Hot? Cheap? Then try this

By Jeff — Jeff Wilson

Are you so miserly with your money that you wait to turn on the AC until your home feels like a sauna?

Welcome to the club! No one wants to pay Edison several hundred a month just to live comfortably.

Yet we are, as those Malibu folks called us, “desert people,” so we must deal with the heat.

Well FiscalGeek.com shows you how to cool your abode on the cheap using reliable technology and an even more precious resource than electricity: water.

Yes I’m talking about an old fashioned swamp cooler:

Essentially what we’ll be doing is using the power of evaporative cooling and a fan to bring down the temperature in your room. In this case we’ll be using ice water stored in a cooler that will then cycle through a copper loop in front of a box fan. I’ll leave it to you to head to wikipedia to read up on how the process works, it’s not unlike you sweating to cool down. Myself I’ve done enough sweating so I’ll let the air conditioner do it for me.

It looks like the parts will cost you about $35-$40 but it’s pretty effective. Here’s what you’ll get when you’re finished:

I’m tempted to try it but it’s too hot to even drive to Home Depot and get the copper tubing at this point so I’ll just sit here and suffer until after dark.

Please report in if you’ve tried this in the past or post your general tips and tricks to keep cool during hot days!

Comments (12)

yourwebguruJuly 2, 2011 at 1:43 pm

And in the winter, you can convert it into a still to make bathtub gin!

James FarleyJuly 2, 2011 at 2:24 pm

This device is actually pretty cool (pun intended). Having worked in the HVAC industry many years, and being a bit of a science nerd I need to correct a few things. This device is not using the process of evaporation to cool. It is using the concept of ‘latent heat’ where water changing state from solid to liquid takes heat in the process. It is transferring the heat from the room into the ice and changing its state. Putting the cooler in the room full of melting ice without the pump and fan will have the same net effect on cooling the room eventually. The recirculating pump, coil, and fan are effective at speeding up the process and directing the cooling at the intended target. Swamp coolers (evaporating coolers) do use evaporation. In a swamp cooler the water flows down a straw pad and the air is directed through it. As it changes state from liquid to vapor (evaporates) it again is using the concept of latent heat and taking heat with it so the air that enters the home is cooler. This week I was in Grand Junction, CO at a house with a swamp cooler. The outside air was 102 degrees and dry. The swamp cooler was very effective. If the humidity is high they are worthless. A sealed system in an air conditioner also uses evaporation and condensation of the freon, but the process is forced mechanically by changing the pressures in the system with a compressor. It too is using the concept of latent heat in the changing of state.

James FarleyJuly 2, 2011 at 3:54 pm

One other key point here. While this will make the person in front of the fan cooler there is no net heat removed from the room. As a commenter on the blog pointed out, if the ice came from a refrigerator in the same room this overall system actually makes the room warmer in its effort to make the person in front of the fan cooler. An air conditioner actually transfers the heat out of the room.

James FarleyJuly 2, 2011 at 2:31 pm

A better solution to cooling is the whole house fan. Mine combined with the fact I added more attic ventilation with a re-roof last month is doing an excellent job on days that don’t go past the mid to high 90s. Today we are relying on the central AC to keep the house cool. Yesterday we did not use the AC at all. While the house did get a bit warm in the late afternoon knowing the whole house fan would be on at sunset made it tolerable. Once the air outside is cooler than the air inside the fan pulls the cooler air through the windows and forces it up and out the attic cooling the attic air in the process. Most summer days this is all we need to be comfortable.

mikecJuly 2, 2011 at 2:42 pm

I do the pro-rate plan with SCE, my electric bill stays the same all year, about $97.00 a month, so during the Summer I set my AC to 74 and I dont have to worry about the electric bill…generally speaking I come out ahead and when my year is up, Im usually getting a credit on my electric bill….

Lori RivasJuly 2, 2011 at 7:56 pm

We do the same, and our monthly rate is about a hundred bucks, too. That, and we high tail it to the beach about once/week. We like to watch the temp drop as we roll down the 126 (sometimes 45-50 degrees cooler!), and then we guess the temp in SCV on our ride back home.

LindaJuly 2, 2011 at 5:05 pm

No need to create this contraption. Just put on a wet bathing suit and teeshirt and turn the fan on. Back when I was a teen, we had no AC and no swamp cooler. My mother and I would wear wet clothes to keep cool while getting household chores done.

James FarleyJuly 2, 2011 at 5:58 pm

Now we’re talking evaporation! This system would work much better than the contraption. It would look a lot better too if the bathing suit top was left off and only the wet t-shirt was worn. Perhaps we could find a way to turn that into a competition.

spineflower2July 2, 2011 at 6:05 pm

I had a swamp cooler in a house in Newhall about 25 years ago. It was crucial to open a window a couple of inches in every room of the house. That way there was an easy and directional flow of the cooled air from the one room with the swamp cooler, into each room of the house. At night, the fan could be reversed to bring cooler evening air from each open window, exhausted through the swamp cooler, sort of an early version of the whole house fan. It worked great except late August when the humidity was too high. That, plus a kiddie pool for the kids was all I needed. Of course, back then I drove an old VW without air conditioning, so my (cool factor) standards were lower.

CCJuly 2, 2011 at 7:54 pm

I keep my automated thermostat set at about 80 degrees during the daytime hours when I am away, and 75 when I am home. A nice big tree on the Western side of my house serves me best and my bills stay less than $75 per month in the summer and $35 in the Winter (1500 sq ft). Prior to A/C in the SFV, I used Linda’s method or did chores at my neighbors house in order to earn pool passes. When I went to bed at night I did so with an ice cube in my mouth. Thankfully, I now have the luxury of A/C.

TeresaToddJuly 3, 2011 at 6:51 am

Key at the Todd house is to wake up super early, open doors, place fans in the doorways and blow the cool air in. Soon as the heat starts to creep, close up the doors, windows, shades, et al and keep the fans blowin’. The upstairs seems to serve as a buffer to keep the first floor cool throughout the day, then I open everything up again when the cool night air returns. Wish we had a basement, though. There’s a local storage business that has its buildings built into a hill. Amazing that the temp stays a cool 70-something throughout the summer; it’s climate controlled naturally just from the virtue of being partially underground.

ToddJuly 5, 2011 at 12:03 pm

I need to get me a whole house fan. Our upstairs is damn unbearable much of the summertime, whereas downstairs stays nice and cool for all but about 4 hours. We open the windows upstairs, but theres so much damn latent heat trapped up in the attic, its hard to get cooled off without the circulation. Before we try that, I might rock a solar powered gable fan tho… just to try to keep the hot air in the attic circulating and getting out of there.

yourwebguruJuly 2, 2011 at 1:43 pm
And in the winter, you can convert it into a still to make bathtub gin!
James FarleyJuly 2, 2011 at 2:24 pm
This device is actually pretty cool (pun intended). Having worked in the HVAC industry many years, and being a bit of a science nerd I need to correct a few things. This device is not using the process of evaporation to cool. It is using the concept of ‘latent heat’ where water changing state from solid to liquid takes heat in the process. It is transferring the heat from the room into the ice and changing its state. Putting the cooler in the room full of melting ice without the pump and fan will have the same net effect on cooling the room eventually. The recirculating pump, coil, and fan are effective at speeding up the process and directing the cooling at the intended target. Swamp coolers (evaporating coolers) do use evaporation. In a swamp cooler the water flows down a straw pad and the air is directed through it. As it changes state from liquid to vapor (evaporates) it again is using the concept of latent heat and taking heat with it so the air that enters the home is cooler. This week I was in Grand Junction, CO at a house with a swamp cooler. The outside air was 102 degrees and dry. The swamp cooler was very effective. If the humidity is high they are worthless. A sealed system in an air conditioner also uses evaporation and condensation of the freon, but the process is forced mechanically by changing the pressures in the system with a compressor. It too is using the concept of latent heat in the changing of state.
James FarleyJuly 2, 2011 at 3:54 pm
One other key point here. While this will make the person in front of the fan cooler there is no net heat removed from the room. As a commenter on the blog pointed out, if the ice came from a refrigerator in the same room this overall system actually makes the room warmer in its effort to make the person in front of the fan cooler. An air conditioner actually transfers the heat out of the room.
James FarleyJuly 2, 2011 at 2:31 pm
A better solution to cooling is the whole house fan. Mine combined with the fact I added more attic ventilation with a re-roof last month is doing an excellent job on days that don’t go past the mid to high 90s. Today we are relying on the central AC to keep the house cool. Yesterday we did not use the AC at all. While the house did get a bit warm in the late afternoon knowing the whole house fan would be on at sunset made it tolerable. Once the air outside is cooler than the air inside the fan pulls the cooler air through the windows and forces it up and out the attic cooling the attic air in the process. Most summer days this is all we need to be comfortable.
mikecJuly 2, 2011 at 2:42 pm
I do the pro-rate plan with SCE, my electric bill stays the same all year, about $97.00 a month, so during the Summer I set my AC to 74 and I dont have to worry about the electric bill…generally speaking I come out ahead and when my year is up, Im usually getting a credit on my electric bill….
Lori RivasJuly 2, 2011 at 7:56 pm
We do the same, and our monthly rate is about a hundred bucks, too. That, and we high tail it to the beach about once/week. We like to watch the temp drop as we roll down the 126 (sometimes 45-50 degrees cooler!), and then we guess the temp in SCV on our ride back home.
LindaJuly 2, 2011 at 5:05 pm
No need to create this contraption. Just put on a wet bathing suit and teeshirt and turn the fan on. Back when I was a teen, we had no AC and no swamp cooler. My mother and I would wear wet clothes to keep cool while getting household chores done.
James FarleyJuly 2, 2011 at 5:58 pm
Now we’re talking evaporation! This system would work much better than the contraption. It would look a lot better too if the bathing suit top was left off and only the wet t-shirt was worn. Perhaps we could find a way to turn that into a competition.
spineflower2July 2, 2011 at 6:05 pm
I had a swamp cooler in a house in Newhall about 25 years ago. It was crucial to open a window a couple of inches in every room of the house. That way there was an easy and directional flow of the cooled air from the one room with the swamp cooler, into each room of the house. At night, the fan could be reversed to bring cooler evening air from each open window, exhausted through the swamp cooler, sort of an early version of the whole house fan. It worked great except late August when the humidity was too high. That, plus a kiddie pool for the kids was all I needed. Of course, back then I drove an old VW without air conditioning, so my (cool factor) standards were lower.
CCJuly 2, 2011 at 7:54 pm
I keep my automated thermostat set at about 80 degrees during the daytime hours when I am away, and 75 when I am home. A nice big tree on the Western side of my house serves me best and my bills stay less than $75 per month in the summer and $35 in the Winter (1500 sq ft). Prior to A/C in the SFV, I used Linda’s method or did chores at my neighbors house in order to earn pool passes. When I went to bed at night I did so with an ice cube in my mouth. Thankfully, I now have the luxury of A/C.
TeresaToddJuly 3, 2011 at 6:51 am
Key at the Todd house is to wake up super early, open doors, place fans in the doorways and blow the cool air in. Soon as the heat starts to creep, close up the doors, windows, shades, et al and keep the fans blowin’. The upstairs seems to serve as a buffer to keep the first floor cool throughout the day, then I open everything up again when the cool night air returns. Wish we had a basement, though. There’s a local storage business that has its buildings built into a hill. Amazing that the temp stays a cool 70-something throughout the summer; it’s climate controlled naturally just from the virtue of being partially underground.
ToddJuly 5, 2011 at 12:03 pm
I need to get me a whole house fan. Our upstairs is damn unbearable much of the summertime, whereas downstairs stays nice and cool for all but about 4 hours. We open the windows upstairs, but theres so much damn latent heat trapped up in the attic, its hard to get cooled off without the circulation. Before we try that, I might rock a solar powered gable fan tho… just to try to keep the hot air in the attic circulating and getting out of there.