad AND prevents leaking.

[dandandan]

The pad needs to be tall enough that the halo acts as a seal that forces all the air to go through the pad.

The 1/4" gap exposes the most pad AND prevents leaking.

Shit.

I need my halo at a slight angle to get even water flow out of all the holes, so I can't use it as a sealant. Also my pad is too short as well.
I really do not feel like redoing either one of those.

Guess I'll just overheat and die then.

[FIGJAM]

Halo holes slightly to big, or the pump is a little small, or the halo T may need to be reamed a little because it's restricting flow.

You're fine, it just needs a little tweeking.

[dandandan]

Halo holes slightly to big, or the pump is a little small, or the halo T may need to be reamed a little because it's restricting flow.

You're fine, it just needs a little tweeking.

Its because the holes are too big , though the flow works perfectly when angled slighly away from the t connector. I'm going to try to create a 1/4" sealant right above the top holes. That will give me enough gap and allow me to ajust the halo angle as well without any need to change out my current pad or halo ring.

Also does it matter which way the pad is facing? I just noticed one side of the dura pad is puffier than the other.

[LowePro]

D3: there is a fix if your blue cylinder is too short. Make a cylinder out of chicken wire around your existing blue-pad cylinder. This way, the chicken wire will stand on the bottom of the bucket, but you can adjust the height of the blue pad by pulling it up and out an inch or so, to make a good seal w/ the lid.

The blue pad has a "grain" and it will be stiffer if you orient it with the puffy side in. However, if you already made it, the chicken-wire cylinder solution above will solve that problem too, because the chx wire adds rigidity.

[FIGJAM]

No.

[dandandan]

Alright guys I think I fixed it. I raised the pads by shoving shit in the bottom of the bucket, and ensured a seal on the top using duct tape. Ran for a few hours at home and the entire pad stayed dank. The water ring around the bucket was from poking around in all the holes with my finger to see if there were any dry spots. Maybe I’ll survive after all!

[Canoe]

Looking like a nice gap.

viewtopic.php?f=280&t=33842&start=3270#p1083480

[leedonahoe]

Hey FIGJAM, with your unicooler design, how have you dealt with keeping the evap pad from slumping down as it gets loaded up with water? Last year I tried the side supports like in your original post, and this year I'm trying supports that span across the box, but in both cases I got slumping.

Should I trim the pad so that there is less weight (I'm guessing the water just would run out the bottom of the pad)? Or should I punch some zip ties through and fix the top of the pad to the top of the box?

[Canoe]

Same blue duracool pad?
It has 'grain', in one direction it will stretch/sag more.

... The duracool pad actually has a "grain" to it, so it shapes and stands better one way than the other.

**Update**... The 'grain' was very much the issue. I cut a new pad on the other axis, and have not had the compression issue or needed chickenwire. ...

[leedonahoe]

Ahhhhh, thanks Canoe!

[FIGJAM]

I did use several pieces of wire to hold the pad to the register, but that was to keep the pad from billowing in the middle.

[Best]

So, I'm building a swamp cooler for this year and I'm running into a supply problem.

The PVC Connector: Schedule 80 4” coupler (this piece is actually 5” in diameter)
So I cannot find this locally anywhere in Denver.
Is there any problem with buying this online?
I just want to make sure they're pretty much all the same or there isn't some little thing I'm not noticing that gets me the wrong item.

Assistance appreciated.

[FIGJAM]

The connector is actually ABS.

All Home depots have them.

I think a toilet flange will also work.