Help me choose a swamp cooler design and source parts!

July 29, 2015 2:10 PM

I'm going to Burning Man this year and would like to build a swamp cooler for my Hexayurt. Tricky part is that I'm noticing there are a TON of designs out there, many with optional recharging circuits involving Arduinos and things, which seems much more complex than I actually need. Can someone recommend a specific parts list and instruction set that I can simply order online, and assemble over the course of a couple of hours?

Going to a theme camp that offers electricity for recharging items overnight, so I don't actually need the solar part.

posted by sirion to Grab Bag (3 answers total)

This is the definitive design and definitive thread for me. Page through it and you will learn what you need to. I built one of these and it works like a dream. There are a few gotchas though, like make sure you have a sufficiently powerful fan, and make sure you get a strong enough pump and a good flow of water.
posted by PercussivePaul at 2:46 PM on July 29, 2015 [1 favorite]

If you happen to be in Reno, there is a workshop on this coming up, put on by and for burners. There is a link there to a supply list as well.
posted by freezer cake at 3:18 PM on July 29, 2015

Yep, came in here to make sure Figjams Swamp cooler design was mentioned, and of course it is. Go all the way through that thread, the cooler gets refined through years of trial and error.
I made three of these last year, they're great. Build and test it out at home, you don't want to be fiddling with it on playa any more than you have to.
Are you sure you even need a swamp cooler for your yurt? I stayed in an art structure made out of the same polyiso that the yurts are made out of, and even though I had the swamp cooler hooked up and ready to go, I never once needed to use it.
posted by newpotato at 7:01 PM on July 30, 2015