Igglo portable AC

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fraz627

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Any one use it, they claim it's not a swamp cooler. eventually will end up in texas/Florida.
The price seems affordable.
 
It's a 12v thermoelectric cooler with a fan to move the cool air inside to the outside. The only way it's going to cool a van is if you first fill it with ice, then maybe an hour of coolish air until the ice has melted.
 
is it this one in this picture. If it is it requires ice, but the directions say it can be use as a swampcooler without ice. I use swampcoolers in my van, I doubt the igloo can be used as a swampcooler, its too small and I dont see any room for the pad and water pump required.
I would get a swampcooler before I would rely on ice to keep me cool. Ice will run out too fast. Swampcooler might struggle during the day but at night time it does make a difference even when the humidity is high. I run it all night with no problem, using less then 2 amps of power.
The igloo has a powerful 80 watt fan (about 6 amps) but the 2 small vents in the front is going to restrict too much air going out. Once the ice runs out if the air in your van is 100 degrees, the air coming out the vents will be 100 degrees.
a igloo a.jpg
 
yes thats the one I saw advertised, I really didn't think it would work as advertised, 3 days is a lot to expect.
Thanks
 
What brand of swamp cooler do you use or is it home built?
 
Air conditioning is zero-sum as far as heat removal goes. Using ice isn't economical... It melts even faster when being used to cool down air than it would just sitting on your counter (and removes the same amount of heat from the air... It just does it over a shorter period of time). If not using ice, then you need some kind of outside connection since the goal of AC is to move heat from the inside of the van to the outside environment (so by using ice you are getting rid of the heat somewhere else when the ice is formed and the heat balance equalizes in the van as the ice melts). Swamp coolers are great but I've always wondered how you are able to keep the pads wet when in a vehicle... the stationary one I use during the summer seems to go through a LOT of water.
 
Air conditioning comes up every year. Simple answer is the only sure way to stay cool is to use a real 110 volt air conditioner in combination with grid power or a generator. Yes you can move up in elevation, yes swamp boxes work in dry climates but use a lot of water so city water hookup most times required. Yes if you have thousands of watts of solar and battery bank you can run a small ac during the day. Understand a mini split system will use less but not totally familiar with an expensive system like that. What has worked best for us is to get full hookups as part of seasonal work or voluntary work and use a regular 110 ac. You can acclimate yourself to a hot climate if you stay close to a lake and swim a lot then sit in the shade and use a small fan but it takes effort and many sleepless nights.
 
I had to build my own swampcooler, the ones they sell won't work in a moving vehicle without water dripping all over the inside of your van.
I use the celdek evaporater pad because it will last for years. The ones that use the blue durakool pads or even the swampys, the pads get clogged up after a few months restricting airflow. As far as water use, I can go a weekend running the swampcooler most of the day and use less than a gallon of water for both days, on real hot days you might use a gallon a day.
I been using swampcoolers for the past 8 years in my van in the southern california area, they keep me cool even on the hottest days. Even on the hot humid days, its better then just using a fan. I learned from trial and error how to get the swampcooler to work for my situation.
I'm sure a swampcooler will work in a hot humid area, as long as its large enough. It will use more water but still use less power than an AC. I've run 2 swampcoolers at the same time on very hot days and the solar panel easily kept up with the power use.

The inside of the swampcooler I built, notice the celdek evaporator pad, it never gets clogged by water impurities even after years of use. They are suppose to last for 5 years which seems to be accurate. One thing about swampcoolers you need have outside air going into the evaporator pad, otherwise they wont work. On mine I feed the swampcooler through my roof vent.
swamp design.jpg

This is the smallest swampcooler I built, I ran it a whole summer and it worked good. a small celdek.jpg
 
I had to build my own swampcooler, the ones they sell won't work in a moving vehicle without water dripping all over the inside of your van.
I use the celdek evaporater pad because it will last for years. The ones that use the blue durakool pads or even the swampys, the pads get clogged up after a few months restricting airflow. As far as water use, I can go a weekend running the swampcooler most of the day and use less than a gallon of water for both days, on real hot days you might use a gallon a day.
I been using swampcoolers for the past 8 years in my van in the southern california area, they keep me cool even on the hottest days. Even on the hot humid days, its better then just using a fan. I learned from trial and error how to get the swampcooler to work for my situation.
I'm sure a swampcooler will work in a hot humid area, as long as its large enough. It will use more water but still use less power than an AC. I've run 2 swampcoolers at the same time on very hot days and the solar panel easily kept up with the power use.

The inside of the swampcooler I built, notice the celdek evaporator pad, it never gets clogged by water impurities even after years of use. They are suppose to last for 5 years which seems to be accurate. One thing about swampcoolers you need have outside air going into the evaporator pad, otherwise they wont work. On mine I feed the swampcooler through my roof vent.
View attachment 31178

This is the smallest swampcooler I built, I ran it a whole summer and it worked good. View attachment 31179
That is COOL! Love the DIY.
One question: What's the difference in temp inside your vehicle when it is, say, 100 degrees outside?
One comment: It's a pretty established fact that evaporative cooling systems work best with incoming hot, dry air. This why they are a popular alternative to A/C in WARM DRY climates, like the Southwest.
Swamp coolers cool by evaporation of water, adding moisture to the inside air. In humid environments where incoming air is already 'wet', the impact of the coolness is lessened incrementally, depending on the relative humidity. Atmospheres with a saturated level of relative humidity tend to not accept any further moisture, so they don't work as well.
 

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What's the difference in temp inside your vehicle when it is, say, 100 degrees outside

In my experience swamp coolers are better at spot cooling (blowing directly over you) than area cooling.

At the moment one is blowing on me. It is 80F (warm enough turn it on) and ~15% RH. I had to turn it down to low because it was a bit chilly on medium. The overall interior temp didn't budge perceptibly.

* an overview of the evaps I have personally used
* rvwiki stub article on swamp coolers
 
on a hot day it might get up to 110 degrees in the back of my van with the fridge running and no swampcooler. With the swampcooler running the inside temperature in the back of the van is between 90 and 94 degrees.
If the swampcooler is blowing on you, the air coming out of it is in the 80 degrees. Its comfortable.
Something that makes a big difference is where the swampcooler is getting its intake of outside air. I find that the air coming from the roof vent fan is cooler then the side vents I use to use, the cooler the intake air the better results you get.

Picture of the flexible vent hoses I use to get air to swampcooler, they are connected to roof vent. The left hose goes to the swampcooler, the right hose was used to exhaust the 12 volt fridge hot compressor air.
roof ducting.jpeg

Temperature (148 degrees) of front of van which is separated from back of van and rear of the van where swampcooler is running (94 degrees), this is on a very hot day (humidity 89%). Without the swampcooler I wouldnt last 10 minutes in the back of the van, any temperature over 100 degrees becomes unbearable quickly.
I always carry extra waterpumps and fans and can change them out quickly, because once the swampcooler stops working the van heats up quickly.
high humid.jpg
 
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