Mini AC = fan

[jazzy]

i dont ahve any ac at my place, just some good fans. i found this little desk top mini AC fan cooler tried it today and it is quite good. the fan part is normal with a high and low speed but the AC cooler part you add some water in the top and it becaomes a cool mist--when you add some ice cubes to the water you put in the top it is very cooling. i liked it so much i got another. they are $25.

good for small rooms, desk top, sitting next to your chair or bedside. i dont think it will cool down a room unless its small.
charges with usb and can take it places.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0D1G5C8G2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

 

[Haertig]

I have one of those (different brand). It works OK if you are right in front of it and it's blowing on you. Mine runs out of water pretty quickly. Which is not terrible during the day when you can easily refill it. But mine runs out of water overnight, and then it becomes just a regular fan. Part of the short runtime could be the super dry climate here in Colorado. But dry climates are where these evaporative coolers work best. Mine is AC plug-in as well, not rechargeable. The rechargeable part would make the thing portable, which opens up more uses for the thing.

Mine got relegated to use in my wife's office at work. She can refill it as needed there, and the noisy fan isn't as disturbing as it is when you're trying to sleep.

I remember seeing a much larger version of this type of thing at an outdoor fair once. It was an evaporative cooling fan setup that mounted on top of one of the Home Depot orange buckets that they try to sell you at the end of each aisle. You fill that big 5 gallon bucket with water and it should last a long time. I walked by this thing at the outdoor fair, and it was doing a great job of cooling the immediate area. I was impressed. I did not look to see if it was plug-in or rechargeable. I thought the brand was the Home Depot store brand, but I never found it when I went and looked at their website. I did see other models - Roybi maybe - on their website though. Those weren't exactly cheap. Not by my standards anyway, since I really don't have a need for one, it would be more of a toy to play around with and show off to friends.

Evaporative coolers do work quite well in dry climates. When I first moved to Colorado, several of my friends had them. One caveat - if you hook them up to your homes ductwork, you may end up with mold problems. So I would get the window-unit variety, or one that blows through a hole cut into your wall - as opposed to hooking it up to house ductwork. Maybe they have come up with solutions to the potential mold issue by now though.

 

[d_marsh]

You can make and AC cheap in only 10 minutes, according to these people:

https://www.instructables.com/10-minute-cheap-portable-cooler-AC/

 

[shanrose]

i dont ahve any ac at my place, just some good fans. i found this little desk top mini AC fan cooler tried it today and it is quite good. the fan part is normal with a high and low speed but the AC cooler part you add some water in the top and it becaomes a cool mist--when you add some ice cubes to the water you put in the top it is very cooling. i liked it so much i got another. they are $25.

good for small rooms, desk top, sitting next to your chair or bedside. i dont think it will cool down a room unless its small.
charges with usb and can take it places.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0D1G5C8G2/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o01_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1

When my husband and I were young we just had single unit a/c. They were great for sleeping. Sleeping in the hot, sticky summer is too much when you get older.

 

[Weedygarden]

Jazzy, I think you live in the mountains. Isn't it dry and arid like most of Colorado?

Any time you use anything that resembles or is an evaporative cooler, aka swamp cooler, it is helpful in arid places as long as it isn't the monsoon season.

I had two free standing evaporative coolers with wheels that parents donated to my classroom that did not have AC. We kept them filled with water and running all day during hot days and they were a great improvement to our comfort.

I have a swamp cooler that cools my house. I bought mine at a yard sale for $40. The man selling it said it came with his house and he didn't like the blowing air. His loss, my gain. It is a large fan with humid air being pulled through.

 

[OldSchool]

Not to be critical, but…. Raising the humidity level, especially in Michigan, it’s the wisest thing a person could do.

 

[Weedygarden]

Not to be critical, but…. Raising the humidity level, especially in Michigan, it’s the wisest thing a person could do.

It's all about your local climate. People who come from humid areas cannot understand evaporative coolers. When you are hot and sweaty from humidity, why would you add more humidity? In dry areas, it helps!

 

[INresponse]

Fill the cooler with ice and it will provide a cold breeze.

Or for less effort,

The downfall is you need a source for ice, buying it would get pricey.

 

[OldSchool]

It's all about your local climate. People who come from humid areas cannot understand evaporative coolers. When you are hot and sweaty from humidity, why would you add more humidity? In dry areas, it helps!

I hear ya, I shouldn’t have added my .02

I will still say though (on the positive side) that I have known people here to use a large water evaporator fan system to help cool a large shop, and it’s worked.

 

[INresponse]

Not to be critical, but…. Raising the humidity level, especially in Michigan, it’s the wisest thing a person could do.

The only way to raise the humidity level in Michigan and find it refreshing would be if you put the fan next to the swimming pool, and got into the pool.

Evaporative coolers, or swamp coolers as we call them, are ideal in the desert climate. Except this time of year when the monsoon weather is in the area. 30% humidity is very uncomfortable when it is 100*, heck even 90* it is annoying.

 

[OldSchool]

The only way to raise the humidity level in Michigan and find it refreshing would be if you put the fan next to the swimming pool, and got into the pool.

Evaporative coolers, or swamp coolers as we call them, are ideal in the desert climate. Except this time of year when the monsoon weather is in the area. 30% humidity is very uncomfortable when it is 100*, heck even 90* it is annoying.

In MI… with 80% humidity @95+ degrees… a simple fan has a cooling effect as it drys the sweat from your brow.

 

[INresponse]

In MI… with 80% humidity @95+ degrees… a simple fan has a cooling effect as it drys the sweat from your brow.

Yup, if the fan is going fast enough. I grew up there. Sweated myself to sleep far too many nights. And what happened after I moved out and the parents had an empty nest? The got central AC.

 

[jazzy]

Jazzy, I think you live in the mountains. Isn't it dry and arid like most of Colorado?

Any time you use anything that resembles or is an evaporative cooler, aka swamp cooler, it is helpful in arid places as long as it isn't the monsoon season.

I had two free standing evaporative coolers with wheels that parents donated to my classroom that did not have AC. We kept them filled with water and running all day during hot days and they were a great improvement to our comfort.

I have a swamp cooler that cools my house. I bought mine at a yard sale for $40. The man selling it said it came with his house and he didn't like the blowing air. His loss, my gain. It is a large fan with humid air being pulled through.

yes, im up in the mountains and it is pretty dry. so this little thing is helpful and im enjoying it. its just for small room or desk but so far its been pretty helpful.

i like everyones ideas--that is really neat.

 

[Weedygarden]

I think I've written about this recently. If it is really hot, which it has been in Colorado lately, taking a shower at bedtime and not drying off, but going to bed wet, can be really helpful in keeping cool. I had a colleague who spent the summer in Spain to improve her Spanish and it was so hot, as reported by her. She wore a cotton night gown. When the heat woke her up, she would get in the shower with the nightgown on, get wet and go back to bed. A fan would help in that situation as well.

 

[Neb]

I think I've written about this recently. If it is really hot, which it has been in Colorado lately, taking a shower at bedtime and not drying off, but going to bed wet, can be really helpful in keeping cool. I had a colleague who spent the summer in Spain to improve her Spanish and it was so hot, as reported by her. She wore a cotton night gown. When the heat woke her up, she would get in the shower with the nightgown on, get wet and go back to bed. A fan would help in that situation as well.

Only if the humidity is low.

Ben

 

[Supervisor42]

Only if the humidity is low.

Ben

Yes. I have always been puzzled why evaporative coolers were called 'swamp-coolers' because down here (in tha-real swamp) it's the one place they don't work because our humidity never drops below 85%.

 

[Mountain trapper]

When we built our house I paid the extra money to install a whole house central air with a heat pump. It was well worth the expense. We run the AC about 6 days a year. The rest of the time the ceiling fans work fine.

 

[shanrose]

Yup, if the fan is going fast enough. I grew up there. Sweated myself to sleep far too many nights. And what happened after I moved out and the parents had an empty nest? The got central AC.

Ugh. I can't sleep when it's hot and sticky. We have overhead fans that I use a lot to keep the a/c bill down but it's the humidity that is hard to bear.

 

[shanrose]

Yup, if the fan is going fast enough. I grew up there. Sweated myself to sleep far too many nights. And what happened after I moved out and the parents had an empty nest? The got central AC.

.

 

[Weedygarden]

Yes. I have always been puzzled why evaporative coolers were called 'swamp-coolers' because down here (in tha-real swamp) it's the one place they don't work because our humidity never drops below 85%.

I'm hoping that an engineer can explain why it works, because it does.

 

[Weedygarden]

When we built our house I paid the extra money to install a whole house central air with a heat pump. It was well worth the expense. We run the AC about 6 days a year. The rest of the time the ceiling fans work fine.

Please explain a heat pump. How does it work?

 

[Neb]

I'm hoping that an engineer can explain why it works, because it does.

Water evaporating is a cooling process as the higher energy water molecules become a gas. When the relative humidity is low there is more water molecules evaporating than are condensing so the fluid cools. With humidity there are more water molecules condensing and acts to cancel the cooling effect of the evaporating molecules.

Ben

 

[Neb]

Please explain a heat pump. How does it work?

Heat pumps are air conditioners running backwards. Instead of letting a compressed gas expand (evaporate) inside the house the gas expands in the outside unit.

Ben

 

[Haertig]

Yes. I have always been puzzled why evaporative coolers were called 'swamp-coolers' because down here (in tha-real swamp) it's the one place they don't work because our humidity never drops below 85%.

I think it's because they make your house feel like a swamp on the inside. Those of us in dryer climates are not used to that level of indoor humidity, so it feels like a swamp inside to us.

 

[INresponse]

Yes. I have always been puzzled why evaporative coolers were called 'swamp-coolers' because down here (in tha-real swamp) it's the one place they don't work because our humidity never drops below 85%.

The desert has dry air, and when their is wind it is like standing in front of an open oven. Introducing moisture into the air, or shall I say "swamping" the air with moisture, cools the air as the water particles evaporate.

I'm hoping that an engineer can explain why it works, because it does.

As the water particles evaporate they cool the air, basically robbing heat that is needed to evaporate the moisture. However you do need airflow for this to work, meaning you draw in the hot, dry air and force it through wet pads (similar to the air filter on your furnace but a different material) and the moist air is blown into a room, or the entire building, or with a portable unit towards your work or sitting area. You do need an exit path for the moist air to leave the building or the moisture builds up and it feels like a swamp inside.
Think of sitting outside on a hot and humid evening and having a cool breeze that may give you the chills.

I think it's because they make your house feel like a swamp on the inside. Those of us in dryer climates are not used to that level of indoor humidity, so it feels like a swamp inside to us.

Exactly, which is why ideally air is drawn in from the outside and through the cooler and an exit path, either an open window or door or other vent, is provided for the moist air to escape.

 

[Tirediron]

The act of evaporation is what absorbs some of the heat, if the balance is right the cooled air won't get that much moister
and the reason why compressed gas refrigeration (A/C ) is effective in humid climates is that it dries the air on on contact with the below dew point evaporator plates, and how people freeze up the evaporator in their mobile system by turning down air flow instead of heat removal (end of rant)

 

[Tirediron]

Yes. I have always been puzzled why evaporative coolers were called 'swamp-coolers' because down here (in tha-real swamp) it's the one place they don't work because our humidity never drops below 85%.

because when they are used in mobile equipment and people mess with the controls , over wetting the mesh, the water tends to splash out of the cooler and make a swamp. (that my know it all theory, and people like to make adjustments on stuff the don't understand

 

[jazzy]

well....im sitting here at myy desk, the little fan-cooler is on the shelf next to me and it is working very well for what i need. im very happy with it.

so i have a regular turbo fan on one end of my room near my bed and this new fan -cooler by my desk. working pretty good.

 

[Tirediron]

well....im sitting here at myy desk, the little fan-cooler is on the shelf next to me and it is working very well for what i need. im very happy with it.

so i have a regular turbo fan on one end of my room near my bed and this new fan -cooler by my desk. working pretty good.

that is good that you are happy with it , and it gave me a chance to type information that nobody really wants to understand

 

[Mountain trapper]

Please explain a heat pump. How does it work?

I'm not sure. It's a metal box that sits outside. It's has a large fan inside the box and some piping to goes inside the house. They're supposed to really save electricity when using with a furnace for heating too, down to about 20 degrees anyway. I have our heat pump connected to a 12kw generator when we need AC. We don't use the heat pump during winter because we heat with wood.