Keeping Cool

[akrvbob]

There is no true, pure freedom to be found in it's broadest sense. For example, I can't fly to the moon, gravity and my biology won't let me. I can't walk naked down the streets of my town, there are laws against it (plus, all the vomiting people would make me vomit too!).

The goal is to have all the freedom you can within the confines of your world.

When I got divorced and moved into a van my kids stayed with their mom. So I wasn't free to leave and do as I please. My love for them held me in Anchorage, AK. But I was free to stop paying rent and that allowed me to be free to start working 32 hours a week instead of working 40. Every week was a three day holiday! I loved that freedom!

Our goal should be to try to attain all the freedom we can in our circumstances. The freer we are, the happier we'll be.
Bob

 

[Optimistic Paranoid]

Maybe none of us are truly free in the absolute sense.  But I find the whole "when it gets hot, I'll just move to a higher elevation" philosophy to be just too limiting.

I want to do a grand tour of all the Civil War battlefields, which will most likely mean most of a hot, humid summer wandering the South.

I want to go to the Bonneville Salt Flats during (summer) Speed Weeks.

In short, I want to be able to go wherever my fancy takes me, without worrying about whether I'll be too uncomfortable if I do.

That's living.

Regards
John

 

[highdesertranger]

paranoid, I say go for it. highdesertranger

 

[SoulRaven]

The image doesn't show for me. Googled 12v air conditioner, but not sure if what I found is what you're referring to. One of them was a lil over 400$. If you get a chance can you post a link to a good 12v one? Thnx if you can.

The GoCool is a commercially made one, but I wasn't very impressed by how short of a time it said ice lasts.  A large block of ice in mine will last the better part of a week.


At a recent get together, I also saw a slightly modified version which added a shelf in the bottom, so it could be used as both a cooler and an A/C.  That fellow used cubed ice instead of big blocks, but he said he still got 3 days on a bag of ice.

That picture got fixed, but if you still can't get it let me know and we'll figure something out.

 

[jimindenver]

Maybe none of us are truly free in the absolute sense.  But I find the whole "when it gets hot, I'll just move to a higher elevation" philosophy to be just too limiting.

I want to do a grand tour of all the Civil War battlefields, which will most likely mean most of a hot, humid summer wandering the South.

I want to go to the Bonneville Salt Flats during (summer) Speed Weeks.

In short, I want to be able to go wherever my fancy takes me, without worrying about whether I'll be too uncomfortable if I do.

That's living.

Regards
John

When I lived in Michigan we went north to escape the heat. Here we go up. In both places we have seen mid 90's and will run the air for comfort. Luckily we can produce the power because water and ice are in short supply and a long drive to replenish.

 

[Matt71]

Where do people buy block ice?
Is there a chain that carries it, and I'm just oblivious?
Doesn't seem convenient.

 

[Rugster]

Quick question, would the home built AC's built using a cooler and 12v fan sufficiently cool a van interior for a day or two before you'd have to change the ice? I'm very interested in building a weekend camper but AC is a huge concern since I am in Florida and 95 degree plus weather is not fun. I'd also have insulation built in and would cover the windows, etc.
I'm going to have to try it anyway but first hand experience would be helpful.

 

[Matt71]

From what I have read, the humidity would be too high to effectively use something like that.

 

[akrvbob]

Here's the picture again. I's a closed loop so it doesn't put any more humidity into the van than is already there.

But the main beauty of the system is you don't have to cool the whole van, you only need to cool yourself. Place the heater core near you and the fan will blow the air on you making you much cooler. It doesn't really matter if the van is still hot because you'll feel cool.

OffGrid 24/7, have you actually built one of these and does it work as good as it looks? It says you can use ice or just water, how cool does it get with just water?
Bob

 

[SoulRaven]

Here's the picture again. I's a closed loop so it doesn't put any more humidity into the van than is already there.

But the main beauty of the system is you don't have to cool the whole van, you only need to cool yourself. Place the heater core near you and the fan will blow the air on you making you much cooler. It doesn't really matter if the van is still hot because you'll feel cool.

OffGrid 24/7, have you actually built one of these and does it work as good as it looks? It says you can use ice or just water, how cool does it get with just water?
Bob

I've built quite a few of them over the last 20 years or so.  Various incarnations to improve upon them.


They work very well without ice, and there have been very few instances where I actually needed to add ice at all, and even then, by the time that block of ice was gone in 5-6 days, ice would no longer be needed.  Just guessing, I'm going to say that it needs to be somewhere in the upper 90's before ice is even needed.  In most of the 80's & 90's where it is the humidity killing you rather than the temps, no ice is needed, and it will not only blow cool air, it can bring the humidity levels way down to make it seem much cooler.

Through trial and error I discovered that the lower flow, 1-2 GPM fountain pumps seem to work better than the higher flow pumps, and at .3 amps they are a very low power draw, and by insulating the ice from the circulating water, it lasts substantially longer, and of course the large blocks of ice also last longer than the cubes.

I've used mine in both dry and extremely humid areas, and it works well in any area.  I have used them in 18 wheelers, RV's, camper vans, and even tents.  They work well, and even without ice, at the end of a hot day the water and the radiator will still be cool to the touch.

 

[akrvbob]

If you have the time and have pictures of one I'd love to do a post on it. All you'd need to do is send me captions for the pictures explaining what's in them and how you did things. If you have a site we can put in a link and probably bring you some traffic.

I understand if you don't have time. Thanks for the great idea anyway!
Bob

 

[SoulRaven]

If you have the time and have pictures of one I'd love to do a post on it. All you'd need to do is send me captions for the pictures explaining what's in them and how you did things. If you have a site we can put in a link and probably bring you some traffic.

I understand if you don't have time. Thanks for the great idea anyway!
Bob

When the weather starts warming up, I'll be making one for a friend and I'll see if he can document it.


I've never been big on pictures, was always able to show people in person anything they wanted to see, or help them build their own stuff. 

 

[akrvbob]

I understand wanting to work one-on-one, but if I post it many thousands will see it.

If it works out for you to do that would be great but if you can't I understand.
Bob

 

[jimindenver]

I've seen a set up like this except there was no radiator but a pad instead. They used them to reduce inflammation after replacing a knee. The cooler was lunch sized and the pump was battery operated, replace the pad with a heater core and fan to have what was described before. The size of the exchanger and amount of air flow would dictate how much cooling effect you would get.