Homemade 12v SWAMP COOLER!

[savatreatabvr]

I’m not a Redneck, well ok maybe a little, you’ll understand why I said that after reading this! A few days ago I was stuck in traffic in my 1973 C20 454 with NON-WORKING FACTORY AC sweating my Huevos off and had an idea, since I can’t spend hundreds to fix the AC just yet I decided to build my own 12v Swamp Cooler! Hold on, don’t give up on me yet here’s my parts list: two 5 gallon buckets I had laying around, one electric cooling fan from junkyard $10, one electric submersible fuel pump from junkyard $5, blue swamp cooler pad from ACE $10 and the rest of these parts I already had, 3’ of ¾” tubing & a 3-way tee, some stucco wire, a hand full of Zip Ties, a few nuts & bolts and some wire! This is how I built it, I made the bucket taller, popped out 26 holes with my 3” hole saw and some 1’ holes, I wrapped the inside of the bucket with the stucco wire and attached the blue swamp cooler pad to it. I cut the tubing to the I.D. of the bucket and added the 3-way tee, I drilled about 20 3/16th holes in the bottom of the tubing so water could drip on the pad then I cut a piece of tubing long enough to reach the bottom of the bucket where the fuel pump is, I cut the frame off the cooling fan and set it below the rim of the bucket so it would only suck air through the pads and there you go, a 12v Swamp Cooler! I’m kinda proud of my creation, it’s ugly and kinda big but it cools down the inside of my truck dramatically! It’s the difference between sweating profusely to where it’s almost intolerable to not sweating at all, no joke! I’m definitely a lot happier now when I get home from work, it seems to have cured that pesky little Road Rage issue I had, lol!!




I'll build more!

[Space Monkey]

That's awesome!

[Pop's C-10]

interesting

[Space Monkey]

Can I get plans so I can make one? I don't have A/C either and I'm in Texas.

[savatreatabvr]

Some sort of quick disconnect switch inside my truck is next?

[savatreatabvr]

There are other 12v swamp coolers online but the fans and pumps they use are under powered!

Originally Posted by Space Monkey

Can I get plans so I can make one? I don't have A/C either and I'm in Texas.

[bigwheel15]

That's awesome, can't argue with results huh?
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[Pop's C-10]

i've read about something like this on instructables.com

[jjzepplin]

Any actual temp drop readings? That's a COOL idea!

[savatreatabvr]

I haven't taken any temp readings yet but I will soon. My prediction is the temp drops between 15 to 20 degrees!

Originally Posted by jjzepplin

Any actual temp drop readings? That's a COOL idea!

[beamn7]

Cool! No punn intended....LOL
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[kikkegek]

nice! but I think you have to be very carefull, because in watertemperatures of 68F to 122F the Legionella Bacteria does really well....and can be very nasty and make you very sick....even kill young and old people

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Legionella

[andrewmp6]

A little Bleach will kill a lot of Bacteria.

[tucsonjwt]

Actually, these swamp coolers have been used for decades in the dry southwest desert without bad health effects. Mosquitos do like to live in swamp cooler, but you can get tablets to add to the water to repel mosquitos.

The problem occurs when the temperature gets very humid during the "monsoon" season in the June-September time frame. Since the air coming out of the swamp cooler is very moist, the cooler does not provide much cooling in humid weather, and makes occupants feel "sticky."

We now have much more efficient air conditioners (even inexpensive window air conditioners) which make the swamp coolers no longer economical. Also, swamp coolers require frequent maintenance to change the pads, clean out the scale from hard water, replace the pump, etc.

In an application where electricity is scarce, like the truck mod described here, the swamp cooler may make more sense. There is a swamp cooler specifically made for RVs, but you do need a fairly constant water source, since it works by "evaporating" the water to cool the air - hence the name "evaporative cooler."

I am anxiously waiting to see how this project works out.

[devinder8788]

That's awesome!

[savatreatabvr]

I'm curious to know if the new blue synthetic swamp cooler pad is really better than the old straw type swamp cooler pad? I've heard good and bad about both.