Solar Powered Swamp Cooler for the boat

[Brian D]

Since a boat really is a small confined space (well, most of the are) keeping the air cool can be costly. Why not do it yourself with a portable, solar powered, swamp cooler.

Here is a video of a guy building one with a 5 gal bucket. There are other methods you can use. But the idea is the same. Granted he is not on a boat, but the air flow from this swamp cooler might be sufficient for a maybe up to 36 feet?

 

[Stu Jackson]

Speaking as an air conditioning engineer, swamp coolers work ONLY where it is hot and DRY, like the desert, by cooling the air by evaporation, like you cooling your skin off with a garden hose. Doesn't much work above 50% rh like at the ocean.

 

[Brian D]

Probably true, but when I lived in Teheran at the foot of the Alborz Mountain range we had a swamp cooler on our house. Sure did keep it nice and cool and I can tell you the weather there was not dry desert conditions.

But the point is, it is cheap to build and maybe worth trying. If it works, saves on both expense of cash and battery power running a real A/C. Just a thought.

 

[kloudie1]

Can't use 'em in Louisiana, or on northern Gulf coast.. too much humidity normally in the air..

 

[Stu Jackson]

when I lived in Teheran at the foot of the Alborz Mountain range we had a swamp cooler on our house. Sure did keep it nice and cool and I can tell you the weather there was not dry desert conditions.

I lived there, too, 1975-78. It was certainly hot & DRY in the summer. That's why it worked. Of course, compared to air conditioning at 1 cfm/sqft, you needed to move 3 1/2 times the amount of air.

But the point is, it is cheap to build and maybe worth trying. If it works, saves on both expense of cash and battery power running a real A/C. Just a thought.

But it won't work, that's why we have engineers, and Kloudie. To tell you: Don't bother to waste your time or anyone else's.

 

[Kings Gambit]

The swamp coolers I grew up with in the San Joaquin Valley-- a very hot and dry place in summer-- were set up with the water/filter unit outside the house, blowing cool air into the house through a window. Essentially, it was a window unit. Thus, the cool air coming into the house did not recirculate directly through the unit. The homemade jobber does not separate the cool air coming out via the fan from the air going in at the holes. It shouldn't stay too cool for long in a small enclosure b/c the heat will have already been extracted from much of the air going back into the system--thus, no additional evaporation/cooling. It doesn't work well in high relative humidity b/c there's no "place" for the water to evaporate. Probably less efficient at altitudes much above sea level b/c it takes less heat to evaporate water at lower atmospheric pressure, so less heat would be removed from the air, etc.

 

[Allan12210]

We had one when I was a kid in Phoenix, then later in Sacramento. What I don't remember is if they inject moisture into the room. Can that be controlled by leaving a hatch open or will it lead to condensation inside after the temperature falls (at nighttime)?

 

[kloudie1]

From a swamp cooler manufacturer:

 

[Stu Jackson]

Swamp coolers are 100% outside air, no recirculation. Small home systems just blow though, on some larger buildings exhaust fans may be needed.

 

[Gene Neill]

I always wondered why they were called swamp coolers.

They should be called desert coolers.

 

[Jackdaw]

I always wondered why they were called swamp coolers.

They should be called desert coolers.

Wiki says:
This design and this material remain dominant in evaporative coolers in the American Southwest, where they are also used to increase humidity.[4] In the United States, the use of the term swamp cooler may be due to the odor of algae produced by early units.[5]

 

[Gunni]

We called them swamp coolers because the system was full of water, trickling across filter pads into a drain pan. Precious water in a desert.

 

[Stu Jackson]

Precious water in a desert.

And the guts of the cooler do look lie a swamp after a while, don't they?