Evaporative cooling fans?

[Boxergirl]

Has anyone tried these for cooling a small, enclosed room? Not sure of the square footage. It was kept warm easily with a space heater in the winter, and the heater didn't run all the time. It's in the basement and the window won't work for a window unit. It would also be inconvenient for venting a portable air conditioner.

 

[April Nicole]

I haven't personally tried one inside, but my husband works outside and they set up cool down stations with the fans, some are tents and some are sea cans. He said they work well.

 

[Smokeycat]

I have used the diy version before and it did work. One thing you do want to be aware of is the humidity in the room as they can add a lot especially in an enclosed space.

 

[Boxergirl]

Thanks guys. I did wonder about the humidity. I found a chart that shows what temperature the fans will cool to dependent upon outside temperature and humidity. I'm going to have to think about this I guess.

 

[DennasMom]

The best evaporative units will get you within 95% of the wet bulb temperature... and they do that by evaporating water into the air - i.e. adding humidity. In AZ that might not be a bad thing, but in KS or GA, probably not the preferred method. And if it's already humid, there's not much room to evaporate more water to, so they can't do much but make it stickier.

If you're in the humid portions of the world, a dehumidifier might do more to cool things down than an evaporative cooler.

We used one of the roll-away/portable A/C units for a while, but it is HARD to vent them to outside, and the vent duct is HOT... so it was more just moving heat from one side of the room to the other versus removing any. We needed a new furnace a few years ago, so we put in a heat pump. We don't need to use the A/C a lot in Seattle... but it's nice to have when we do! (considering my full time office is in an upstairs bedroom).

 

[Boxergirl]

The best evaporative units will get you within 95% of the wet bulb temperature... and they do that by evaporating water into the air - i.e. adding humidity. In AZ that might not be a bad thing, but in KS or GA, probably not the preferred method. And if it's already humid, there's not much room to evaporate more water to, so they can't do much but make it stickier.

If you're in the humid portions of the world, a dehumidifier might do more to cool things down than an evaporative cooler.

We used one of the roll-away/portable A/C units for a while, but it is HARD to vent them to outside, and the vent duct is HOT... so it was more just moving heat from one side of the room to the other versus removing any. We needed a new furnace a few years ago, so we put in a heat pump. We don't need to use the A/C a lot in Seattle... but it's nice to have when we do! (considering my full time office is in an upstairs bedroom).

Thank you! I'm in Indiana and it's been about 88% humidity the last few days, so the evaporative cooler is out. I also don't really want to do a portable unit because it will be difficult to vent. I'm going to ask my FIL for his (ours, but he forgot lol) dehumidifier and give it a try.