Evaporative cooling experiences please?

[FaunaBgirl]

So I got the portable swamp cooler.... put water and ice in the appropriate places and it's hotter in my room than in the other rooms.... Tempeture rising one degree every half hour. 95 degrees in my room now, and the sun is due to hit the windows in another half hour. YIKES!!! I'm thinking that other than keeping things moist, these systems are incapable of cooling? I am curious what others have found with these systems. I have a few more days where I can return the device if necessary and use the money more effectively for my cham's comfort.

 

[Marc10edora]

I know someone who uses a swamp cooler and their house is ice cold. They also live in the mojave desert. I think they are supposed to be housed outside and not indoor. Also another thing that they do to cool down the house is putting foil in the windows in order to reflect the light away from the room.

 

[FaunaBgirl]

I know someone who uses a swamp cooler and their house is ice cold. They also live in the mojave desert. I think they are supposed to be housed outside and not indoor. Also another thing that they do to cool down the house is putting foil in the windows in order to reflect the light away from the room.

hm? I live in Walnut Creek. Foil in the windows would not be acceptable. lol The cooler is a portable and the room is upstairs and subject to pounding roof sun all day and direct window sun in the afternoon. What I did notice was that the clothing in my drawers were hot and moist. And my poor cham was very dark and pleading with me at the front of his cage as I left for work. :{
The room was 77 when I woke this morning and Fractal had a hearty appetite. But here comes the heat again.... and I worry about him.

 

[TylerStewart]

For evaporative coolers to work well, they have to constantly take dry air (outside) and add water to it through the screens, and blow it into a room.... If you put a cooler in a closed room (or one without very good external ventilation), eventually, the room's air becomes humid and it stops cooling. On mine, I had to cut holes in the walls, and put the coolers outside with the air blowing into the room (with a good place for air to excape the room also). I have problems when it rains outside on a hot day, because it barely cools anymore. Fortunately, in Vegas it only rains much a few times a year. In my new place, I got a pretty massive sized one. It is 4,500cfm sized, and the cham room is 6,750 cubic feet, so it exchanges all the room's air every minute and a half (I could pretty much have a BBQ out there and it wouldn't matter to the chameleons LOL).

Mine works excellent, yesterday my outside temps hit a high of 116 at my house, and my cham room never went above 80. Pretty good when you consider the small amount of power and a few gallons of water a day they use. Heck of alot cheaper than an A/C unit would be to run, plus they humidify the air.

 

[Jordan]

Perhaps since you live in apartments you could try making a window vent. This is just example as I have no experience with a swamp cooler or do I know how your landlord would react. Say something like a 2"x10" cut to the width of the window. If you had a round hole also cut into it you could attach something like a dryer hose (used to vent hot air from dryers, flexible to) this could possiblely be munipulated over the intake of the swamp cooler.

I guess you would have to look it over and see if that is possible or not. The Home Depot in my area, not sure if your's does, but they could do the cutting for very little money. Doubt it would cost that much to do all together either.

Might be better to paint it to match the window so your landlord does not think it looks tacky or against their standards.

 

[FaunaBgirl]

Tyler gave me hope... so I mounted the thing up to the window and then taped cardboard and sealed it all in. I've put ice in the ice receptical. I'm trying everything and STILL it is not working for me. The temp in my room gets sweaty and climbs. Even faster than yesterday. Do I need another window open? I think the problem is that I'm upstairs and there are no trees/no shade, and there is no insulation. I just get blasted here, like an oven. :{ Now I have to go to work and leave poor Fractal in it. WAH.................... I need help fast!