Micro swamp cooler

[flapdoodle]

I have not given up. The weather is not cooperating. No monsoon season (yet), and daily highs have been 100+ 42 days, breaking all records.

A few problems with the truck. Broken spring on the rear drum brake. The Goodyear store admitted they should have put new springs on when they did the brake job. Springs, plus one wheel cylinder was $147. I won't be going there again. The truck gets new carpet this weekend, then the swamp cooler gets reinstalled.

Something I wanted to pass on, and was partly the inspiration for this project is learning how poor the efficiency is on home coolers. It would be hard to find an induction motor (usually 1/4 or 1/3 Hp) that has an efficiency of 30%. A good one might be 27%. But DC motors with 90% efficiency or higher are common. A little math will tell you it will pay for itself in one season. If you build a bigger unit that the one shown here for a single small room in your house it might be worth while.

I am anxious to gather new data for the pickup soon and will share it here.

[trollbait]

The issue for the home is the humidity. To me, our house hasn't been hot, but the humidity makes it uncomfortable. Then there is the possible issue of what the extra moisture might be doing to the house and things in it.

Mister fans great outside on hot days.

[CRX101]

You may run into some rust issues later - be careful with the humidity staying INSIDE the cab.

[shatto]

Sounds like great fun.
Why not buy one out of the JC Whitney catalog?

[flapdoodle]

Originally Posted by shatto

Why not buy one out of the JC Whitney catalog?

I looked there, eBay, and a lot of other places. It does not fit the idea of a very low power cooler that would keep the vehicle reasonably cool while unattended.

Now I am building a well insulated camper shell for my little pickup that will incorporate all the ideas I have experimented with separately.

[flapdoodle]

More testing is in the works. You can follow along if you wish here:
http://diy-high-tech-camping.tripod.com/index.htm