Portable AC units

[gyre]

Look up desert tents.
The serious ones have as many as three walls and venting for the outer layer.
Reflectix would be good inside, I think.

[Captain Goddammit]

I think my logic bridges the two opinions presented here beautifully:

Nawww, yer still off the mark.

Go ahead and chill yer space if you want to, but why not bring a fookin' swamp cooler, use less gas and do a better job of chilling your space? I mean if you want to spend MORE money, waste MORE gas, to get LESSER results, go for it. I dont give a shit.

Well naw, YOU'RE off the mark!
The whole argument of whether a swamp cooler or A/C is better is a moot point. Each is clearly superior when used in their respective proper application.

Swamp coolers rule in a ventilated space like a tent or dome, A/C rules in a closed, non-ventilated space like an RV. Both suck major ass in the opposite role.

The extra advantage to A/C in a closed RV is that you entirely miss dust storms!

[mmmagenta]

This will be my fourth year on the playa, and I have to say that the camps with AC were pretty fucking great. This year, I'll be turning the back of a cargo van into my home for a couple weeks while there working and playing. I have been looking for something inexpensive and fairly simple to use just for a couple hours in the morning. This will enable me a few extra hours to recharge so I can maximize my night time fun.

In previous years I've used cleaning spray bottles I bought in a 5 pack from Costco to spray myself down every 10 minutes. I feel like i've put in some hard time in the heat, and would like things a little more comfortable this time around.

I found a few things that have mixed reviews, but I thought I'd share them anyhow.

#1
http://www.cabelas.com/prod-1/0053085518260a.shtml

I read the reviews on this, and they aren't that great. Although, with a few ice changes I could probably sneak in a couple more hours of sleep.

#2
http://www.kooleraire.com/

These are crude air conditioners, but within a budget and better than nothing. I understand they both use ice and will continue to need filling, but as I mentioned, I'm just looking for a couple hours of cool.

On another note- I have a solar panel, inverter, and deep cycle battery that I plan to use this year. Does anyone have experience using solar to power a swamp cooler? This is my alternate plan if I can gather up $350 or so.

Also, if anyone has feedback on either of those links I'd love to hear it.

<3 Mmmagenta

[MikeVDS]

I mean if you want to spend MORE money, waste MORE gas, to get LESSER results, go for it. I dont give a shit.

If you want to spend more time setting up a swamp cooler, carry more weight and buy a bigger trailer to haul all that crap, be my guest. There are definite reasons to go with either. The amount of money you spend on the gas is probably minimal compared to other BM costs. If I wanted to create a nice, large chill space with climate control, I'd go with the extra work and stuff to haul and do a swamp cooler. If I just wanted a cool breeze to sit in front of in my tent, I'd just throw a window unit on top of my pile of crap and run it off the generator I'm already bringing. It's no hassle, and that hassle makes an AC much more attractive to me, even if I have to spend an extra $25 for 5 more gallons of gas.

[mmmagenta]

Scratch my question about solar powered ac units. I've since learned that was way too optimistic.

[capjbadger]

I built my own solar powered swamp cooler out of some plywood, a computer fan, one of those little solar pond fountain pumps and corrugated cardboard.

The battery that powers the fan is charged by a solar panel too. The whole things is a 1 ft cube. I plan one "upgrading" it by adding a bigger fan.
Cheap, small, and no generators needed.

The dry and hot conditions are perfect for a swamp cooler. The one drawback of course is they eat water like crazy.

Badger

[galaxybeing]

Check out this do it yourself Burning Man Swamp Cooler:

http://www.appropedia.org/Burning_Man_E ... ive_Cooler

[gyre]

Scratch my question about solar powered ac units. I've since learned that was way too optimistic.

Solar power?
These require wind.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windcatcher

http://www.windcatcher.com/

[skygod]

Also, if anyone has feedback on either of those links I'd love to hear it.

<3 Mmmagenta

OOO i really like that Kooleraire idea! One cooler with a fan and soda bottles of frozen water in it, another cooler with dry ice to freeze the soda bottles every day. I don't want a freaking generator, but that sounds like a way to keep the back of the cargo van cool enuff in the mornings to get a little sleep. I heard the dry ice lasts all week if you wrap it in cardboard.

[trilobyte]

To each his own, but for the most part I've found that air conditioning is unnecessary on the playa. A lot of people fail to either have a shade structure, or have an effective shade structure over their camp space.

There's the playa-edition of the EZ Bake Oven. Otherwise known as a tent in the open sun. A hilarious variation is the same tent out in the open, but with a tarp over the top. Usually a dark blue, or some other color that won't do any good whatsoever.

A solid shade structure that uses silver/silver tarps (silver on both sides), and that is about a foot and a half higher than the tallest tent or dome that's going under it will drastically improve things. Takes 20 or more degrees off the heat of the day during peak sun hours, and uses absolutely no power whatsoever.

Good luck with whatever you end up going with...

Trilo

[Captain Goddammit]

To each his own, but for the most part I've found that air conditioning is unnecessary on the playa.

Well of course it's UNNECESSARY... but so are costumes, bars, mutant vehicles, art projects, etc.
It's just COOL!

[CapSmashy]

http://www.instructables.com/id/Portabl ... p-and-easy!/

This one looks interesting.

Might do pretty nice in a tent fort design.

[capjbadger]

I still think you people are trying to make this too hard. Simple solar swamp cooler is better. No ice to muck about with.

Badger

[CapSmashy]

I still think you people are trying to make this too hard. Simple solar swamp cooler is better. No ice to muck about with.

Badger

Was your design more of a proximity cooling effect or did it actually cool a decent amount of space?

How do you think the cardboard would hold up in a bigger design? Say building a box that's 3 feet on a side with the appropriate upgraded pump and fan.

[capjbadger]

I still think you people are trying to make this too hard. Simple solar swamp cooler is better. No ice to muck about with.

Badger

Was your design more of a proximity cooling effect or did it actually cool a decent amount of space?

How do you think the cardboard would hold up in a bigger design? Say building a box that's 3 feet on a side with the appropriate upgraded pump and fan.

Mine was more a proximity effect/small area due to the size of the fan. A bigger fan ups the cooling power acordingly.
I fell asleep in front of it and had to put on a sweater. Got a few odd looks from my campmates coming out of the dome wearing that in 95 degree heat. lol

This would scale up just fine. In fact it will work even better with more surface area (cardboard) and more airflow (bigger fan). The cardboard held up fine until I goofed and left it outside here in the rain and it finally mildewed. Thankfully the cardboard is a snap to replace. It lasted 3 years at BM.

Badger

[CapSmashy]

Excellent.

Guess I need to get busy with yet another project.

[CapSmashy]

So, my dad surprised me this evening. I was talking about swamp coolers and building one and he showed up with this.

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/sto ... yID=503241

I was already planning on taking the generator. Looks liek some field testing is in order.

[gyre]

You aren't going to make it evaporative?

for those not familiar, there are very quiet and high flow in the better metal electronic fans.
Both quiet.

I never heard of the water pumps.
Where are they listed?

Looks very interesting.

[Boijoy]

you might need more than a 15watt panel. I have a large deep cell battery & only run one fan.. and my 15watt barely kept the battery topped off. I purchased another 15watts for this year. I attach a mister to the front of the fan. :-) nice and cool. NOT good for sleeping though. We had to pump up the mister every half hour.

[gyre]

The pump looks great.
But if you're using a fan, couldn't you use gravity feed or capillary for the water feed?
Or mist and not use a fan?

[skygod]

I was in a Cessna 182 the other day and the thing gets hot sitting on the tarmac so the pilot bought some cooler that was a small ice chest you filled with ice before take off. Ran on 12 volts, had a pump to circulate the ice water through a tube fins at the air input, and a fan to pull air through the top into the cockpit. Worked like a charm, cooling things until he got to altitude.
I have the same set up now, but no pump to circulate the ice water. Working on it.
I still say comfort is the "small art" of the playa!

[gyre]

I was thinking in terms of evaporative.
Why not use that too?
Amazing to me it works out there.