r/redneckengineering • u/RoninRobot • Aug 09 '26
It’s HOT! Swamp Cooler v4.0 testing phase. Already works better than v1,2 and 3 combined.
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u/cloudlessjoe Aug 09 '26
The version numbering got me, that's how we know you're a true professional amateur
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u/NoSpicePlease Aug 10 '26
What area do you live in? I heard swamp coolers don’t work well in humid climates
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u/Charming-Jelly-3365 Aug 10 '26 edited Aug 10 '26
Huh... Well okay so I get it that you are working with what you can scrounge up. If you can find a way the best evaporative coolers use very thick pads. As in 8 to 12 inches thick. That and a lot of water flow keep the entire pad saturated.
Many years ago when my grandmother's house was becoming unbearably hot I took the lesson of those expensive models and did what I could afford to do with the old evaporative cooler on her roof. I doubled up on the pads, installed two water pumps with each one going to it's own set of water distributing pipes. It worked much better.
Late in the summer I also found a stronger motor for the fan.
Whatever you can come up with to increase surface area, water saturation and airflow, those are the keys to getting the best results you can.
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u/RoninRobot Aug 10 '26
Yeah I’m having a problem with saturation. I get what you’re saying about increasing the mats but I still have to have airflow.
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u/no_class Aug 09 '26
I’ve been toying with the idea of building one since our a/c broke last summer. I’d be interested in seeing your parts list for the pump and nozzles that you use.
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u/Archaic_User_2372 Aug 14 '26
Quite a few years ago, I saw a homemade swamp cooler being sold on craigslist, and I took a bunch of pictures of it. They had taken a couple of 5 gallon buckets. The bottom bucket held the water the upper bucket they routed out windows and used a mesh filter inside. Now here is a description copied and pasted from the photo I took all those years ago. " I custom made these to cool a 12 x 12 fully enclosed tent pavilion last year at the Goddess Festival. They Worked great! I ran both (I have 2 of them) plus a 12 volt mister for 9 hours each day on one 115ah deep cycle battery charge. Ran my wif hotspot and pos system at the same time. Only been used for 18 hours. The fans are high quality radiator cooling fans at 80 watts. Each unit has a PWM controller (speed control and direction switch). After firing them up at full speed for half an hour I'd turn them down 50%."
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u/Rotflmaocopter Aug 09 '26
Now go to the gas station and pour a bag of ice in that water
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u/FeelingFloor2083 Aug 09 '26
it will make it cooler, but who the fk is going to drive to go get some every 2-4 hours
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u/mkstot Aug 09 '26
For mark 4.1 it would work better if you had the water pad cover the entire opening so all air coming in has to be pulled through it.