Cool my Tent

April 2, 2008 3:09 PM

How do I cool my tent for a Texas summer festival without electricity?

Flipside, the Texas satellite of the Burningman festival, is coming up in May. It's a 5-day event.
Obviously a shade canopy and some battery-operated fans will go a long way but what about actually cooling the air in the tent?

posted by kristymcj to travel & transportation (9 comments total)

you could make your own DIY air conditioner. It requires a fan (which could require power, but batteries would work too in some situations.)
posted by nitsuj at 3:28 PM on April 2

You might look into the Hexayurt. Actually cooling the air in your tent will be impractical. Fans and misters (through which you can get a little evaporative cooling) will help. Hanging out at the creek—which is mostly in shade and generally cool—will help a lot.

I'll be camped at Circle of Fire. Feel free to look me up.
posted by adamrice at 4:15 PM on April 2

Big ass chunks of dry ice.

You'd be surprised at just how much cooling effect a chunk of dry ice can have. Suspend big chunks in nets from the roof and you have the added benefit of it looking awesome. It's a totally passive system, no electricity involved at all, and pretty cheap (loses about 10% by weight per hour at STP (25°C)).
posted by alby at 4:26 PM on April 2

If you've got some sort of fan already, you want to rig up some hessian (or similar) with some way to slowly dribble water over it. Just enough to make it damp, not flood it. Then point the fan over that, through your tent, (or just open each end and hope for a breeze, depending on the geometry of your tent) a la the Coolgardie safe.
posted by pompomtom at 4:39 PM on April 2

Dry ice is too elaborate and too expensive. What's wrong with a plastic tub with a bag of ice in it. You wouldn't even need a fan, though that wouldn't hurt any.

That's what I do at home on the rare days it gets blisteringly hot; I buy a couple of bags of ice at the corner store and stick them in my kitchen sink with a fan blowing on them. Works great!
posted by Class Goat at 6:08 PM on April 2

My husband's family uses frozen milk jugs set behind a fan. They say it feels like air conditioning out on the porch.
posted by Sufi at 11:47 PM on April 2

Great idea, Sufi's husband's family.
posted by wsg at 6:41 AM on April 3

build a swamp cooler
posted by pmbuko at 9:47 AM on April 3

You can get a battery operated fan at your super-mega-big-store of choice. I used one, the batteries were expensive but it was nice to have. Tents get ungodly hot in the sun.
posted by whiskey point at 6:00 PM on April 3