A new, innovative, portable air conditioner

[tfirma]

So it might be a bit of a stretch to call this a true "air conditioner", but I can't help but think this would be pretty interesting to try in an RV. I wrote the company already and they are going to offer 12V adapter version as well... What do you guys think? Gimmick or potentially viable?

https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/world-s-first-personal-air-conditioner#/

[MEXICOWANDERER]

in the Antelope Valley where summers can mean 114F with 7% R/H I had a four foot square swamp cooler on the roof of my shop trailer (an old Nashua). The blower motor was 1/4 HP.

It was not uncommon to see a 35 degree drop in temperature if measured right at the outflow.

Somewhere around 35 percent R/H is the magic point where a swamp cooler becomes marginal.

Get two accurate mercury bulb thermometers that agree with each other and if there is any interest shown I will comprise a piece on wet-bulb, dry-bulb measurements that make a heck of lot more sense and is infinitely more accurate and meaningful than a hygrometer.

[wa8yxm]

I used to have a combination Swamp Cooler/space heater (2,000 watt, yes a true 2,000 watt) unit here.. (Gator cooler was I think the brand) Finally fell apart and died.

I can tell you that when I waS boondocking in the desert that sucker would drop the bedroom a good 10 degrees in Swamp Cooler mode.. and raise the himidity as well (I suffer in dry climates and need saline spray in the nose)

A win/win it was.

[hbski]

Don't forget that with a swamp cooler running anything that can go stale WILL go stale in about 15 minutes if you leave the bag/container open.

[jplante4]

I built one for the gasser when the A/C quit. Totally worthless.

[valhalla360]

kellertx5er wrote:

pianotuna wrote:
No btu rating. Save your pennies.

Ad claims 'cooling power' = 500 watts (= 1700 btuh = 0.14 ton)

Might work in 4'x5' bathroom with door closed in February.

Yes, it is possible to do a conversion but the standard unit of cooling is either BTU or ton. The fact that they failed to use it leaves me very skeptical that the 500watts is directly related to cooling power.

Also while the output btu of all air/cons will vary some depending on conditions, a swamp cooler is exteremly dependent on conditions, so without specifying specific conditions that are typical for air/con use to come up with that number (ie: don't assume 75F with 50% humidity for the test as people generally don't run the air/con in those conditions) it is a meaningless number.

[MEXICOWANDERER]

Heat relief.....

Altitude

Altitude

Altitude

[JiminDenver]

In the right conditions it would provide a cool breeze to someone close enough. I wouldn't bet on it "cooling" any area beyond that.

A RV swamp cooler would be nice here except one thing. Dry camping is dry and running for water to run the swamp cooler is no better than running for gas to run the A/C.

[pianotuna]

Nice, except for the price.

Sandia Man wrote:
Effective only in dryer air climates where humidity is 30% or less which is pretty much relugated to the southwest region of the country. Here is an RV version of the same technology.

[MrWizard]

moved from technology

[kellertx5er]

pianotuna wrote:
No btu rating. Save your pennies.

Ad claims 'cooling power' = 500 watts (= 1700 btuh = 0.14 ton)

Might work in 4'x5' bathroom with door closed in February.

[Sandia_Man]

Effective only in dryer air climates where humidity is 30% or less which is pretty much relugated to the southwest region of the country. Here is an RV version of the same technology.

[valhalla360]

A sucker born every minute. People have donated $175k to a guy building tiny low capacity swamp coolers.

Watts is not a unit of heating/cooling, so 500watts doesn't mean anything.

Also they claim it is effective up to 70% humitidy with slightly reduced effectiveness above that. By 70% humidity, effectiveness will be seriously reduced. By the time you get up to 80-90% it will do next to nothing. You really want it down in the 20-30% range for a swamp cooler to work.

I like the comment from the guy saying he will use it camping in florida...where the average humitidy hangs out around 95%.

[RoyB]

Brings back memories of my ARIZONA days back in the 60s... Every house in the Phoenix metroplex had these on the roofs... They worked great after you mastered where to create a draft throughout the house.

The one drawback I really hated was when it was time to change out the filters on the roof.

You had to protect yourself from BLACK WIDOW SPIDERS... They did not follow the known rule of only ONE in each location...

Roy Ken

[holstein13]

There is nothing innovative about this evaporative cooler or "swamp cooler." I used to use them in my warehouse until I saw how badly our shelves were rusting downwind. It is not highly effective in south Florida.