Cooling Your work Area

It's hot out today, So I closed the doors and turned on my cooler. After working awhile I got to thinking that I hadn't seen any one post about how they cool their work area. Other than the electricity to run the outfit, I got everything for free from scrapping. What I use is this.... I pump water from a well into a truck radiator mounted in the corner of my shop. In front of this, so that it draws air through the radiator is an old fan that came from a scrapped put shop heater. The water then returns to the well, so no pressure really builds up in the radiator. I haven't check lately, but when I first installed it, the first 30 minutes, it dropped the temp down 3 degrees. Then one degree every half hour until I shut it off that night. The well is a old hand dug well and the water usually stays about 50 to 55 degrees. I haven't needed to run the cooler that long but I have dropped the inside temp down by 20 degrees compared to outside. Don't know if this will help anyone, but I figured it won't hurt to post it.

kewl

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MelRay, you've made a geothermal cooling system in it's simplest form, great thinking!

Great forward thinking MelRay!I have wondered how well that would work and now we know.Sounds like you have done your homework.

i just keep the beach-brella up, and my sunglasses on:cool:

Another option is to make a cardboard radiator with a drip system on top connected to a submersible pump in a rubbermaid tote underneath pump the water up every 15 min, put a fan behind.

I work underground 75* all day.... Just messin:)

I have a few car aircon radiators put aside for a similar project, the cores are Ali & about 10 x 10 x3.
I figured to puit 3 in a row in a box & pipe the cold water thats coming into the house, or the cold water thats going into the water heater thru it.

In reverse, I could pipe the waste hot water from the dishwasher (its HOT!) to heat up a room in the winter.

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Originally Posted by eesakiwi

I have a few car aircon radiators put aside for a similar project, the cores are Ali & about 10 x 10 x3.
I figured to puit 3 in a row in a box & pipe the cold water thats coming into the house, or the cold water thats going into the water heater thru it.

In reverse, I could pipe the waste hot water from the dishwasher (its HOT!) to heat up a room in the winter.

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Not even going to go into why this will not work, but it will be a good lesson.

Always need a hat and work under a shaded tarp. Nothing too fancy for me.

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Originally Posted by BarrenRealms007

Not even going to go into why this will not work, but it will be a good lesson.

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Oh, ****, I been thinking about it a lot too.

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Originally Posted by eesakiwi

Oh, ****, I been thinking about it a lot too.

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You need to design a circulating system for it to work properly.

Ok, today while driving I saw a motorcycle in front of me with an AC strapped behind him and it was situated/wrapped and (I swear) it was wired and that he had it working somehow while he drove. Is that possible? The AC in my truck is broke and the window unit my son bought for his room he doesn't want in his room any more. Can I use it in my truck?

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Originally Posted by newattitude

Ok, today while driving I saw a motorcycle in front of me with an AC strapped behind him and it was situated/wrapped and (I swear) it was wired and that he had it working somehow while he drove. Is that possible? The AC in my truck is broke and the window unit my son bought for his room he doesn't want in his room any more. Can I use it in my truck?

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If you get an inverter for a 220 and you may need an upgraded alternator. I have seen one sticking out of a minivan before. It was up where the scrapyard is. One of the worst cities in the country, Camden, NJ.

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Originally Posted by ScrapperNJ26

If you get an inverter for a 220 and you may need an upgraded alternator. I have seen one sticking out of a minivan before. It was up where the scrapyard is. One of the worst cities in the country, Camden, NJ.

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The small ones use 110 volt not 220. Here is something you might be interested in and it doesn't look like it'll break your budget.
Portable air conditioning - 12 volt - air conditioners - Evaporative coolers
Portable 12V Air Conditioner --Cheap and easy!
home made air conditioner - YouTube
Redneck air conditioning; Window air Conditioner in car! - YouTube

I live in Iowa also. It was crazy hot yesterday for around here. Two of the bay areas in my scrap shop are air-conditioned and I have doors between them and the warehouse area. It is not too difficult to cool; them as they are insulated and have lower ceilings installed. It does cost money to cool it, but it is also tolerable most of the time without running the A/C. My shop is positioned as such that the front is not in direct sunlight and it seems there is usually a nice breeze.

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Originally Posted by Mechanic688

The small ones use 110 volt not 220. Here is something you might be interested in and it doesn't look like it'll break your budget.

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Someone please slap some sense into these guy's.

I have lived without A/C for so long now, I wouldn't know what to do if I didn't sweat my *** off. On a serious note, on the hottest of days, we generally hang our wet laundry on a drying rack in front of the fan pulling the cooler air from the shady side of the house through and another fan pulling the air from inside the house out the front door. This little cheap (redneck style) cooler actually works fairly well. and with only the two fans going, it costs about $15/month to operate it. I didn't count washing the clothes, because that has to be done anyway. Also, not using an electric dryer saves us about $30/month. So, I guess we are really cooling our home for free. :o) The down side is, when it is really hot 100F or more, it only brings the air temp down to 85 or so, which is a big improvement on 100+, but most folks keep their air between 65F and 72F.

One big perk for not having air conditioning is. When its 90F-100F it doesn't bother me near as much while outside working, than it does a lot of others. Sorry for rambling on, folks.


Happy Scrappin !!!

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Originally Posted by theelectronrecycler

I have lived without A/C for so long now, I wouldn't know what to do if I didn't sweat my *** off. On a serious note, on the hottest of days, we generally hang our wet laundry on a drying rack in front of the fan pulling the cooler air from the shady side of the house through and another fan pulling the air from inside the house out the front door. This little cheap (redneck style) cooler actually works fairly well. and with only the two fans going, it costs about $15/month to operate it. I didn't count washing the clothes, because that has to be done anyway. Also, not using an electric dryer saves us about $30/month. So, I guess we are really cooling our home for free. :o) The down side is, when it is really hot 100F or more, it only brings the air temp down to 85 or so, which is a big improvement on 100+, but most folks keep their air between 65F and 72F.

One big perk for not having air conditioning is. When its 90F-100F it doesn't bother me near as much while outside working, than it does a lot of others. Sorry for rambling on, folks.


Happy Scrappin !!!

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Well now that is a bird of a different feather. This is know as evaporative cooling. It is used a lot in live stock buildings. :)

Regarding waste heat, in a former life I used to deal a lot with Energy Management and there's a whole science to dealing with it. Albeit it's typically done on a far larger scale.

Regarding evaporative cooling do you have humidity issues while using it.

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Originally Posted by BarrenRealms007

Well now that is a bird of a different feather. This is know as evaporative cooling. It is used a lot in live stock buildings. :)

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Mooooooo ... oink oink oink ... hahahaha.

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Originally Posted by theelectronrecycler

Mooooooo ... oink oink oink ... hahahaha.

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I used it on the farrowing house and the nersury building when I raised hog's.. HAHA HEHE HOHO.... :)

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Originally Posted by Amnelson

Regarding waste heat, in a former life I used to deal a lot with Energy Management and there's a whole science to dealing with it. Albeit it's typically done on a far larger scale.

Regarding evaporative cooling do you have humidity issues while using it.

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Not much in the way of humidity in the house, the air moves fairly well, ( i forgot to mention the ceiling fan in my earlier post ) with the addition of the ceiling fan keeping the air circulating there doesn't seem to be any noticeable humidity issues. I should say that it doesn't seem to make the humidity worse.

necessity may be the mother of invention, but her crazy sister desperation is a scrapper! barrenrealm thats a real good solve and multitasking too.....must be a mom i suspect.....any how i like the way you think

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Originally Posted by scraphackqueen

necessity may be the mother of invention, but her crazy sister desperation is a scrapper! barrenrealm thats a real good solve and multitasking too.....must be a mom i suspect.....any how i like the way you think

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Nope not a mom, I'm a full blown dad with (1) 14 year old. And lots of experience in working different fields and making them work together :).

I'm pretty used to working outside in 90-110 heat/humidity. I've got a little fan that I use, but other than that, I just sweat like a pig and drink lots of water. My shop has a good air flow when all the doors are up < 2 in front, 1 in back> but where my teardown bench is, doesn't get much circulation.

Side note- If you do drink alot of bottled water, or really anything in a plastic bottle, they are great for putting your small screws and misc small shred in and make it easy to bring to the scrap yard (eliminates buckets if you don't have a fridge or appliance going to the yard too)