Comments on: Cool my Tent

Question: Cool my Tent

kristymcj — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:09:59 -0800

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?

By: nitsuj

nitsuj — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:28:11 -0800

you could make your own DIY air conditioner. It requires a fan (which could require power, but batteries would work too in some situations.)

By: adamrice

adamrice — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:15:23 -0800

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 creekwhich is mostly in shade and generally coolwill help a lot.

I'll be camped at Circle of Fire. Feel free to look me up.

By: alby

alby — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:26:03 -0800

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)).

By: pompomtom

pompomtom — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 16:39:36 -0800

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.

By: Class Goat

Class Goat — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 18:08:24 -0800

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!

By: Sufi

Sufi — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 23:47:17 -0800

My husband's family uses frozen milk jugs set behind a fan. They say it feels like air conditioning out on the porch.

By: wsg

wsg — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 06:41:16 -0800

Great idea, Sufi's husband's family.

By: pmbuko

pmbuko — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 09:47:39 -0800

build a swamp cooler

By: whiskey point

whiskey point — Thu, 03 Apr 2008 18:00:16 -0800

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.