Condenser Coolers for shop

I've never seen them in areas other than the southwestern U.S. but I believe this is the same principle as the so-called "swamp coolers" used to air condition many, mostly older homes and businesses in that region. Most newer homes and businesses have refrigerated central air.

Blue,

Thnak you for the comeback.

Do you know just how well they work in humid areas?

here in La. we have 65-75% most days through the summer.

gf

netmaker,

I live in Las Vegas, "swamp coolers" can drop air temp 18-20* in very dry weather. I have lived in south Fla. I contend that if you dont add water to the pads in your area it may work ok. HomeDepot and Lowes stock evap. coolers. I would not pay $2,400 on a test. If you like I will hook you up with a guy here thats has alot of these in stock by mistake he WILL make you a fair deal if you like.

Contact me

miketheboilerguy@aol.com

Entire North India/Pakistan does that in May/June till rains come and cool everything down.

Grass,Khus/khus/fibre strands can make the Curtain. Water dripping down through Curtain down to Sump and to feed recirculating minipump. Outside air blowing into your shop through Grass curtain.

Thats all.

Fresh air, after-the- rain feel.

DIY at $100 ! Can't fail . At least 50% success.

Swamp coolers work fine in dry climate but not in humid climate.

But there is also a type of cooler (air-conditioner as some people call it) that works in humid areas and that has an Energy Efficiency Ratio of about 40 which is much higher than normal coolers. You will find these at www.coolerado.com

I think this would be the perfect cooler for humid areas like India, South-East Asia, South East United States (and the rest of the world as well of course)

You will find how they work here

Best regards

Randolph Toom

www.heat2power.net

Thanks a lot for the information.in www.coolerado.com

I never heard of this before.

Must try this out before May 2008.

And hope to report the experience to CR4

Best Regards

mm

they are good but the humidity will trouble you.

keep some windows open.

alok misra

I had one in the Oklahoma panhandle and they worked ok when the humidity was down. But they do add to the humidity and cool by evaporation. The latent heat of vaporization is removed from the suroundings but the water vapor in added to the air which can make for a steamy room. I also had a moldy smell from the unit which was unpleasant.

The most interesting experience I had was that over the winter a colony of Miller Moths and set up shop in the unit. When I first turned it on, it looked as if it were snowning in the room with all the Millers! Got rid if it that day!

They work like a cooling tower. Excellent where it's hot & dry. Less so elsewhere.

Well........

General consensus has it that is too humid down here already for swamp cooler......... so i guess i am looking at a plan B.

How about some ideas?

I am open to suggestions.

50' Long x 30' wide x 14' high work area . the rest is for storage of nets and materials.

One big ol' 42" circular fan located on far wall. It pulls air through the windows but it is still 90F - 95F from 11Am through 6 PM.

windows every 5-7' spaced unevenly around work area.

Roof is all sheet metal and is a slanting roof 14' down to 12' .

Ideas gentlemen ??????????

Order a few blocks of iceto be delivered weekdays daily at noon.Place in front of the Circulator and promptly close the leaky windows and doors. Survive till next summer without ice from June end.

Hullo there networker. What you are describing is an evaporative cooler. Subject to the starting humidity and saturation efficiency of the cellulose or shredded aspen or wood fibre pads you can easily achieve 12 degrees temperature drop. Here in Australia they are often used in domestic and commercial applications. by plotting on a psychcrometric chart,db temp/wb temp. and saturation efficiency you can calculate the air off temp and rh.

Coben

Hullo again, sorry folks , I guess I should have read the other posts before entering mine. I do know of the swampies or evaps being used on the coast in Brisbane Australia. Air changes per hour is a big factor. Brisbane weather in summer is often around 60% rh. and an air change factor of 120 a/c's per hour is used. In my town where we experience more like 40%rh we use 40a'c per hour.

coben

G'Day Coben, Where are located mate? I did some work for some fellows near Cape York on the bay, 15 odd years back. We have 65-75% humidity most of the time down here. The consensus on this site, which I have grown to trust quite a bit, is that we are too humid for these contraptions. The fact that it may lower the temp but increase the humidity inside the building makes me leary of it. I do not want a standard AC unit as this old building has too many air escape spaces in the walls and such. It's rain proof but it has some small gaps here and there. Just looking for suggestions right now. Best to you. netmaker

Netmaker:

Just wondering whether your objective is to cool the entire building or just smaller spaces in which people are working?

If it is just certain areas, and you have an air compressor available, it might be possible to use vortex coolers using forced air. Companies like Exair (www.exair.com) offer systems with cooling ratings on the order of 10,500 btu/hr.

Back to the big ole fan that you have (and hopefully a compressor), I wondered how effective it might be to simply bleed dry compressed air into the fan stream?

I don't understand the problem anyway. I have always been told that heat and humidity don't bother you cajuns because you are used to it. Have I been led astray?

Dear Blue, I will look into this link you sent. It might be something we can adapt to our needs. I work about 14 hrs. per day on the average from about February through October. Then we slow down to 8-10 hr. days The area i need cooled down just a touch is a 50x30 work area where I do the actual cutting out and configuring of the assorted net pieces. As for heat and humidity, it didn't bother me until I had a mild stroke in 2000. At 58, I am tired , burned out and feel like sh_ _! for most of the day. I can still handle the work ....but I would just like to be a little more comfortable if i could . I worked in India years ago , in Maharastra and Tamil Nadu . The 105F inland temps felt like the 80's here in Cajun Country. However, Mumbai did feel more like Louisiana. Kerala was hot and humid but that wind kept blowing all day and night....nature's air conditioning. sa fe sheaux esit' mon amis. (It's hot here my friend!) netmaker

Netmaker,

I was obviously kidding you about cajuns and their tolerance for heat and humidity.

I've spent a fair amount of time in your region over the years and am familiar with the climate.

I hope you are doing well and will take care of yourself. I'm a semi-retired electrical engineer, 6 years older than you, who elected to take early retirement in 2004 (after 44 years with Hubbell Power Systems) in order to return to our home in Ohio. After spending the last few years living in El Paso, TX and working in one of our plants in Juarez, MX; followed by another couple of years living and working in Birmingham, AL, it was time.

Since retiring, I consult for a few companies, am a partner in another and a principal in 2 others. Still busy but now it's on my terms.

One thing to remember. When you do finally decide to retire, you can't retire from something, you have to retire to something. That's important.

A major benefit of CR4 is being able to chat with folks like you from around the world. Good luck with your cooling problem and I hope you'll be cutting and fitting nets for many more years; or at least as long as you want.

Bluestone

Blue,

The old DI who raised me often said, "as long as you peddle the bike, you can't fall off". Of course his views on world politics were still "kill 'em all, let God sort 'em out".

Yes, I travelled a bit in the fishing industry but now stay put down here and work on projects for these government guys.

I will never retire fully. I like to work and I enjoy net design as it is a special field.

Thanks for the information and no offense taken.......my internal clock is all messed up but I ignore it as much as possible. Too many folks fall into that "I am disabled and can't work.....but I can play golf, go fishing, build a deck, fix my roof," etc.

hurricane season is here and everybody is on edge. We all know now that we are are on our own if another big one comes. Hell, everything is still broken down here.

Take care. Keep in touch.

netmaker

Gday networker.

I am based Just North of Toowoomba Queensland Australia in a small village called Meringandan. I have to agree with you regarding the Evap coolers. While I have sold and installed them for others both in mid NSW, Western Queensland and also Toowoomba, my own choice in either area is for refrigerated cooling. My choices are based on the fact of lower humidity, less air movement, and better overall comfort. However, I know there are many people who would prefer evaporative cooling to refrigerated cooling. "Viva la differance" I guess. I do like the look of the Coolarado units, they seem very simple in principle. Further thought is that spot cooling may suit you.

regards

Coben

Actually, I kind of know where you are.

I believe we are going to insulate the shop and put in a 3 ton AC unit to keep the humidity down and the temp around 80 F.

It'll run a little more electricity but I guess it is what we need to do.

keep in touch. One of these days I may wind up off your coast with National Gepgraphic looking for those big squids!

netmaker

Networker, I remember a few years ago someone was trying dehumidification as an alternative to full AC. I think they used a refrigerant based dehumidifier rather than the dessicant type. I guess the building would have to be kept closed for it to work any where near efficiently.

regards

Coben

You missed some fireworks today, Mate

A 100 year old White oak, growing just outside my shop, got twisted up and snapped in a big ol' thunderstorm this afternoon.

My shop has serious ventilation now!

A huge section of that old tree dropped on top of the shop and broke some of the 2x6 rafters........water poured in as we had about 6 hours of hard rain.

Oh well, I'll climb up there tomorrow and cut away the lumber.

Life on the Bayous....... never dull.

Creole

ah ha, so what do you do for entertainment?, other than Play little George with your axe and big old trees. (:

Not much else mate........

It seems i just work , work ,work.

This tree job will set me back for 2 or 3 days . I saw last night the rain damage ran into my desk area and soaked all sorts of papers and other important stuff.

Anyway, it could be worse. A few sheets of structural roofing steel and some 2x6 rafters..........believe me it could be very much worse.

Everything is fair dinkum down here in the bayous.......

netmaker