Evaporative Cooler

[Jack]

The Deltec evaporative coolers use rolled up "DLS"; the closest DIY equivilant I can find is gutter guard from Home Depot. I would give that a shot. It doesn't look like the egg crate is giving you maximum surface area for cooling.

[michika]

I've been fiddling around with this idea since you posted it, and I really like it. How would I go about figuring out the sizing for this evaporative cooler on a much much larger system?

[sphelps]

Basically for larger systems I would simply go bigger than you may need, ideally it would be controlled by a some kind of temperature controller so you couldn't really go too big. Larger fans should be used, you probably wouldn't be able to get away with computer fans for larger units.

Also FYI, I tried using gutter guard instead of eggcrate and found the eegcrate to actually work better. It's less restrictive to air flow and it produces just as much surface area for contact if not more. A finner mesh will only increase the surface contact between the mesh and the water, not the air and water. It's not a bio-filter

[drydock]

Hi,

Sorry for hijacking your thread...

I have seen those computer fans used in a number of applications. What do you use to power them? I would like to integrate a couple into a tank canopy to cool my lights.

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by drydock

Hi,

Sorry for hijacking your thread...

I have seen those computer fans used in a number of applications. What do you use to power them? I would like to integrate a couple into a tank canopy to cool my lights.

An AC to DC adapter, usually 12VDC but anything from 6-14 will work but fan speed varies with voltage. The adapters with an adjustable output in that range are nice so you can adjust the fan speed as needed or until you get an acceptable noise level.

[slakker]

This is really cool (pun intended)...

I was wondering, would you play with putting a peltier device on this?

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by slakker

I was wondering, would you play with putting a peltier device on this?

I don't really see how a this device would serve a purpose in an evaporative cooler. Can you maybe explain your idea?

You're basically taking about a thermoelectricity but how would it be applied, to there air or water? Air would be better warmer and cooling the water inside the cooler would be difficult since it's dripped through and it would actually cause the system to work less efficient since the idea is to evaporate water. Basically I'm a little confused with your suggestion, it's a different system all together, kind of like combining a chiller and an evaporative cooler, I'm just not sure how they could be integrated.