Swampy Mighty Kool swamp cooler

[rob_gendreau]

Pretty cool

I spent lots of time in Tucson and tons of folks used swamp coolers. If you know you're gonna be in low humidity they're great.

What kind of real world power does it use?

I'd been kidding with someone at the track that we ought to use cool shirts in our vans with the coolant being housed in the refers. Means you'd be tethered to it, but the van is a kinda small space.

[copescobra]

Did you even consider the MW 1 model? I know it is only $60 less in cost.

The Only only extra item you need is a his and hers special suit that has a flex hose opening and
then you will be cool at every stop

[xcnick]

Originally Posted by copescobra

Did you even consider the MW 1 model? I know it is only $60 less in cost.

The Only only extra item you need is a his and hers special suit that has a flex hose opening and
then you will be cool at every stop

The MW 2 was probably overkill. I always wear the special suit. It has an opening in the front of the pants and an open collar, the two places I sweat the most.

[copescobra]

have you used the swamp cooler to test it out on the road yet?

Love the idea over an aircondo unit in one of the windows.

I had a air condo unit in the front pass window in my older VW camper van.

[xcnick]

Originally Posted by copescobra

have you used the swamp cooler to test it out on the road yet?

No, not even warm yet. It got over 70 in Reno today, but I live in Tahoe.

Love the vehicles in your signature, especially the Tiger. I was always hoping Get Sm,art would be in a car chase.

nick
85 MR2, Bronco, WRX

[Vegasrandall]

the burning man people came up with a swamp cooler that is cheap and easy to build.
PM me for the site

[daveb]

I saw this build a few years back.
http://burningman.rengeekcentral.com/swampcooler.html
If I remember it can be used w/o ice but works better with it. A unit that uses dry ice would be different that the normal builds you see out there. Of course you could always load up a Dry ice compatible cooler that just keeps the ice frozen and use what you need for the swamp cooler.

[xcnick]

It is 100 degrees in the valley, but I refuse to go. Here in the mountains it is 81 degrees and 30% humidity, not miserable, but worth a little cooling.

Swamp cooler on with no outside air to intake because it is very dry, running on low fan. Windows blocked out with sunshades, Reflectix. Penthouse down. Inside started at 81 degrees.

Half hour later outside was 82 degrees. Inside was 80 at the counter with humidity up to 40%. Floor temperature where the hose is was 79. Turned the fan to high.

Hour later outside was 82 degrees. Inside was 81 with humidity up to 45% counter and floor. Turned fan to low again and cracked a window so it would have outside air.

Hour and 45 later 80 degrees outside. Inside was 83 and humidity up to 45%.

No way it is going to cool this much space. However I took it outside, sat in the shade with one hose down my pants and one blowing on my face and was very cool.

Next test will be sitting in the shade in really hot weather and see if I am still comfortable.

[ChrisAgile]

My experience with the hoses for the MW2 are about the same as xcnick. The outlet hoses are an important part of the design and reason why I upgraded to the MW2. But IMO the design of the hose attachment system is crap. The hoses on my $50 mini-shop vacuum are about the same size as the hoses for the MW2 but are designed to be easily removable. Swampy charges about $50 more for their hose assembly but only offers a permanent attachment with zip ties! IMO the inexpensive shop vac is far better engineered and designed. The Swampy is not.

xcnick wrote:

After the hose fell off once I went with hose clamps instead of zip ties. However even well connected, moving it with the hose attached is a challenge.. Kind of like having two slinkies with a mind of their own fighting your every move.

This design seemed so poorly engineered that I called up the seller and asked if I was missing pieces! Swampy admits some people go with hose clamps for a more secure fit. So why aren't the right sized hose clamps included in the kit? And why aren't shop vac type friction fit sleeves included in the kit? I spend more for a kit so I don't have to go shopping for parts. More and more I'm wishing I planned ahead more and built my own swamp cooler out of parts.

[LenS]

The real measure is how many quarts of water it can evaporate in an hour. If it evaporates say 1 quart in an hour then you have a 2,300 Btu/hr AC unit. If it really smokes an evaporates a GALLON of water per hour then you have 9,200 BTU per Hr AC unit and that would really cool. It takes about 1,100 Btu's to turn one pound of water int steam.