Beating the summer heat

[ScreenPrinter123]

I was looking for suggestions on dropping the temperature in the print side of our cinderblock building in New Orleans.  It is 1600 sqft. with a large rollup door and a few windows, but other than that it is all block.  I was thinking of the following two options:

1. An exhaust fan in one of the four windows along the long wall with the rollup door open to increase air circulation
2. One of those port a cool units (evaporative cooling) though I am not sure what effect this may have on printing given that it will increase our already high humidity

Anyone have any thoughts or experience to share?

[whitewater]

not sure if this is any help, but i would lock the door and just print naked.

[mk162]

The portacool units help, we are in GA and they make a difference.  I was talking to somebody who also puts ice in theirs.  So I am buying a couple bags of ice each day for the next few weeks to help the guys out.  It's supposed to be 103 tomorrow.

[GraphicDisorder]

We use this big bitch.

[mk162]

we've got a 48" port-a-cool.  try putting some ice in yours.  I am going to try it with ours and see if it helps.  The lady yesterday said its better than AC.

[alan802]

We tried the evaporating cooling fan a few years ago and they didn't do anything here.  They made me sweat more but I could tell the air was slightly cooler.  I've always heard that they don't work well in higher humidity areas but the boss wanted to try one anyway, and $1000 later, it just sat in a corner until someone bought it.  I'm surprised to see they worked for Brad in GA but I believe him if he says they did. 

I know this sounds ridiculous but we bought a few window unit AC's and put them on rolling carts and just have them blowing on us when we are at one spot for a while.  They really work great on long print runs and for the guy at the end of the dryer, they are a life saver.  They won't cool the shop down but if used as a spot cooler it can make all the difference in the world.  They don't work when you are running all over the shop doing a bunch of different tasks but when you are in the middle of a 1000 piece run and it's 110 degrees in the shop, they work.

[JBLUE]

In my offroad racing days when we would go to Vegas we would load our Portacool with Ice. It makes it 10 times cooler when you in front of that thing. We put chunks of block ice in it.

[mk162]

what is the easiest way to get ice into it?

[JBLUE]

what is the easiest way to get ice into it?

Pop out the corrugated panels in the front and toss it in.

[mk162]

that's what I thought.  I might cut a panel in the top if it works well

[ScreenPrinter123]

I knew you guys would have some solutions.

I knew evaporative cooling works better in low humidity climates though their site says that above 85 degrees and below 75% humidity are conditions where it could help.  First thing in the morning and in the evening our humidity is usually at or above 75% but in the middle of the day it often drops to 50%.

Alan:  do you think it didn't work more due to humidity or the size of your shop?  I do have a window unit lying around I can try, that sounds about how we rig things around here anyway!

[GraphicDisorder]

Ours is easily dropping our temps 10 degrees in our 6,300sqft warehouse.

[alan802]

I knew you guys would have some solutions.

I knew evaporative cooling works better in low humidity climates though their site says that above 85 degrees and below 75% humidity are conditions where it could help.  First thing in the morning and in the evening our humidity is usually at or above 75% but in the middle of the day it often drops to 50%.

Alan:  do you think it didn't work more due to humidity or the size of your shop?  I do have a window unit lying around I can try, that sounds about how we rig things around here anyway!

I think it's purely due to the humidity because the air blowing out of it was slightly cooler than the ambient air but more humid, so it didn't really help cool us down.  I never thought about putting ice in it but I do remember being deflated after a few days with it in the shop.  It's working for at least 2 people here and I know of a few that didn't have any luck with them that I've read on the forums over the years, so at this point, I think it's a coin flip on whether or not it's going to help your shop.  I'd certainly bet against it based on our results with a brand new unit we bought from Grainger.  I can't put a finger on why it would work in Tennesse and Georgia but not here, our temps are higher as well as our humidity but not by a large margin.  Your temps are cooler but higher humidity and with my knowledge and experience living in a sauna all my life and what little I remember from my meteorology and climatology classes in college, I know that humidity is the X-factor in whether or not 95 degrees is merely uncomfortable or unbearable.

I'm tired of fighting it and I know the only real answer is to work harder and make more money so we can afford to put in a drop ceiling and AC the entire shop.  Sounds pretty easy doesn't it?  There have been days where I thought about selling an organ on the black market so we could AC the shop.

[sportsshoppe]

run your water thru a water hose and put the water hose in the cooler (full of ice)to cool the water before it hits the falls of the evap. I had 2 small ones and this is what I did before they went down. The ice last all day in the cooler ( 48 qt igloo ) and it cools the water down several degrees. If I still had mine I would post a pic but that was a couple of years ago. I had trouble with algae so smart me added a little be too much bleach to the reservoir not good advice in the amount I used ) but on the good side no mor algae but it rusted the motor to no end, finally the water pump went out. They do help but I have a window unit ducted to where the printer stands and it works well.

[ScreenPrinter123]

I have a kidney to throw in your organ collection!  I thought about installing a mini split system but with that or central A/C I would hate to see what it would cost daily to cool a print shop (especially one your size).

Alan what size was your Port-A-Cool.  At $1000 I am guessing it was the 16" and it looks like others are using 36" and 48" models.  I am just trying to get as much information as possible and am wondering if that may have something to do with the mixed results.