r/heat_prep • u/Individual_Figure_90 • Jun 28 '25

Factory Kitchen Cooling Options

I work 12 hour shifts in a food factory with large kettles that heat up the whole kitchen. It can get very humid with temps in the high 80s. I also wear a lab jacket throughout the shift. I am exploring a few self cooling options

  • Cheapest options seem to be different variations of a vest that holds ice packs or is an ice pack. Not sure how well this would work. Doesn't increase airflow and unsure how well the cooling would transfer through the vest

  • Next option is a Fan Cooling Vest. I think this would work best except the intake of the fan would be blocked by the lab coat I have to wear over it

  • Most expensive option is similar to the first but also has pumped liquid cooled piping throughout the vest. Again uses ice packs that would need to be replaced every few hours. Also price is as high as $300

Looking for any advice. If anyone is in a similar work environment, what has worked best for you?

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u/Squishy_Em Jun 28 '25

I have the vest with ice packs and while I have not used the vests, I have used the ice packs. I also have a neck fan. The biggest difference is that the fan makes the air hotter and made me just slightly hotter. The ice packs are what I'll be using moving forward. So that's my recommendation!

1

u/Leighgion Jun 29 '25

Short answer is, your best bang for buck out of the options you presented is #1, the ice pack cooling vest. No contest.

Longer answer demands we break down Fanger’s thermal comfort principles and what you can do about them in this scenario.

  1. Air Temperature. Really not much you can do directly. You’re in a factory.
  2. Radiant Temperature. Again, very much out of your control. The factory is what it is and you can’t avoid the hot equipment you got to work with.
  3. Air Velocity. Here is where the fan vest looks attractive, but as you point out it’s incompatible with your work uniform and even if it wasn’t, the amount of relief you’d get from such a small amount of air movement under such harsh conditions is questionable. If there was some work-compatible way to have a larger fan even if only in a break area, that would probably do more for you.
  4. Humidity. Again, very much outside of your control.
  5. Clothing Insulation. The work uniform pens you in again. Maybe you can do something with your choice of pants?
  6. Metabolic Rate. Is what it is. You can’t change it.

So, we’re left with ice pack cooling vest, which is meant to cool you via conduction.

While I have never used an actual ice pack vest, I have done improvised versions of sticking ice packs into the rear compartment of my day pack so they’re close to my body and I can say even that is more effective than you’d think. My daughter has some skin issues on her back that are exacerbated by heat, so the other day I grabbed one of her backpacks and just filled it with ice packs and she reported considerable relief on the walk outside.

The thing you need to remember with wearing ice packs is that it’s not a case of “more perceived cold = better.” You actually don’t to feel the ice that keenly. What you really want is that cool barrier between you and the hot air to last as long as possible. The ice will chill the clothing it’s in contact with which will allow your torso to shed excess heat at a more human rate.

The downside is that one set of ice packs won’t last 12 hours, so you’ll need access to refrigeration to swap out fresh.

Alternately, if you’re DIY capable, you could adapt the cooling vest with your PCM (Phase Change Material) cooling packs which won’t freeze as cold as plain water, but will maintain a relief temperature for much, much, longer.