Vintage Car Swamp Cooler AC
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- Опубликовано: 18 сен 2024
- Bon Aire 12v Evaporative cooler Fixed / Brought back to life.
These were more noticeable in the form of a giant tube hanging off the passenger side window. They still pop up at car shows and have a huge collectable value. Thermadore being the most notable brand. You would drive and the wind would force through a small opening and into the car. You would pull a recoil rope every few minutes to keep the cylindrical pads wet. They were only made by a handful of companies but relabeled all the time. A few of the brands are Thermadore, Allstate, Bon Aire, Firestone, Travel Aire, Koolair, Cool-O-Matic, Glacier Ice, Coronado Sea Air, Airline cooler, North Aire, and on and on.
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In my youth,60s, my dad had one that hung on the window. We would drive from Midland Texas to South Texas and did cool us down.
That's awesome. They do work but require attention and by modern standards are too tedious..
I was an Airforce brat and we were traveling from a base in California to a base in Missouri. Of course we had to travel through states that had hot desert on the way . my dad bought one that hung on the window and you had to put water in the unit. It had a pull chain that opened the vent to allow the air to blow though the unit and cool the air ( yeah right). All it did is blow water on you until it ran out if water. lol. The rest of the trip we drove with all the windows open and suffered the heat. Back then Air Conditioning wasn't installed in every car and was not available in cars except the Catlalacs the rich people bought. :o)
Needless to say my dad tossed it in the trash the next time we stopped for gas. The unit looked more like a ram jet engine than a evaporative cooler. Thanks for the video..brings back the bad old days with my SOB dad. lol
To a hammer, everything's a nail.
To Ginger, everything's a toy.
What a wonderful pal to hang out with.
I honestly say that I don’t know anyone else who would have Volkswagen diesel injector seals just lying around waiting to be repurposed in a 60’s evaporative vehicle cooler.Farfegnugen!
I lived in El Paso years back. Moved there from KC. My house had dual swamp coolers. I loved them. Cheap as heck to operate and were extremely effective... As long as the humidity didn't get too high. This rarely happened. Cool find. Great project. Great dog.
I run my home off a swamp cooler and it's generally mid to high 60's all summer inside. Except for those random 4-5 days in the summer where a storm rolls in raises the humidity. Then it's pushing 73-74F and it starts to get uncomfortable.
i love air from a swamp cooler. In western Colorado it was great. I liked it because you had a contnual supply of fresh air in the home. I'd crack a window for exhaust. When I moved back South I felt trapped with central air. It doesn't seem very healthy breathing recycled air.
Unless you've living in a giant ziploc bag, most buildings have plenty of leaks anyway - you get TONS of "fresh" air without even realizing. Even if your house was completely sealed, you'd have enough air inside to live for weeks more than likely.
I run my home off a swamp cooler and enjoy having windows and back doors open all summer. The positive air pressure doesn't allow bugs in and always having fresh, renewed air is a benefit. It's definitely something you have to experience to enjoy.
I installed one of these in my 67 ford truck. Wasn't happy with it so I ordered the refrigerant type. It came with the head, compressor and lines. Worked much better.
One of the two or three things I remember from high school chemistry, is that oxalic acid works really good on rust stains. I find it works best when used with warm or hot water. We have really rusty water so sometimes I have ro mix a batch to clean fixtures and stuff. Often it can be found at the hardware store sold as one brand of "wood bleach" sometimes all they sell is the sodium hypochlorate versions so you have to look around. Sometimes might find it in the dishwasher cleaners too. Also, that dingy yellow plastic can be brightened with hydrogen peroxide set out in a bin to soak in the sun....but you know that already I'd be willing to bet 😉👍...one last thing just for posterity....you can save the water out of your dehumidifier for "distilled" water for batteries, antifreeze mix...swamp coolers...lol. some slight filtering and it would be fine to drink as well. Just pure water vapor from the air, minus the dust and stuff.
Great information.
Awesome find and great video👍🏻 at our house (in southeast New Mexico) we have both evaporative and central refrigerated air. The swamp coolers do require a bit of maintenance but are super efficient when the humidity and dew point is low! We typically only use the central A/C mid July thru mid August as it's 80-$100 a month more in electric bill😳
For how old that thing is, it's certifiably Mint!
I remember retrofitting a version of one of these into a low-buck humidifier for a repurposed 50s fridge I turned into a cedar-lined humidor. Worked great with Oasis foam as I wasn't so lucky with finding one with pristine mat. It was, how to say, massively gross.
Add: Now that I think about it, this is the much better version of those little chintzy water bottle ac units that have gained so much popularity this year. Another case of resurrecting old into new ideas I suspect.
That's awesome. It can't imagine those little desktop water bottle size evaporative coolers do anything at all.
Really cool. I grew up with swamp coolers as a kid, but I've never seen an auto swamp cooler before.
That thing is sweet, I'm going to try and find one similar. Thanks for the video brother
We used to make them homemade back in the mountains of Kentucky memories 👍
I think I remember seeing those in Whitney's catalog. They made them as far back as the 1940s. If you see a restored car from the period with what looks like a can on the outside of a window, that what it was. They don't work in my area, to much humidity. I had a large pair of them on my roof in Arizona. I found back then the straw was much better than the new synthetic ones. I really didn't mind the spring and fall maintenance. Not much good durring the monsoon season except at night. They certainly use less poer than an air coditioner. Plus the birds had fresh cold water.
I run my home off a swamp cooler, but I'm one of the last holdouts. People despise the maintenance they require.
Yes. Classic VW had window attached swamp coolers. Made by third party.
Great little project. Love the vintage styling.
Cool, literally!! Ginger is such a crackup!!! ❤
man this video made my dad fill old he knows all about them back in the 60's and 70's before A/C was a thing in cars thanks for grabing it and giving it a home
👍👍 Have one on my home works great in arizona too and low electric bill
I run my house off a swamp cooler as well. I don't think I could live without the constant fresh air. I'm the only person I know of around me still running one.
Interesting, I didn't know they made swamp coolers for cars, that's because where I live (Missouri) they would never work, way too much humidity here. ❤️ Ginger ❤️
Oh the humidity. I drove through Missouri this summer and dang.
Hey Moe, this was pretty cool. I have heard of these all my life but we never use them because the humidity is so high down here. I was very impressed you had the correct size o ring on hand.
You hold onto random junk(boxes of orings) for decades and the one time you need it and it justifies it all.
In the 60s and early 70s, my dad drove a ford econoline van 100,000 miles a year. This was his a/c in many of those years.
That's awesome. Gotta love the looks of those old Econolines.
Pretty cool! I rmemeber seeing the ones that hand on the car window, WAY before my Time but I seen one I think they made them in the 60's or 70's
40s to 50s. Once the auto manufacturers started installing factory A/C it was all over with for any other type of air conditioner. Best wishes! 👍🏻🌬️❄️
- Max Giganteum
I had one of those swamp coolers in my 63 International Travelall for when we vacationed in the desert.
Thats a cool old unit!! 😎 lol
What a great find, love the history. I wish I lived in a low humidity climate to make it viable for me.
That thing is very cool.
Nice save! I lived inb west texas for a spell and that's what homes had back then. they worked fine to cool the house.
They work good until the humidity sets in.
In the 70's My Uncle came down to visit and had one in his Mid 60's Ford pickup About an hours drive 85 deg outside It was cool in the cab He also had ice in it
That's awesome. With 85F and low humidity this would put out 60F air.
Awesome, I had a swatter with one of these. But I never bothered to messing with it.
I’m # 30👍🏽
AC is one of those weird things that you don't even think about in a old truck/farm equip. I hop in, roll down the window and just drive. I never double think about how hot it is because nothing can be done about it However, if I hop into a modern car, I'm immediately cranking on the AC because I know it's an option.
If they worked where i live now. I spent some time in Denver and was blown away by how well the swamp cooler worked.
2 n1.. Cools the pup off on a drive and works as a watering bowl.
It cleaned up very nice especially for a tan plastic. Great Job!
I wasn't expecting it to clean up so nice. I don't think it spent much time in a car/in the sun. The plastic wasn't brittle at all.
Can't stop seeing the smiley face 🙂
That’s awesome you can also use it as a single drink cooler. Awesome
You 2 are great couple, fun to watch
vintage machines found in like new condition...typically mean they aren't worth the materials used to make them. Good Luck.
I really have had no interest in 'swamp coolers' since the 70's when I lived in Nevada where they pretty much everywhere I lived. However, your disassembly, analysis and repair is always entertaining. And of course, Ginger the wonder dog!
Oh man, you touched on a nerve with this one! Being a Las Vegas native, I love swamp coolers!
The old unit you got is neat, and not easy to find. The one downside to that particular design is that it recirculates the cabin air. Better performance would come from a continuous source of outside, dry air. Still neat though! You did an awesome job of cleaning it up and refreshing everything.
I'm still surprised that here in the SW evaporative cooling is only as popular as it is. My place (house) is roughly 1200 sq ft, I have a Champion SD5000, running a 1/2 horse motor, it performs really really well. I run mine around the clock, never turn it off. This year the monsoon season was significant with quite a few more days of humidity than what I remember from previous years. Yet it still performed pretty good. With that humidity, on average my daily temps (F) were about 78° to 80°, maybe 82° around 3:00PM, 'the height of the day'. With the monsoon humidity those numbers didn't change too much through the night. But the last week or so the humidity started to go down and so did my temps inside. At 3 or 4 in the morning I was averaging about 67° to 70° inside, but it feels much cooler than that. And that's not just the air in the spaces, but the walls and the structure pick that up as well. When they do, that plays in your favor for most of the day.
The original concept with swamp coolers was to blow into the house and bleed it out by opening windows a few inches. But I have found that you get better performance instead (and uncompromised security) by creating an opening from the interior of the house into the attic (which typically already exists with a built in attic access) and having 'the final bleed' exiting through attic vents to the outside. The living spaces get cooled first then the attic also benefits from cooling, this way the whole structure picks up those temps.
The swamper cuts my power bill in half (as opposed to running AC). If it can't keep up with summer's extremes I just switch it off to pump only, turn on central AC and close off my attic. I rarely ever have to do that.
Did I mention I love swamp coolers? 😅
Awesome, I'm a huge fan of swamp coolers and definitely one of the last holdouts in Utah. I would bet 5% of homes here have them and out of those 99% are operated by people that have no idea how to maintain them. This is sad because we rarely get about 100F and have nearly the same low humidity of Vegas. So my home is 68-69F in the peak of the day with the 4-5 humid summer days a year pushing 74F. At night we drop temps dramatically(high desert) and low 60's to high 50's is easily obtained. I do run a portion though my attic but also love having the back door always ajar along with windows. I would eaisily say my power bill is half what friends and family say they are paying. The funny thing is, everytime I have people over they comment how great the swamp cooler feels and wish they still had one.
Lookslike good old Ronco struck again. Remember Ronco on all the t.v. adds? They were very regular and very cheap BUT it looks like that works just like it's supposed to and it was Ginger approved right from the start. And I used to take a gallon water jug half frozen solid to work with the other half non-frozen and had cold water all day. The humidity makes up for your really high heat here in the hills.
THANKS, Pal and God Bless Yall!
Oh the Ronco products! It slices, dices and cools your car.
Very cool shirt man. 😎
Pretty cool.
A buddy has a large sized swamp cooler for his house, I gave him a whole bunch of re-freezable ice packs that he cycles through the water reservoir. He states a huge difference in cooling temps. You might re-visit the "it doesn't make much difference" claim. Throw in enough to really chill the water and run a test for us. It may be that the small size is the limiter.
I actually went through a ton of experiments about 10 years ago. I went as far as having an external refrigeration system(freezer) that would chill the water to high 30F in a separate cooler and recirulate it through the swamp cooler. The temps were about 1-3F lower but that only last for maybe 20-30 minutes and the water temp is stabilized around 60ish. A chest freezer could keep up. Where there was a difference is the initial startup. So starting with chilled water vs the 70-90F water that sat overnight you would see about a 10F lower temp for about the first 5 minutes, then the 1-3F for another 15ish minutes and then it was the exact same. The water cools off naturally with running and quickly stabilizes to around 50-60F with or without ice.
Cool ..... cool never mind 😨 Have a great day 👍 Hey doggy got the jug for water I'd say that's a win 🙌🏻
Thanks 👍
By the lack of buildup in the wood fiber and compartments it looks like they only used distilled water.
I just don't think it was really ever used.
@@sixtyfiveford That could very well be. That makes it an even better find. Best to You and Yours.
That is an awesome find!
COOL piece ;) i need one in the Bug
Those Vegas 110F+ days are brutal
That was the most interesting video I’ve seen in a long time nice one Moe!
Glad you enjoyed it!
We have a gruman bodied freightliner van, from the USPS, like a short UPS truck? Anyways it has no AC, and I would LOVE to have a swamp cooler for it!
What a "cool" contraption! Love your fur baby endings to your videos beside the amazing content you share with us!
Glad you like them!
They are cool but remember they work by evaporation. Won't work very well in high humidity.
Very cool...LOL I have never seen one of those for a vehicle.
Thanks for watching
I am 66 live in michigan never have I seen anything like that.sweet kool.old stuff.were did that cooler come from
Swamp coolers wouldn't be sold in Michigan because they don't work in high humidity areas.
Yeah, at 50% humidity with 100F outside air they will only push out 85F. That's better than 100F but not comfortable for residential/cars. You will find Evaporative coolers nationwide in industrial/large shops that have no AC though. They are huge black fan units on wheels usually pushed in front of garage/bay doors. 85F air feels better than just a fan pushing 100F air.
@@sixtyfiveford keep those vids coming.love them your a jack of all trades
So cool never knew they had theses for a vehicle. My sons 61 Chevy has no ac this would be a great alternative till he can save up enough money to buy a retro fit AC kit
I keep meaning to do one of the these universal AC kits but then I always think summers only a few months long and it won't be needed.
Very cool unit for sure. I have thought about adapting one of those portable air conditioning units that roll around for my vehicle instead of the high cost of replacing my car air conditioning. Have to figure out the electrical part though. Thanks for the videos.
I just always tell myself summer is going to be over in a few months and it won't be needed.
Cigarettes - Check
Swamp Cooler - Check
Dog - Check
Now my car can smell like a wet dog rolled in a dirty ash tray.😆
That thing is sweet. I want one now.
That's it, I'm moving to Utah so I can get a swamp cooler!
That's the perfect reason too.
Its been really hot here in California also. Like 110
Ouch. Yeah all that heat is blowing inland setting records around here. Today is pushing 105F. Stay cool!
Sweet!
I'm old enough to remember those plus the even more primitive ones which were cylinders which hung outside on the passenger side window and filled with water. Needed no power, just replied on moving through the air as the car drove. It was better than sitting in your own sweat, but not by much.
The window mount units are very sought after and can bring prices pushing $1000 or sometimes more.
You know you’re balling in life during the 60s when your big ass V8 car has a big ass water fan with a fucking gas gauge in its dash lmaoooooooo
I litterally just bought a big swamp cooler, they actually work great. Power is super expensive here, so AC is hard to justify turning on especially with our old home. Even when its 90-115 and we are running the central air AC and a window unit AC (three story home) using the swamp cooler helps the AC work even better, as the AC will pull the moist warm air out of the rooms.
Hvac tech here, you're drastically reducing the efficiency of the ac unit by supplementing with evap coolers. Air conditioners really don't cool much at all until the relative humidity drops pretty low, and evap coolers running in an enclosed space is going to raise the relative humidity by a lot
@@MegaDysart explain why we are lucky to get a 10-15 degree delta with just ac and 20-25 degree delta with ac and swamp cooler then? 🤣 the relative humidity doesn’t actually raise that much, the ac pulls it out of the air with the heat. And yes I measured all this.
I love it! Didn't know this existed, so awesome. The dogmometer seemed a little more sensitive than your thermometer. :-) Stay cool guy's
Glad you liked it!
I had no idea those things existed. My 2001 Dodge Ram has the perennially kaput air conditioner. Maybe instead of the next attempt to fix, which involves pulling the dash (ugh!) I should look for one of these.
They do work well, if you live where humidity is low enough. 100F is pushing it's limits though. On a 90F day with low humidity this would put out refreshing 65F air.
I actually found a after market Datsun A/C unit my Dad had stored away. I think it just needs a compressor pump.
Awesome.
I wouldn't mind trying to find one of those. TBH, that's probably what that compartment is for, it looks like it may be big enough to hold 2 soda cans
Mats are called pads, the cellulose celdek pads are absolutely a massive increase in cooling as opposed to the traditional wood shavings
I run my home, garage and now truck off swamp coolers. I have the Celdek media on my garage, and have used natural wood/Aspen along with the green/blue sythentic pads on my home. I find the Aspen to give the best temps. On the same day/time my home unit will generally always blow 2F colder air with Aspen vs the garage with Celdek.
I need to make a swamp cooler for my garage
For a shop/garage I think they rule. Even if you lived in a higher humidity place. I can exhaust paint fumes, exhaust fumes etc in seconds and still cool
Swampy we call those, bonaire is still around too Part of seeley international
If it was hooked up to a solar panel you could leave it going when you're parked in the sun and the car would be cooler when you get back in.
Absolutely.
I made one out of a small styrofoam cooler and a fan. Didn't work too well for my ranger(no insulation in the roof of the cab) in the heat and humidity of south carolina. Did blow cool air out though.
Looks like it has a good amount of surface area on those pads, seems like it would work better than those old tube in window style swamp coolers like the kind you see on vw's alot.
I think the window units would work better for long runs only because they have a constant supply of fresh air. This unit will raise the humidity as it continues to circulate the same air and loose cooling ability. I had to roll down the window a few times to supply fresh dry air.
@@sixtyfiveford With all swamp coolers you gotta leave a window open for fresh air exchange
Pretty neat. They sell one As seen on TV, an Arctic Air for about 50 bucks. But it doesn't have the surface area that yours has.
I've seen the ads for those and can't imagine they do anything other and push a little air. They definitely wouldn't cool anything larger than a shoe box.
@@sixtyfiveford I agree, they are so small and don't have much water media surface area, that they can't possibly work well.
I need that for my old86 dodge pk . I only have 265 air conditioning, you know 2 windows down at 65 miles an hrs. = 265 !
MM77 Approved 👍🏼👍🏼
Ac on a budget 😆😆👍
I was expecting to see that in the VW truck since it’s a similar color
Best part is I can move it anywhere.
That thing is awesome!! I'm actually trying to retrofit some sort of AC solution on my old Land Rover Defender. Let me know if you're ever in the Murray area!
My brother in law works for Land Rover and I showed him your Defender. He was drooling. It's a great looking Land Rover.
@@sixtyfiveford It's my daily driver. Can't beat a stick shift, diesel, solid front axle. I'm bringing in a rare Defender 130. Should be arriving in about a month. Thanks for the tips on the AC.
Too Cool!!!
I betcha these sat in vehicles and the sun just cooked and cracked all the plastics
@@quazorgemash Absolutely.
, hey Moe if you just barely crack your windows were talking like an 1/8 inch and let it pull the air out as you drive it'll cool down even more for you
I did open the windows a few times to allow the humidity level to drop. The non existent door seals on the truck give me at least an 1/8 equiv window gap. This particular unit has the huge downfall of not drawing fresh low humidity air constantly.
Corvair style fan belt
the super old swamp cooler I have used a spring on the fan motor to the pump to circulate the water in the basin, why I dunno its been in my family for like 4 generations now and the pump is long gone and I could prob replace it with just a simple drill pump, the original pump had rusted away to nothing
Once wired backward the pump was driven the wrong way, yes?
Thinking maybe it didn't get much use after that.
That's my thought
Neat! We had a monster residential unit in our home, as a kid, in California. I’ve heard they’re desirable in the desert because the humidity cools the extremely dry air.
I know you do what you want. But a hack I’d love for you to find/create, is bathroom/laundry room exhaust fans. Seems like they’re so noisy and don’t exhaust very well.
They make "remote" fans where the fan is actually mounted up in the attic rather than right in the ceiling of the room. As long as you mount the remote fan on rubber isolators and up in the attic somewhere, they are much quieter than regular bathroom fans.
@@gorak9000 thanks for the reply. Unfortunately that setup wouldn’t work for my townhouse.
Bathroom fans are miserable to listen too.
@@LujinCustom If a remote fan isn't going to work, then get used to enjoying your own brand I guess - or poop in other people's bathrooms
@@gorak9000 oh but then I have to be judgmental about their fans! 🤣
At about 9:05 you posted what looks like an ad for the TravelAire by Firestone and I just met someone who picked one up. Where did you find that ad? We'd love to start collecting information on them. I'm a collector of the over the window style car swamp coolers and have one electric powered one of that type.
Maybe it was only ever used with distilled water?
I'm 67 and I'm not sure if I have seen one or not. I have seen air-conditioning what I thought was dealer installed and not knowing if it was air or one of those so I may have seen one. Just not knowing. Lol. If that makes any sense.
Have you seen the coolers, that would hook over a window on an old car??
I'm curious, are they a similar concept, if you know.
Yeah, the exact same concept. Those are highly collectable though and go for a pretty hefty amount.
You know I was just wondering why cars don't use evaporative coolers and look here it is Google knows me too well didn't even talk about it just thought it. I bet that works fantastic. Selling this one?
Two reasons... constant maintenance and the issue of water buildup inside the vehicle interior. Unless you properly vent, you'll find the inside of your vehicle becoming saturated with water. As you might guess this can turn nasty pretty fast with mold, mildew and foul smells. You don't tend to see that occur in very dry and hot parts of the country but it can and will happen. You don't want to deal with that nastiness. Trust me! Best wishes! 👍🏻🤔🇺🇸
- Max Giganteum
Yeah... you can open your COKE with it.
modern day MacGyver
How much for this unit , or can I find one for my 1969 GMC tow tuck , lol nice thanks 🙏 BigAl California praise Jesus Christ grace grace amen 🙏
I actually have been searching on and off for at least 15years for an inexpensive one. This is the first one I found for under $100. The passenger side window units are more desirable and probably work better but fetch a hefty price. Some of those can push $1000. However if you keep you eye out(I haven't been lucky) you can find them at garage sales/local classifed for cheap. Ebay always has people selling real ones and fake non working ones but you will see quickly they want a decent amount for them.
Do you have or expect any issues with rust on your metal lathe with the big swamp cooler vent right over it? That makes me nervous looking at it, at least as a Minnesotan.
Not at all. These may add 2% humidity at most. I've had a bare steel truck cab sitting in the garage for a few years now with no rust. These aren't like central air where you need all the windows closed etc. You open doors/crack windows to create air flow. It pulls 5% Humidity 100F air in and pushes out 7% 68F air continually. There's never a buildup of humidity.
@@sixtyfiveford Thank you for your thoughtful reply. I really enjoy what you share with us. It really is valuable stuff.
That would be a great eco friendly alternative for electric cars lol
Why do you have 4 nails attached to your dash with a magnet?
To pop strangers tires.... I was waiting for that question. I always have a magnet on my dash and the last time I went camping I found those nails. So I just stuck them to the magnet.
@@sixtyfiveford After watching your channel for the last few years I was expecting a highly practical and impressive reason that would enlighten everyone. Very disappointing. Your answer sounds like something I would do. LOL
@@sixtyfiveford 😆😆
@@binnsbrian I'm sure they will be turned into something different, that's functional. Just haven't found what yet.
So, only works in low humidity?
They work best in low humidity. There are charts that show the temp they blow with the current outside temp/humidity. At 100F with 5-10% humidity I get 68-70ish air. Bump that humidity up to 50%/100F and it would only put out 85F air. By modern standards that's not comfortable. Where I live I run my entire home off an evaporative cooler and there's only 4-5 days as year where the humidity and temp are high. Those days the temp might push 73-74F and it starts to get uncomfortable.
@@sixtyfiveford I live in NE, humidity is rarely below 50% in the Summer.
What's the water consumption rate for the cooler when it's that hot?
Maybe a gallon every hour.
does that one gallon plastic jug turn into a yellow truckers bomb later? 😵💦💦💦
Lol. So funny
too bad it's not made out of aluminum. I used to have one back in the sixties.👍👍
I made one of those 25yr ago. but mine was different, use a car heater radiator. a small water pump, fan, on/off, and a thermostat. gave to my buddy who worked for Florida Power he got FREE ice. and his truck didn't have AC. He used it till they gave a new truck that had AC. Jay the Florida pool pump motor (bearing) repair guy When Service Calls Longwood approved ! that was good info 2 know 👨🔧SIXTYFIVEFORD
That's awesome.