linked2002
Member
Well I started off like most of us with a small little room and one or two ladies. When I had my first room up and running (about the size of a closet) I started running into some pretty big heating issues. I took a bit of time to think how to best cool my room while keeping humidity proper, and not spending an arm and a leg on an A/C unit. Well… this is what I came up with… home brewed swamp cooler :
Here we go!:
Start off with two buckets.
You will need to cut a hole in the bottom and side of one bucket, and fill the other about half way up with water.
Take the lids, and the lid that belongs on the bucket full of water needs a small hole (one inch) drilled in the center. (I cut slashes anywhere water could settle so it would drip back down into the bucket full of water)
Now we need to add in a pump. What I did was go to home depot, and picked up an 18 dollar fountain pump.
Place pump into bucket of water, run the power cord and the water hose to the pump out of that hole you drilled in the top.
Put the lid onto the bucket securely and we are ready to start on the bucket with the big holes…
I used 4 inch ducting in my room so I built this around that size ducting. Modify as necessary.
The large holes I drilled were with a 4” hole saw allowing me to get my 4” duct collectors into place.
Drill hole on bottom (also cut slashes wherever you think water will settle so it drips through and back into lower bucket) and run the wire and hose of the pump up and through hole in the bottom.
Now drill a few screws into the collar of the bucket to hold your hardware mesh where it needs to be and place hardware mesh inside (remember to drop it down about 3 or 4 inches from the top)
Place some swamp cooler pad onto this hardware mesh so that you now have some sort of media to hold onto the water while the air is blowing through it.
Now the hose that is connected to the pump.. I used some 3/8 fountain hose and went to the plumbing section of home depot for some “drip system misters” that are normally used in small garden spaces. I punched holes into the hose at about 3 inch intervals and placed these “mister”tips into the holes :
Spiral all of that into the top and plug your pump in.. should start spitting up water and look something like this….
Put the lid on, cut a hole for your ducting… push air in through the lid.. it will come out of the side about 15 degrees cooler. The last thing is to seal the buckets together. i went a bit ghetto and used some plastic wrap and tape the first time around, second time around (after dis assembly to take pictures for this) I used duct tape and it worked tons better and looked much cleaner.
finished product :
Hope this helps at least one person! Happy growing guys!
Here we go!:
Start off with two buckets.
You will need to cut a hole in the bottom and side of one bucket, and fill the other about half way up with water.
Take the lids, and the lid that belongs on the bucket full of water needs a small hole (one inch) drilled in the center. (I cut slashes anywhere water could settle so it would drip back down into the bucket full of water)
Now we need to add in a pump. What I did was go to home depot, and picked up an 18 dollar fountain pump.
Place pump into bucket of water, run the power cord and the water hose to the pump out of that hole you drilled in the top.
Put the lid onto the bucket securely and we are ready to start on the bucket with the big holes…
I used 4 inch ducting in my room so I built this around that size ducting. Modify as necessary.
The large holes I drilled were with a 4” hole saw allowing me to get my 4” duct collectors into place.
Drill hole on bottom (also cut slashes wherever you think water will settle so it drips through and back into lower bucket) and run the wire and hose of the pump up and through hole in the bottom.
Now drill a few screws into the collar of the bucket to hold your hardware mesh where it needs to be and place hardware mesh inside (remember to drop it down about 3 or 4 inches from the top)
Place some swamp cooler pad onto this hardware mesh so that you now have some sort of media to hold onto the water while the air is blowing through it.
Now the hose that is connected to the pump.. I used some 3/8 fountain hose and went to the plumbing section of home depot for some “drip system misters” that are normally used in small garden spaces. I punched holes into the hose at about 3 inch intervals and placed these “mister”tips into the holes :
Spiral all of that into the top and plug your pump in.. should start spitting up water and look something like this….
Put the lid on, cut a hole for your ducting… push air in through the lid.. it will come out of the side about 15 degrees cooler. The last thing is to seal the buckets together. i went a bit ghetto and used some plastic wrap and tape the first time around, second time around (after dis assembly to take pictures for this) I used duct tape and it worked tons better and looked much cleaner.
finished product :
Hope this helps at least one person! Happy growing guys!
