Cooling Vest

[sephson]

I know there's already a thread from several years ago on this subject, but I found it less than informative and thought that a fresh start would be a better approach than trying to build on a long dead and buried thread.

I've recently begun wearing cooling vests at work as a way of dealing with warmer temperatures. Ive found them to be pretty effective at keeping me relatively comfortable in hot weather.

There are three basic types of cooling vests, circulating, ice pack and evaporative.

I have no experience with circulating vests. They're expensive, in the several hundred dollars range and require you to carry a water supply for circulation.

One of the cooling vests I use at work is an ice pack style. Essentially, you put ice packs in pockets sewn into the vest. The ice packs help to cool you down. I'm not too thrilled with this style. They're pricey (The cheapest one I found was $95.), much like the circulating vests and frankly, don't do a very good job of cooling me down. They're great for icing sore back muscles though. The only reason I have one is that I can't safely wear an evaporative vest while doing electrical work.

I have two of the evaporative style, and the scene shop has two more. You use an evaporative cooling vest by soaking it in water and then wearing it. Basically, you're wearing your own, personal, passive swamp cooler I've found that an evaporative cooling vest drops my perception of the ambient temperature by 5 to 10 degrees for about three hours. I'm quite pleased with how well these have worked for me.  More importantley, they're not prohibitively expensive. You can find one in the $30 to 60$ range from various industrial and motorcycle suppliers.

While not a cure all by any stretch of the imagination, I think a cooling vest is worth looking into as a method of dealing with the heat.

 

[highdesertranger]

I use the evaporative bandanna type that you wear around your neck. for me they make a huge difference. by your review I am going to look into the vests. highdesertranger

 

[WanderingBiker]

great info... now if I could find a cooling vest for my german shepherd.... he hates hot weather, loves the cold weather

 

[bigsallysmom]

I wore a cooling vest under my moto jacket. When it got really hot we soaked them in ice water.

 

[bullfrog]

Today I used the ice pocket style vest to work outdoors in 106 degree heat. I actually refilled it after about 5 hours as I work 10 hour shifts. If standing or walking its heavy and probably causes you to produce more heat than it is worth. I found the looser I wore it and the more air flow through it the better it worked as there is come condensation that evaporates and makes it even cooler. Wearing it tight did lower the temperature of skin directly under it but didn't make me feel cooler untill I took it off, really sort of strange. It seems to work best for me if sitting with it draped over my shoulders loosley rather than zipped up, ocassionally shifting positions of the ice packs.

 

[Dingfelder]

I like the idea; never heard of it before either. Sounds like the moisture produced wouldn't be good inside a hot trailer, though, right? I'm picturing it soaking through anything I sit on.

 

[bullfrog]

They can make things damp but in low humidity and high heat anything to cool off is welcome also note work place pays for the freezer and electrical power to keep them frozen.

 

[DanoT]

great info... now if I could find a cooling vest for my german shepherd.... he hates hot weather, loves the cold weather

It is a fairly new product but I first bought an evaporation coat for my dog 3 years ago. There are a few different designs and are available in some pet stores (or they can order them from a supplier) or you should be able to find one online.

The evaporation coat that I have for my dog has some open weave panels and thin sponge panels. It works great.

 

[tx2sturgis]

Generally speaking the evaporative vests need airflow to work, so a fan or light breeze will help cool you off. 

The neck coolers we used to use while riding motorcycles in the summer, have some kind of water-absorbing gel beads inside, they can really help with comfort in the heat.

I just pour some water over my shirt and then use a spray bottle filled with water to mist my face and arms. I'm usually sitting outside in the shade or in my rolling man-cave, so there isn't any carpet under me to worry about.