Evapolar Micro Climate AC??

[Yawppy]

Been researching how to stay cool, in the van this summer, looking for ideas etc. Venting, swamp coolers, and the like. Thus far have seen some stuff out there, that is just not for me, but then came across this item... which again just not sure what to make of it. Seems it may cool a micro area by about 10 degrees, KEY WORD is MIGHT/// at $179, want to turn MIGHT into WILL.

Plenty of youtube videos that seem more like professional reviewers touting it as the all mighty , but I think in reality it is a bust, but could I be wrong? Of course I'd love for this to be the SOLUTION, but think that in reality, it probably is not.

From the videos I have seen, this may be more like a swamp cooler, not so great in a humid environment, but maybe it will cool a 70 degree van to say 60, but what about a 112 interior temp, 102 not so cool, have not seen a temp test of these yet, with say thermometers, ....there is one youtuber that claims a 30x30 room cools down, but no real data, but most videos do clain that it cools the air by about 10 degrees, just what the unit shows on screen,

So, while I would love to test one out, full well knowing this is a looong pipe dream, am not ready to shell out the 179 to do so. My mind is made up, just curious as to what others may think as well, and am a bit curious as to whether anyone has one, can perhaps shed some light on how it does in cooling.

Just noticed this chart on the site https://evapolar.com/pages/how-it-works, gives humidty cooling parameters

Heres the link to the evapolar, Evapolar
https://evapolar.com/
:huh: Yawppy
https://evapolar.com/

 

[SoulRaven]

It was interesting as I googled for reviews. Where I found negative, they claimed those reviews were "unreliable" for a variety of reasons. I lived in the desert for 6 years and when it was dry, they worked and during the monsoons, evaporative coolers do not work, you can't even feel the fan blowing through humidity enough to even cool. I looked at that chart and do not believe they are being truthful. One thing they didn't seem to take into account was the temperature of the water being used. I know, here in KS in the house, we had a small portable on wheels that had ice packs that we froze and put in and that made a different in the temp of the air blowing on us. A fan trying to force humid air into a humid environment can't possibly be worth the price they are asking. I have been looking at such devices also and haven't found something I wanted to invest in yet. All too often, positive reviews are coming from the extremely dry climates.

 

[bullfrog]

Look at burning man events and diy swamp coolers, it will give you some idea of how well things like this work.

 

[highdesertranger]

that's a swamp cooler. I don't believe their chart after 40-50% humidity swamp coolers really don't work. in a dry climate under 30% humidity swamp coolers work great. where do you plan on using this set up? highdesertranger

 

[SoulRaven]

In case you missed Bob's blog: http://www.cheaprvliving.com/heating-insulation/passive-cooling-how-to-beat-the-heat-in-a-van/ there might be something there to help. We are on our 2nd Endless Breeze Fan, the other one lasted a very long time, and more pricey, we found they were worth. They move the air!

 

[jimindenver]

Swamp coolers need

A large amount of dry air from outside Blowing over moistened pads to the inside and ventilation of the humidified air back outside again. A table top unit isn't very good because it is drawing on the air it just added moisture to trying to evaporate even more water. You end up with humid, hot air which is worse than humid dry air.

I had a huge swamp cooler in Denver for 12 years and it worked great unless the humidity climbed or it got too hot. Over time everything you own absorbs the moisture and ends up smelling faintly musty. It also sucked a lot of water, something that is in short supply in the dessert.

 

[sushidog]

Bottom line is Btus. To cool a well insulated van you need at least 4 times the 1,200 Btus of cooling power that these coolers claim to produce (which is exaggerated - calculation of true cooling power at end). Probably 4 times more, at least. Plus they consume water by evaporation which removes the heat - lots of water. Also if they tip, they spill water so they are not the best for mobile applications.

This swamp cooler designed for RV's would work.
http://www.dyersonline.com/turbokoo...e=googlebase&gclid=CO2EwKei0NMCFZOKswodfUEISA

It draws from 2.2 - 4.6 amps depending on fan speed. The main problem is water usage. You must have room for at least a 3 gallon tank (15 gallons preferably) and plan on refiling that small tank every day depending on humidity, fan speed and hours used. Then there's the mold and mildew problem with that much humidity in a small confined space.

If you want to calculate how much water they use, the latent heat of evaporation of water is 970 Btu/lb. This means that 1 gallon of water contains 8.33lbs x 970Btu's = 8,000 Btu's. So if it could produce 4,000 Btu's of cooling per hour, 1 gallon will last 2 hrs. So that 3 gallon tank would only last 6 hrs, assuming the air could handle all that humidity without becoming super-saturated (clouds and raining inside). That means that the small cooler would need to consume 1 gallon of water every 6 hours to produce the cooling they claim. To calculate its real cooling power in Btu's, divide the Btu's of water in the tank by the rate of consumption (refill rate). They say the tank is 750 ml (about .2 gal) and that it needs refilling every 4-6 hrs, so let's use 4 hrs to give them the benefit of the doubt. 8000 x .2 = 1,600 Btus / 4 hrs = 400 btus. Isn't science wonderful?

Chip

 

[DannyB1954]

I'm curious about opinions on using a DIY air conditioner in a van, such as the one I'm linking to here below. I've seen these type of instructions floating around the web for decades but have never tried it myself. Thoughts?

http://saltsugarsea.com/diy-travel-air-conditioner/

If it was blowing right on you, a bag might last long enough for you to fall asleep. Block ice would probably last longer.  Ice can be expensive.

A pound of ice will absorb 144 BTU of heat while it melts. So a 10 lb bag will take in 1,440 btu.  About the smallest air conditioner that you can buy will do 5,000 BTU per hour. You could probably run it on a small generator for 6 hours on a gallon of gas. Say $3 a gallon. During that time it would remove 5,000 BTU X 6 Hours = 30,000 BTU. To do that with ice it would take 30,000 / 144 = 208 pounds. The cheapest I seen ice was $4 for a 20 pound bag. So 200 / 20 = 10bags. 10 X $4 = $40.

 

[jonyjoe303]

As someone who has build several swampcoolers and use them daily, the small swampcooler pictured won't worked as shown on the picture on top of a desktop. All the swampcoolers I build have 4" inch intake ducts and I connect 4 inch dryer machine flexible ducting to bring outside air into the swampcooler. Without outside air, the swampcooler won't work. Also the portable swampcoolers with wheels sold at home depot, wont work unless you place them next to a window, they don't even have a place to connect ducting to.

I see in the picture the evaporator pad looks fairly thin and the small size make for not much cooling effect even if placed next to a window. You need to move alot of air over the pad to get a cooling effect, meaning you need a large powerful, loud fan. On hot days nothing beats horsepower in getting some cooling out of a swampcooler. On mine I have two powerful 140+ cfm fans running at full power to keep cool. They are loud but when your hot, they are music to your ears.

As far as cooling effect, its true the lower the humidity the better, at higher humidity your lucky if you get a 5 degree drop, but even a small drop in temperature is better than
nothing. One time on a hot day one of my water pumps went out on the swampcooler and I didnt have a spare and it was getting hot real quick, I went to walmart and bought a water pump used in fish tanks and used that in an emergency even though I had to connect it to an inverter. It did the trick until I got a proper 12 volt pump. Nowadays I always carry a spare swampcooler, spare fans, and at least 10 spare pumps. Being without a swampcooler is unacceptable for me. Even though I rarely use them at night on hot nights they will keep you cool and I usually throttle them down to less than an amp. On a hot day it might use 4 liters of water, on not so hot days you might use less that 2 liters. Larger swampcoolers I build with a car radiator electric fan that move alot of air can go through 6 liters of water on a hot day. The hotter the day and the more air your moving will determine your water use.


The small astrovan I have is heavily insulated with rtech foam (from home depot), windows/roof/ as much of the walls as I could put foam on, and I even build a sliding door between the driver compartment and rear of the van. Parked in the hot sun (for my solar panel) with all my windows and doors closed, The temperature in the front of van is over 140 degrees, in the back its about 100 degrees, thats with only the swampcooler running. Where the swampcooler is actually blowing its more comfortable in the 80's, its just a small area where its comfortable. The insulation helps more than anything to keep cool. But for 3 amps of power you can't beat a swampcooler, I also have a endless breeze fantastic fan, but rarely have used it in 3 years.

All I can say is that the giant swampcoolers I have built using a 10 inch 6 amp radiator electric fan and a giant 3 inch thick celdek evaporator pad, couldnt do what the small evapolar claims to do.