Swamp Cooler Conversion to 12 volt DC

Posted by Thomas Allen Schmidt on May 08, 2009, 04:03:42 PM

Re: Swamp Cooler Conversion to 12 volt DC (Reply #5)

Can't help you with which way is better or best or even inexpensive. To me thats all a matter of opinion and like the Guru says, "Opinions are like belly buttons. Everybody has one."
(The U.S. government made the choice to bail out Wall Street to the tune of 700 billion tax payers dollars. I would of let it crash. Americans survived the first stock market crash, we could have survived another. I think too many people in our government were just too sk-sk-sk-skeerd of losing their own personal investments and thats why they voted "yes" the second time around. In order to "buy" some time. But thats just my opinion. It was Katie Couric that made the statement "Congress has failed to pass the bail out bill." after the first vote made was "no." Thats her opinion. Obviously she had a lot to lose.)

Anyway here are some places where materials for building such things as a "swamp" cooler are available.
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/items/6ML04

http://www.farmtek.com/farm/supplies/prod1;ft1_cooling_exhaust_fans-ft1_aquacool_evaporative_cooling_2;pg109009.html

I've seen "firsthand" those type of coolers used in large hog house operations pulling cool water from deep wells. A cool creek might be a good source too. Of course they work best in areas were relative humidity is low, like 40%.

Browse around the FarmTek store though. You might find something thats more to your liking.

I do not know, maybe some stuff you might find interesting.
http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/fluids-evaporation-latent-heat-d_147.html

Posted by Chris Bonneau on May 08, 2009, 05:45:53 PM

Re: Swamp Cooler Conversion to 12 volt DC (Reply #6)

Thank You for the advice.
I am learning more each day. I hope to put together a 12 volt cooling system with fairly inexpensive parts, maybe with components that are used on boats or RVs. The DC fan motor seems to be the biggest obstacle. Are there any very effecient fans/ fan motors(capable of spining a metal wheel)that could blow around 4500cfm that would use very little amperage (maybe 10 amps or so?)The Radiator Fans for Cars seem to be a great alternative, but would need to modify the cooler housing and remove the old wheel. I have a Bilge Pump that uses 1.5 amps at 12 volts and it pumps 450 gpm(gallons per minute)I am hoping to construct a system including pv panel for about $500 that would cool approx 1200 sqft.

Posted by Ken Hall on May 08, 2009, 10:53:25 PM

Re: Swamp Cooler Conversion to 12 volt DC (Reply #7)

Lets try it a different way.
You have what is approximately a 3/4 hp electric motor.
If you reduce it to 1/20 hp, it will not do the work.
You need a 3/4 hp motor, regardless of voltage.

Here is a 12v dc motor (3/4 hp) that would come close to replacing your AC motor.
http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200381907_200381907
I am not sure whether the rpm is a good match or not.
But note the power draw, 58 amps.

No matter how you try to get around it, you are going to need a motor that pulls 60 amps plus or minus at 12V. Or you are significantly reducing the cooling capacity.

Do not get too hung up on CFM numbers. You can have 2 fans that move about the same amount of free air, but one will drop out quicker when you expect it to pull a partial pressure. CFM numbers are often about as accurate as EPA mileage numbers used to be.

By the way, you better go read your bilge pump again. If your amps are correct, it is a 450 gph (gallons per hour) pump. That would make it about 7.5 gpm. And that rating is at 3 feet of water or something under 1.5 psi. Put more back pressure on it, and the numbers fall off rapidly.

Posted by Chris Bonneau on May 09, 2009, 01:28:56 AM

Re: Swamp Cooler Conversion to 12 volt DC (Reply #8)

Thanks Ken
That helps a bunch

Posted by Thomas Allen Schmidt on May 09, 2009, 06:47:52 AM

Re: Swamp Cooler Conversion to 12 volt DC (Reply #9)

I was having a few cold beers with and, got to talking about "swamp" coolers with a friend of mine and these were some of her ideas.

http://store.summitracing.com/egnsearch.asp?Ntk=KeywordSearch&DDS=1&Ntt=electric+fans&searchinresults=false&N=700+115&y=11&x=31

http://store.summitracing.com/egnsearch.asp?Ntt=radiators&searchinresults=false&Ntk=KeywordSearch&DDS=1&N=700+115&x=32&y=11

http://store.summitracing.com/egnsearch.asp?Ntt=+electric+water+pumps&searchinresults=false&Ntk=KeywordSearch&DDS=1&N=700+115&x=33&y=10

http://store.summitracing.com/partdetail.asp?autofilter=1&part=MOR%2D65125&N=700+115&autoview=sku

As you might have guessed, shes a race fan. No pun intended. I've been trying to get her interested in this - http://www.nedra.com/ - with minimal results. I joked around with her saying, "You just like the smell of burnt nitrogen and hot rubber better than hydrogen and hot rubber." She came back with, "How do you know its not just the hot rubber that turns me on?" I guess you had to be there.

Doing it all for under 500 bucks... Thats the real trick isn't it? Those links she provided take you to all new, brand name auto racing stuff, but I bet a lot of it could be salvaged from an auto "junkyard." If desired.

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