The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk Window swamp coolers

Oh wise ones of the stovebolt society. Please educate a relatively youngish person on how window swamp coolers work. Also, how well do they work.

the process is 'evaporative cooling' - the wind coming in the window is humidified - how well it works depends on the particular climate you're in, might not work as well in Missouri as in Aridzona

Bill

Lick the underside of your wrist and then blow on it---it will feel cool even though your breath is over 90 degrees. Evaporation absorbs heat. The cooler has water in it and a mesh to hold the water and let air pass through it, where evaporation occurs, and then comes into the car as cooler air. A swamp cooler will work fairly good (cool air, not cold) in the desert Southwest or in other low humidity areas where evaporation is rapid but not at all well in high humidity areas. Used to see cars with the window cooler and a canvas water bag hung on the front bumper where the water evaporating from the damp surface cooled the water inside (slightly). Bag could also be used to top off an overheating radiator. Old enough to have lived through it.

They're also called "evaporative coolers"- - - - -they have a reservoir of water and it's pumped through a horsehair-like material as air blows across it. The water evaporates and cools the air- - - - -a little. They work best in very low humidity areas- - - -southwest deserts, California, Arizona, etc. If the air is too humid to evaporate much water, they just blow hot, wet air!
Jerry

Guess that explains why I've never seen one around here. If there's one thing missouri has, its copious amounts of humidity.

Highly sought after accessory by the "Low Rider" crowd.🛠🛠

Oh yeah..... not much of that around here either.

On FB page "Old car part swapmeet" there is a guy out of California that sells them as well as as the visors. I think he must be re-manufacturing them.

I remember seeing a metal cylinder about 12" in diameter
about 20" long. Make with sheet steel.

that would hang on the RF door window. The way a speaker
would in a drive theater or a car hop would hang the tray
on the window.

The front of the cylinder/tube was open so air would enter
the tube pass over ice then the air would pass through
an opening of the tube on the side near the back.

Cooled air would then enter the car.

I do not know how effective this was or how long the ice
would last. Jeffrey

I spoke with a guy that had one 2 weeks ago here at a local show. He said it made a real hot day bearable, not enjoyable, but bearable. All the things stated above about humidity he said as well. Also, you have to be moving! If you have it and are stuck in traffic, it is useless!

No need to be moving if you have one of the coolers that is equipped with a built in fan.

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1568/13678754/24528751/413548634.jpg






.

There's a reason there aren't many around. They didn't work well. A few were sold because that's all that was available at the time. I bought one a few years ago to display with my '38 at shows but ended up selling it because it didn't fit the smaller windows of my car.

These coolers actually work great on a long drive through the desert..... so much so,they even had a a network of "Desert Service" gas stations that rented them out for the long hot drive through the California desert on Route 66 in the late 40's & early 50's.

http://aftonstationblog-laurel.blogspot.jp/2011/02/neat-device.html

I know a guy that owns one of the original "Desert Service" trucks & it is still his daily driver.

http://pic20.picturetrail.com/VOL1568/13678754/24528751/413549052.jpg










.