cooling your tent or van

FIGJAM · Post by **FIGJAM** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 8:19 pm

I bring a 55gal. drum of water.

If you look further down the thread under "Garden sprayers" you'll see what I made to run water anywhare in my camp.

I really did'nt think I needed to tell people NOT TO STICK ANY APPENDAGE OF ANY KIND IN THE GOD DAMN FAN!

wimala1 · Post by **wimala1** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 8:52 pm

so i am a little blonde!! and now have a VERYYYYYY hurt finger

where do you get the 55gal drum from? i saw some resources under the resource link. it doesn't seem like any one in my camp has ever done that, but i was thinking of doing the exact same thing! do you fill it up in reno? where do you fill it up at? i am guessing that you are reusing a drum you already have.

supporting 2 people for 10 days plus the cooler puts me just right at 55gals.

FIGJAM · Post by **FIGJAM** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 9:12 pm

I got mine from craigs list for $15 and it had orange juice in it before I bought it.

I rinsed it out with water, then put 1/2 cup of bleach in to coat the inside, and leave it.

That way it won't grow any mold while it's stored.

Then I just fill it when I'm ready to leave for the playa.

I bring my water from our well.

HandJamMasterC · Post by **HandJamMasterC** » Wed Jul 20, 2011 10:07 pm

You can also get 7 gallon plastic " jerry cans " at Wallymart and bring those. I might need to get a couple more now !!

HandJamMasterC · Post by **HandJamMasterC** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 1:13 pm

Now I know what to do with all that water I dump out of my 3 big ice chests - it will get filtered through cheese cloth ( we are usually good about not getting any actual food in the ice chests, mostly soaked wine label bits from the Camp DOA bar to filter ) and used in the swamp cooler !!!

The Bee · Post by **The Bee** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 1:26 pm

I have a bunch of old towels and a burlap bag lying around. That will save me the trouble and cost of buying an official swamp cooler pad. Has anyone successfully used old cotton towels or burlap as the absorbent material?

inProgress · Post by **inProgress** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 2:44 pm

Good God! I've spent like a week reading the first 7 pages of the thread - I had no idea there was still such an active convo going on at the other side!

FIGJAM you're da best!

I'm a little worried shipping the solar panel over (NYC-BRC-NYC on the container truck) but hopefully I pack it right snug between the duracool pads.....

Any other east coasters bringing cool air to the desert? Interested how its being accomplished for ya.

FIGJAM · Post by **FIGJAM** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 2:49 pm

The Bee wrote:I have a bunch of old towels and a burlap bag lying around. That will save me the trouble and cost of buying an official swamp cooler pad. Has anyone successfully used old cotton towels or burlap as the absorbent material?

Start testing this idea right now!

I don't think you will get enough air to flow through it, but maybe you'll find a way.

The Bee · Post by **The Bee** » Thu Jul 21, 2011 3:24 pm

Hmmm. Yes, airflow is probably much more limited through a towel compared to proper swamp cooler material. Burlap might have better air flow but it might dry out faster so I'd have to make sure the pump kept an adequate water flow.... As you say - I'd better start testing!

The Bee · Post by **The Bee** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 3:16 pm

My pump arrived today. It's looking like Christmas around here with all the packages arriving!

I'll be using the Silicon Solar replacement pump: http://www.siliconsolar.com/replacement ... p-103.html .

Does anyone know if this pump needs to be completely submerged? What is the minimum water depth for this puppy? Will it burn itself out if I let the water get too low?

FIGJAM · Post by **FIGJAM** » Fri Jul 22, 2011 4:22 pm

Looks like the water level needs to be 2 1/2".

2gal. of water will last 5 hours with the bucket cooler.

I don't know if anyone has let one run dry to distruct test for burnout.

It was built to be completely submerged.

FIGJAM · Post by **FIGJAM** » Mon Jul 25, 2011 5:19 pm

tic.....tic......tic

HandJamMasterC · Post by **HandJamMasterC** » Mon Jul 25, 2011 5:24 pm

Since I'm using the Harbor Freight solar pump which only moves 42 gal / hour, I added a second pump and perforated tube. Got the temp down to 68 degrees. Works more efficiently I think. Finished mounting the solar panels on plywood that will be mounted above the carport roof and be rotate-able !!

FIGJAM · Post by **FIGJAM** » Mon Jul 25, 2011 5:43 pm

Your cooler is now officially Awesome!!!

FIGJAM · Post by **FIGJAM** » Mon Jul 25, 2011 5:55 pm

ACK! We've been infected!!!

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Mon Jul 25, 2011 7:33 pm

inProgress wrote:

FIGJAM you're da best!

Don't tell him that shit.. He can't get his head in the pickup as it is..

fuck i'm better than the Fig,, just ask me

FIGJAM · Post by **FIGJAM** » Mon Jul 25, 2011 8:06 pm

unjonharley wrote:
inProgress wrote:

FIGJAM you're da best!
Don't tell him that shit.. He can't get his head in the pickup as it is..

fuck i'm better than the Fig,, just ask me

Yeah, but you still wanna jack my trike!!!

wimala1 · Post by **wimala1** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 12:10 am

hey yall,

my silicon solar pump came (i ordered 2 cause they were close out for $8 ea) and i finally got full flow around the whole tube!!! yaaa

question: i used e6000 glue for the 4 coupler to transition between the lid and the pipe. has anyone used this before & know how it will perform in the heat? i was going to back it up with a bead of elastomeric exterior silicone around the edge as well if it was needed.

for my solar panel, i am mounting it on a milk crate, it has its own angle bracket structure to adjust the tilt and i will be able to rotate the box to get the best direction. it is a square panel, industrial, and is from my solar attic fan - so it is really durable.

i'm going to bolt it to the crate and then stake the crate down. it will sit in the south end of my monkey hut.

tomorrow i will test the little solar panel that came with the harbor freight pump to see if it will run the silicon solar pump to full capacity. then i am going to get real brave and attempt the splices in the wire harness.

by the way, my finger still hurts in all kinds of bad words ways. it is still oozy (yes TMI) but is getting babied so that it will be playa ready. i am sooo not an electrician so will read back, repeat, read back, repeat, repeat, etc.... all of fig's pix on the harness. i will, i will, i will, i will - get brave enough to do the harness tomorrow; i will!!!

FIGJAM · Post by **FIGJAM** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 6:55 am

Sorry you hurt your finger.

The hf pump is 6 volt, so I don't think it will power the bigger pump.

The e6000 should be fine. It's like Goop, and thats what I used.

HandJamMasterC · Post by **HandJamMasterC** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 3:15 pm

Good thing I remembered to solder a switch into the HF solar pump wires, since I'm mounting the panels on the roof of our carport !! Otherwise it would be DOH !!

cahlm · Post by **cahlm** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 7:27 pm

endless breeze came in the mail today, time to start the unicooler for this year. unicooler + bucket cooler from last year is gonna be awesome.

dubz · Post by **dubz** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 7:42 pm

inProgress wrote: Any other east coasters bringing cool air to the desert? Interested how its being accomplished for ya.

I am doing a build here at my house in Philly, then sending all parts except for the bucket in my bins on the PEX container, and then picking up a new 5 gallon bucket/lid in Reno and re-drilling the holes....

cammyjams · Post by **cammyjams** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 8:04 pm

I am SO building one of these for this year, you ROCK Fig!

Mr.Coffee · Post by **Mr.Coffee** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 9:39 pm

mattyho wrote:...I have just one question....my computer fan from frozencpu(?) has four wires and a connector coming out of it...

Two of those wires are voltage, and the other are Tach/speed control for controllers and monitors. You won't need them since we're just running these fans full tilt boogie. Just figure out which two are the power leads (I think you already did this, but it's usually the outside pair IIRC), and You're good to go.

I just ordered one of the delta fans myself, and after catching up on this thread, I think I'll test it with gloves on. Sorry about your finger, but just remember: Neosporin works wonders on cuts.

Jessjessetc · Post by **Jessjessetc** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 11:51 pm

So I am super intrigued on this project but I am wandering if I can power this DIY swamp cooler off of a boat battery? And how exactly would I do so? My playa partner and I would really like to spend this year not sweating our asses off!

FIGJAM · Post by **FIGJAM** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 6:56 am

Jessjessetc wrote:So I am super intrigued on this project but I am wandering if I can power this DIY swamp cooler off of a boat battery? And how exactly would I do so? My playa partner and I would really like to spend this year not sweating our asses off!

If by boat battery you mean marine deep cycle, then yes that will work.

When you build your cooler just put gator clips on the wires and clip them to the battery.

phil · Post by **phil** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 8:54 am

Forget cooling your whole tent or van. Just get one of these:

and cool your body.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldne ... ckets.html

Irreverent Moniker · Post by **Irreverent Moniker** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 9:24 am

I think it would be cheaper to build a cooler than to buy an extra ticket to bring an old asian man with me

phil wrote:Forget cooling your whole tent or van. Just get one of these:

Jessjessetc · Post by **Jessjessetc** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 9:27 am

Thank you so much fig!!!

FIGJAM · Post by **FIGJAM** » Wed Jul 27, 2011 9:29 am

HA! I already thought of wearing a dry cleaning bag with a bucket cooler attached to it!!!

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