Looking for Fabric That Will Not Grow Mold...

In the Southwestern US (and, I am sure, many other parts of the world- I just happen to know about what is available in the SW US), they use "swamp coolers" for low-cost air conditioning. The coolers have pads that are moistened with recirculating water- air passing through the pads evaporates some of the water, cooling the air stream (not sure you could get down to refrigerator temperatures, but maybe). Anyway, years ago, when I was using these coolers, we would buy replacement pads- some were some sort of natural fiber, some appeared to be a manufactured fiber. The more expensive ones did not have an issue with mold growth. Cheaper ones often did.

I don't know what the mold retardation approaches were, but I would suspect that one could either get a product directly from a manufacturer- maybe even ready-made pads that would suit your application. Google "swamp cooler" or "evaporative cooler" to find manufacturers or dealers that maybe could be more help.

Yes, thank you. I thought of swamp pads, but they do tend to need to be replaced every year.

I'll add to this thread the mold issue: It grows quite instantly here and is very deadly (Salt Lake City and Asia). Just using any old material and throwing it away is also not economically viable in the hills, but a solution like bamboo fabric that can be made by hand or using copper screening so that air flow is maximized would be more ideal.

Any old rag will do! If it goes mouldy just chuck it. Hessian will last for years. Google 'Coolgardie safe' and under 'Images' you will find 100's of pictures. These things can be made for nothing, using anything that's handy. All you need is a frame, some shelving, a water container at the top, maybe a tray at the bottom to collect excess water, if any, a close fitting door to keep flies and ambient air out. And of course the Hessian. Cover the sides and door with it. If using a water tray at the top, drape hessian from the tray to all sides including the door. Cappillary action will soon wet everything and your "frig' is working. A breezeway is an essential part of this system. Jellies and even icecream will set. No ice for the Mint Julips though. You can't have everything.

Principles of operation

The Coolgardie Safe was made of wire mesh, hessian, a wooden frame and had a galvanised iron tray on top. The galvanised iron tray was filled with water. The hessian bag was hung over the side with one of the ends in the tray to soak up the water.

Gradually the hessian bag would get wet. When a breeze came it would go through the wet bag and evaporate the water. This would cool the air and in turn cool the food stored in the safe. This cooling is due to the water in the hessian needing energy to change state and evaporate. This energy is taken from the interior of the safe (metal mesh), thus making the interior cooler.

It was usually placed on a veranda where there was a breeze. The Coolgardie safe was a common household item in Australia up to the mid-twentieth century. Safes could be purchased ready-made or fairly easily constructed at home. Some of the metal panel safes are very highly decorated, showing the creativity of their makers.

Thanks for the reminder on the name of device. This is basically the idea. There are no pumps so the basin on top or hand pouring water from a drip basin at the bottom is the idea.

Syzygy,

Why does it need to hold water? Why not grow mold?

If you are making a water cooler food preserving device, aka refrigerator, then I have some experience. We were in the mountains with a running spring we tapped into the spring, built the frig out of branches covered in burlap, sealed tight enough to keep flys out and put a valve on the free running water hose from the spring to controll the flow and let it run at a trickle on top. After a few days it was covered with moss that enhanced the cooling effect, it could keep things at a cool 40 degrees F.

If it needs to hold water and be mold free cover it in a super fine copper screen, but the burlap worked just fine.

If your water supply is limited it could be run like a swamp cooler with an antibiological in the water to keep the mold/moss down, but you need electricity for the pump to circulate the water, from the catch basin.

Would salt water have a better evaporative cooling effect? Any other easy to produce/acquire chemical additive?

Wow. Thanks! That explains a lot of what came up reading FARMS about old-testament fishing.

One nice thing about using salt water is that any salt deposits can be eaten or used for preserving other foods. However, I am more wondering now if it makes a better evaporate.

If you are hoping to use salt deposits for food, you will be restricted in your use of antifungal treatments which would tend to contaminate the salt product and/or affect the taste. Salt is antimicrobial itself to a large extent. If mold is still a problem when using salt water, you can get species-specific information by using "halophile" in your search terms.

Salt water destroys cloth like nothing else - I don't know the specific basis for this but it seems to actually break up the fibers rather than promoting bacterial decay. I suspect that a natural fabric used to collect salt product would require very frequent replacement due to breakage of the cloth. Nylon or other synthetics could be a better choice for a salt water application.

After sucking all the contaminants in the air into the salt I am not sure it is useful anyway.

Aspen fibers used to be used in greenhouse cooling pads for that purpose I believe.

You have certainly received alot of good info. I would only add a little bit more. Hemp cloth contains natural oils that are mold and mildew restaint. We use hemp bags for sprouting seeds with good sucess. Go to http://shop.1asecure.com/webpage.cfm?PageID=2675&StID=1030 for a short study on the benefits of hemp, hemp seed oil etc. Hemp seed oil is nature's most perfectly balanced oil.

How do you balance an oil?

1 liter of Exxon in the left hand & 1 liter of BP in the right?

You might try rochfordsupply .com. They specialize in bulk Marine textile fabrics ,

They may have knowledge of where your type of fabric may be found.DS