Air Coolers

[crabstix]

I am thinking of buying an air cooler. Those square fan-like thingies which you fill with ice and plug in to keep cool in the summer. I have seen them selling in Big C for around 4000 baht.

Has anyone ever used one? I want to know if they are any good and if they are quieter and cooler than ordinary fans. I find it hard to watch tv with the fan blowing towards me because it makes too much noise.

Turning up the volume of my tv disturbs my neighbors.

thanks

[Crossy]

Try a bigger fan run more slowly and further away, same cooling effect less noise, ceiling fans work very well.

I have one of the larger stand fans (15"??) about 3m away (actually next to the TV) blowing towards me, can't hear it even with the TV off.

Not sure about the cooler beastie, although with ice in it 'twill surely blow cooled air.

[Pink Mist]

do you mean an evaporative cooler?

[garro]

I just bought an air cooler (I nam) from Tesco/Lotus and am very dissapointed with it. All it seems to do is melt ice fast but doesn't seem to cool the air. Complete waste of money and ice. Mind you the one I bought was less than 2,000 bath, maybe the more expensive ones are better.

[Pink Mist]

Evap coolers dont work well in a humid situation and ice wont help either.

These type of coolers rely on water evaporation in the pads and hence heat loss occurs, if no evaporation then no cooling.

[Firefoxx]

Yep. If you remember your science classes, you'll know that water evaporation is an endothermic process, in which the process absorbs heat and results in a cooling of the environment. Just as if you left a glass of warm water to sit for a while, it will eventually feel slightly cooler than room temperature. It's also one reason why people produce sweat, since when sweat evaporates, it cools us off.

Of course the rate of evaporation depends on the surrounding humidity, so if it's very humid, evaporation tends to happen slower than normal, hence less cooling (and why you feel so hot and clammy on humid days... your sweat isn't evaporating fast enough).

I used one of these several years ago (nearly a decade ago, I think). It did cool better than a fan, even in humid weather, but not by much. It was also very loud (louder than a fan), and the constant need to refill the water was a bother. You *could* fill it with ice water, which would be cool to begin with, and that would help a bit. If you tipped it over, all the water spilled out.

[Pink Mist]

We call them "swampies" here in Oz.

They have become fairly sofisticated, a roof mounted unit can cool a whole house when ducted to individual rooms.

They are good in the southern states in Oz, where the humidity during summer is usually low, but the temperature can reach 40 degrees C.

[sbk]

We had one of those too, gave it up as it made almost no difference in the temp at all. My parents had one in their house in the US and it was excellent but of course, their humidity would hit 11% in the summer and ours probably never goes below 75%

Agree with Crossy, don't waste your money, buy a big fan instead.

[crabstix]

We had one of those too, gave it up as it made almost no difference in the temp at all. My parents had one in their house in the US and it was excellent but of course, their humidity would hit 11% in the summer and ours probably never goes below 75%

Agree with Crossy, don't waste your money, buy a big fan instead.

Thanks guys for all your help. After reading all your posts I have decided to invest my money on more useful stuff.

[sbk]

Personally, I think thats one of the great things about ThaiVisa. Get an idea, ask for some advice and find out if it is worth it or not.

[HDRIDER]

Hi

I have one, dont buy one, not worth the money, i used the sh.t 2 days.