Evaporative Cooling, aka the Swamp Effect: An Energy Efficient Alternative to Air Conditioning

in #steemstem6 years ago (edited)

Fuck Summer. It's hot as Satan's armpit and twice as humid. But air conditioning sucks down so much power! Is there any way to stay cool this season without driving the power bill up through the roof? Yes, there is! It's cheap, uses very little power and is surprisingly low tech.

It's the humble evaporative cooler, which operates on the swamp effect. Named for the cooling effect swamps have on hot, dry air blowing through them. This happens because the act of evaporation saps a great deal of heat from the liquid, owing to a reduction in kinetic energy as it changes state from liquid to vapor.

This in turn cools the air. It does also humidify it at the same time however, so this won't work in an enclosed space because eventually the air will have all been humidified, and the effect only works on dry air. This is why, contrary to intuition, swamp coolers work best with a window open near them.

Probably the best thing about swamp coolers is how dead simple they are to make. You literally only need a pump for circulating water, aquarium tubing, a bucket, a fan, and some cloth or foam to serve as the evaporative surfaces for the water:

There are variations on this which use ice, and indeed they get the air even cooler, but then you're spending more energy to constantly replenish the ice. It depends how long you plan to use it for. If it's for long term use (more than a few days) I'd go with the circulating water design. If it's just for a weekend camping trip or whatever, use ice.

You might see small, desktop sized "portable air conditioners" for sale on Amazon these days. They aren't really air conditioners, those can only be miniaturized so far and are too energy hungry to run off batteries or USB. They're just small, stylish looking swamp coolers and in most cases are a waste of money.

Swamp coolers are already weaker than air conditioners, so really, the bigger the better. DIY swamp coolers are a popular item at Burning Man due to the abundance of hot, dry desert air and the fact that they can easily run on solar panels due to their low energy consumption.

They do of course consume water though, so be mindful of that. I've not done the math to see what the impact on my water bill would be, but it's a safe bet that it'll be markedly lower than I would spend to run an air conditioner all day, every day throughout the Summer.


Stay Cool!

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It's hot and humid as fuck here too. I moved into a new house at the beginning of June and found an old window AC unit on the back deck which I assumed was broken. When it got unbearable a few weeks later I remembered I had stuck it in the garage and grabbed it to see if it worked. It did! Then, I left the next day and my dumb ass left the AC cranking at full blast. I thought I was leaving for a night but I've been out of town for 10 days now and I'm not stoked to see my electricity bill.

When I get home I'm definitely making one of these and shutting that thing off. Thanks man!

Remember the effect only works on dry air. So you'll need to have moving airflow in your house, constantly bringing in new air from outside. This means an open window near the swamp cooler at one end of the house, and another open window at the other end with a fan moving humid air outside.

@alexbeyman,
Oh dude this is great! Found a solution indeed! I wish I could get support from a local technical guy to make this one! Coz, I am really lack with tech knowledge!

Cheers~

This device is extremely simple, so if you watch the video carefully you should have no trouble building this.

I prefer cold water with ice, better. somehow, maybe because there's ice in the glass, then we shake left and right, then it's cold.



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Fuck Summer. It's hot as Satan's armpit and twice as humid.

😂😂😂The intro got me.

I would really enjoy season better if i can get my hands on one

Watch the video, it shows how to build one out of only a plastic bucket, some foam, a fan, some tubing and a pond pump.

Wow #SWAMP #COOLER ..What a genius...It will be really helpful...It's a very good alternative to AIR CONDITIONER..Nice one @Alexbeyman

Cool design, easy to make and efficient too

Don't you live in Portland? Portland probably has one of the mildest climates of any city in the US.

Nice post! In Hyderabad these air coolers are in use in many houses and shops. Though the large and expensive ones ( both houses and stores) have been switching to Air Conditioners in the last few years- on the flip side, this causes a spike in temperatures in the city.

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