Not quite as hot as Kevinkr is seeing but an hour or so north it's still scorching hot. I didn't check at the heat of the day, but I'm sure it got close to 95F/35C today. Yesterday and day before were about the same and the day or two before were also HOT. My 86y.o. mother-in-law doesn't have AC (neither do we, but we're just a tad younger) but she has been stoic and said nothing. When we brought her home from July 4th dinner (lobstah at a hole-in-the-wall on the water) the house was unbearable. She consented to let me install a window unit in her bedroom. But the worst of it may be over now.
Member
Joined 2009
Paid Member
Couple hours north of you, we had a solid 117.7 reading.
OK, in full sun inside a bottle. (Most of the year the rain is more a problem for that e-thermometer than the sun.)
Honest readings were 89 to 92, depending where you stand.
We installed A/C with the new furnace. Only want it a few days a year but absolutely do not regret it. Window A/Cs don't do a lot and I think "portable A/Cs" are practically useless, and very un-thrifty. If you can get an A-coil in hot-air ducting that is a much better plan. Our central is really no more BTU than the largest window A/Cs, and uses less electricity (despite not being high-efficiency like they demand in Texas). We run it basically 3pm to well past midnite. It takes a few degrees off the thermometer but by running near steady it pulls 10% off the inside humidity, which is a real relief.
In 1982 I was near Nice in France. It was 43C or 110F. It was very dry heat. I remember the hot air going inside. It was great. I have been in Texas some years later when at it's hottest near Houston. It was really hot and I was the only human not inside, even so I didn't feel the air going in.
Member
Joined 2009
Paid Member
That explains a lot!
I suspect with good timing you really get that ball flying!As for portable air conditioners the one I used to use had a water cooling option. Running water into it with one hose and out with another was the secret to getting it to really work. Just a trickle of water was all it took. It did come out quite warm.
Water carries-off much heat in little surface area so gets the heat out of the room better than air-exhaust.
OTOH I am on my own well. A steady trickle would mean the pump would start-stop-start-stop all day long. Pumps are not cheap and the real annoyance is that they are 100 feet down a hole, so not a comfy replacement.
Yes, it would work to hose the water out to a radiator or pond to cool, and use a (ground-level!) pump to bring it back inside. But this really gets more complicated than the ductless systems (pipe the freon out and back) that kevinkr is contemplating.
I'm pleased with my central A/C but it does depend on having heating-ducts already in place or doing enormous retro-fit of large holes in the house. (We have done that in another house....)
How do they do passive A/C in northern Africa and Arab countries???
Schematic description of a passive evaporative cooling wall constructed... | Download Scientific Diagram
This topic is very interesting.
Not sure I agree with evaporative cooling for people. Yes, you get cooling, but for the amount of cooling you get, you also get increased moisture in the air. And that means your body can't cool evaporatively as well as in dry air. The net effect is often a zero sum. I did agricultural research many years ago and we quickly decided it would work well for chickens that don't do much evaporative cooling (a little panting, but not a significant portion of their core temperature) but not for animals that rely on skin evaporation (pigs, people, others). We built giant sponges on one wall, fans on the opposite wall, and we'd pull air through the sponges to cool it. It worked well for chickens and I suppose it MIGHT work well in Africa/Middle East if the starting air is bone dry and the cooled air is still pretty dry.
BTW, the research was in North Carolina, which can be quite humid in the summer. Again, things might be different in very dry places like north Africa and the Middle East. I don't have experience there...
Member
Joined 2009
Paid Member
I slept in a windowless hotel room in India in the summer which had this air cooler built into the wall. It was a tray of water, dipping into it was this hamster wheel which as it rotated pulled water up with it which then fell back down and evaporated. A fan blew air through the hamster wheel. It may have provided cooling, but it remained very humid and sleeping was still a challenge.
"Swamp coolers", water evaporation, are (maybe "were"?) big in the US from Denver to the Mojave. EVERY tiny hardware store has the pads pumps and float valves on the shelf near the door. As an LA/NJ boy I was amazed. As carlp says, that would be stupid from below the Carolinas to up above Maine, and west to Missouri. We alternate between days that are HOT and damp to nights that are hot and DAMP; there's no room for more water in the air. But in The West, to the coastal ranges, it is DRY and water evaporation is a big help. (But freon machines displaced much of that.)
FWIW: Willis Carrier did a lot of evaporative cooling machines, even in the damp East. I knew one monster cooler installed 1930. Really humongous evaporation, droplet knock-down, over-cooling followed by re-heat.
That brings up fond memories actually of my first cooler that I picked up off the side of the road when I was a teenager and tried to fix, the metal axle in mine was still ok but the pump was a bit on its last legs, I managed to fix that I think by cleaning it out or fixing the cover on it so that it went back into place, it had fallen down because the support arm had rusted I think, I can't quite remember exactly. Anyway.
As I think my father once said a long long time ago, or I said to myself once. Swamp Coolers are like p.. peeing in a pot of boiling water sitting on the stove and hoping that the splash back cools you off.
Especially here on the coastline where we live right next to Lake Macquarie. Australia's largest coastal saltwater lagoon. Apparently evap coolers are all the rage inland but here on the coast they are pretty rare now, everyone except maybe some 1980s hipster holdout has either window or split system A/C now. Split system being the most popular, even poor people have split system, and I have a window unit, but that is because I'm such a great engineer and don't like the idea of having to call in someone to replace a split-system unit, I would rather get my relative in to replace the window unit and save a few bob.
That brings up another funny story actually of that time I was repairing my evap cooler on the ground as a kid and I went up to get lunch and the dog was let outside to take a pee, no I'm kidding, I made that part up. But it would be a funny prank to pull on someone actually.
Now if you'll excuse me I have some lamb rogan josh and some Tabasco sauce to enjoy (and an addictive video game, Sheltered) in front of my heater. Sunny day out so we made plenty of power today on the solar panels. 17c Fairly windy at 3pm. toot toot.
Oh yeah speaking of windy we've been having power interruptions all morning and even just now, my APC UPS has been going crazy.
As I think my father once said a long long time ago, or I said to myself once. Swamp Coolers are like p.. peeing in a pot of boiling water sitting on the stove and hoping that the splash back cools you off.
Especially here on the coastline where we live right next to Lake Macquarie. Australia's largest coastal saltwater lagoon. Apparently evap coolers are all the rage inland but here on the coast they are pretty rare now, everyone except maybe some 1980s hipster holdout has either window or split system A/C now. Split system being the most popular, even poor people have split system, and I have a window unit, but that is because I'm such a great engineer and don't like the idea of having to call in someone to replace a split-system unit, I would rather get my relative in to replace the window unit and save a few bob.
That brings up another funny story actually of that time I was repairing my evap cooler on the ground as a kid and I went up to get lunch and the dog was let outside to take a pee, no I'm kidding, I made that part up. But it would be a funny prank to pull on someone actually.
Now if you'll excuse me I have some lamb rogan josh and some Tabasco sauce to enjoy (and an addictive video game, Sheltered) in front of my heater. Sunny day out so we made plenty of power today on the solar panels. 17c Fairly windy at 3pm. toot toot.
Oh yeah speaking of windy we've been having power interruptions all morning and even just now, my APC UPS has been going crazy.
Last edited:
My parents often rented a caravan near Rye in Sussex wear my mum was born. It had a plaster block fridge with place to put water in a bowl shape on top. To my astonishment it worked. Butter was solid. I would guess very near 8C.
It is said the mud buildings of the Holy Land work very well and modern versions are being built.
It is said the mud buildings of the Holy Land work very well and modern versions are being built.