Shop cooler/grass waterer

[Cornbelt]

  Neighbor has a system of cooling his shop and watering his grass/garden at the same time. He uses an old air conditioner w/o the compressor and runs water through it on out to where he needs the water. Fan blows accross the coils cooling his shop in the process. (Well water, so its pretty cool as it comes out of the ground.)

[PowPow]

A large restaurant here did that for about 30 years, until they ran out of water.
In humid climates, it takes really cold water, about 45 deg, to dehumidify the air.

Most large commercial buildings are cooled with recirculated water chilled by large central refrigeration machines connected to cooling towers.

[Rex in OTZ]

I'd seen the remains of a old cooling system, involving a windmill/pumpjack, a above ground cement cistern tank with bentinite bottom and 3/4" galvanized steel pipe running water to the shop where it was run through a old truck radiator with a old rusty steel box fan (air exchanger) wired to the face of it, it had a check valve and a return to the cistern tank my guess was they primed the line and it siphon fed?   it could have had a pump of some sort but not shure as part the line was missing.

[Rex in OTZ]

I remember hearing of a Rancher down in central part the county that had a simular set up with a flowing well supplying cool water to a tractor radiator in the shop with a solar powerd fan running.
 
 I guess you could use a rain barrel or horse tank on the north side the shop in the shade and a 12volt yard fountain pump with the return hose back to the rain barrel/ horse tank, operate a solar powerd fan off a couple solar panels to run on a sunny day.

[curteric]

My dad did about the same thing in the house. 52 Buick radiator and a fan.
Watered the garden and the lawn. It was my job to move the sprinkler every so often.

[SHOOTALL]

I believe that is called a swamp cooler . There are companies that build them for commerical use. They are limited by the humidity and there is a chart as to how effective their use is in different parts of the country. Service stations around here used then along with waste oil burners for heat at one time.

[blind ear]

Miami, Ft lauderdale area, swamp coolers are what they used in homes up into the 50s & 60s, working people. ear

[PowPow]

Swamp coolers cool air by spraying water directly into the airstream. Some of the water evaporates, absorbing heat in the air.
Water temp is about the same as the air temp.
The result is cooler but more humid air.
Works great in dry climates; not so good in humid climates.
I would be amazed to see one be very effective in Miami (Fla?)

Do the same thing with chilled water and its called an air washer.
Water in the air condenses on the cold water droplets, lowering humidity and temperature.
Popular in textile mills.

Either can be a source of legionella, if not properly maintained.

Cornbelt's neighbor's setup does not rely on evaporation, only on a temperature change in the water and airstreams. The greater the difference in the two temps, the greater the cooling effect.

[blind ear]

PowPow,
I never saw one, they were probably calling what they had by the wrong name. My pop was telling me about what my aunt and uncle in Lauderdale had, I'm certainly not sure but what you said makes plenty good sence, I was thinking in that direction already. ear

[SHOOTALL]

Here they use a closed cooling tower and a ID coil with a fan (air handler -furnace etc) . The fans with a ring of nossles to mist are different. Misting fans . Agri supply and Kings Dominion both have misters. There is quite a large project in Va. that is using a large number of swamp coolers in an effort to cool over a million sq. ft. . The units are verr high tech but still swamp coolers ( they don't like that term on site  ) and they are seeing Va. humidity and high heat for the first time this summer. Keep in mind no water from the systen is released into the air stream . The problem is the units won't chill the air enough to remove moisture so it condenses on the concrete floor and other surfaces enough to puddle enough to be a comcern. There is a company that produces swamp coolers and they can tell you how effective their product will work in your area. In Va. its around 40% of the year .

[Cornbelt]

 Hatchery where I once worked had several swamp coolers up on the roof. They each had four sides and four bags of excelsior wicking up from a shallow tank fed by a float system. Of course they didn't care how much humidity or condensation they got since the birds needed it. The excelsior bags got changed once a year and were usually sorta moldy, but it felt good to be able to stand underneath and get momentarily cooled.

[Bugflipper]

You can also use a cooler for the reservoir. Freeze salt water in bottles. Put in as many as the cooler will hold and have the same amount in the deep freeze to rotate out. Put water in the cooler. Use a pump to cycle the clean water through a radiator with a fan on it. Put a little liquid soap in it to decrease the surface tension of the water. A gallon of windshield washer fluid will also help with the same and keep algae from growing without being corrosive to the copper, brass or aluminum.

[SHOOTALL]

Or just get a 110 volt window shaker and not have to do so much work