I've got a DREO portable evaporative cooler tower fan that I got from Amazon that works really well for me. I am on solar power and it isn't an energy guzzler like AC. It won't cool a whole house by any means. But I can fill it with water and a couple of frozen gel packs or ice from my freezer and it will keep me cool and happy while I am at my desk or in bed. Has remote control and timer if I want it to shut down automatically at night after it cools down. It is quiet at the lowest setting and yet still puts out a very nice breeze. This works for me in the hot desert Southwest Texas.
Wow! Excellent, especially since you're able to withstand the Texas desert. I'm merely "somewhere in the swamps of Jersey."
If you don't mind the query, are you partially off-grid, mostly off-grid, or entirely off-grid with your solar power (and whatever energy storage you're utilizing)?
Totally off grid now for over twenty years. Water catchment, solar powered house and workshop. I have two separate solar powered systems, but both are redundant, shop can power the house and vice versa. Each has about two kilowatt in panels, two big three hundred amp hour lithium iron phosphate batteries and 3000 watt pure sine wave inverters. High efficiency MPPT 100 amp charge controllers. Solar powered shower and water pump. The dry air here makes the evaporative cooler especially efficient. High humidity would somewhat reduce the cooling effect. But I do have a chest freezer and three or four sets of frozen gel packs so I can exchange when one set needs to be changed.
Very cool! You were earlier to the party than a lot of the modern day folks trying to be more self-sufficient. Did you have a background in engineering or another relevant field? What was your inspiration for going in this direction?
The motive was the search for greater freedom and self sufficiency after 911. To me at the time it was clear where this was going. I have a very mixed background, have had numerous careers, but when I discovered what the so called "government" was doing with any financial support from me I made up my mind to end it no matter the cost. At the time I was doing long haul truck driving and I got notice my CDL was due to be renewed and would require biometric identification and SSN. I closed my bank account, loaded everything I had in a small pickup truck, unregistered, expired plates and expired DL and headed for Texas from California, where I had bought five acres unseen. I drove that way for over a decade, building a small cabin with my own hands. I vowed never to use the SS human inventory number again. I have not had a bank account or license since then. I started with a couple of marine batteries in the back of my truck with a 12 volt inverter and a cord to hook up to my house when I was home for lights and minimal electricity use. Since then I kept adding and upgrading my system to where it is today. I did masonry and handy man work for cash and anything else that people needed, electrical, painting, some plumbing, yard work or whatever was needed. I was a pastor of a small non denominational church, did karaoke at the lodge, and eventually wood crafting. I am 80 years old now and never applied for SS. My assets are not in Fed "notes" but in precious metals or bitcoin to avoid the inflation tax as well.
On my substack I discuss a philosophy I call Xandari which is a distillation of much of my thinking over the last twenty years and a dream I had in the past.
When I was a boy in south Florida in the summer, before there was much home air conditioning (businesses would have a sticker on the door with stylized icicles hanging from the letters that announced: IT’S KOOOL INSIDE!) sometimes on especially hot summer days the bathtub would be filled, some corn starch added, and one would soak in a corn starch bath, from which one would emerge coated with a dilute slurry, a little of which would remain upon being patted—not rubbed!—dry. It seemed to help a bit. It was not a daily thing.
As I recall the actual effect lasted for a couple of hours, but we felt obligated to pretend that the relief lasted until evening. It may have had a beneficial baby powder effect that I didn’t appreciate at the time.
At least half of all my trips/vacations/etc embrace unplanned chaos. Too much planning destroys the experience!
As far as staying cool, this is Vegas, baby. You either use AC or you flee - as I just did for 5 days. The wife and I escaped the heat up at beautiful Lake Tahoe and Reno, NV.
I've got a DREO portable evaporative cooler tower fan that I got from Amazon that works really well for me. I am on solar power and it isn't an energy guzzler like AC. It won't cool a whole house by any means. But I can fill it with water and a couple of frozen gel packs or ice from my freezer and it will keep me cool and happy while I am at my desk or in bed. Has remote control and timer if I want it to shut down automatically at night after it cools down. It is quiet at the lowest setting and yet still puts out a very nice breeze. This works for me in the hot desert Southwest Texas.
Wow! Excellent, especially since you're able to withstand the Texas desert. I'm merely "somewhere in the swamps of Jersey."
If you don't mind the query, are you partially off-grid, mostly off-grid, or entirely off-grid with your solar power (and whatever energy storage you're utilizing)?
Totally off grid now for over twenty years. Water catchment, solar powered house and workshop. I have two separate solar powered systems, but both are redundant, shop can power the house and vice versa. Each has about two kilowatt in panels, two big three hundred amp hour lithium iron phosphate batteries and 3000 watt pure sine wave inverters. High efficiency MPPT 100 amp charge controllers. Solar powered shower and water pump. The dry air here makes the evaporative cooler especially efficient. High humidity would somewhat reduce the cooling effect. But I do have a chest freezer and three or four sets of frozen gel packs so I can exchange when one set needs to be changed.
Very cool! You were earlier to the party than a lot of the modern day folks trying to be more self-sufficient. Did you have a background in engineering or another relevant field? What was your inspiration for going in this direction?
The motive was the search for greater freedom and self sufficiency after 911. To me at the time it was clear where this was going. I have a very mixed background, have had numerous careers, but when I discovered what the so called "government" was doing with any financial support from me I made up my mind to end it no matter the cost. At the time I was doing long haul truck driving and I got notice my CDL was due to be renewed and would require biometric identification and SSN. I closed my bank account, loaded everything I had in a small pickup truck, unregistered, expired plates and expired DL and headed for Texas from California, where I had bought five acres unseen. I drove that way for over a decade, building a small cabin with my own hands. I vowed never to use the SS human inventory number again. I have not had a bank account or license since then. I started with a couple of marine batteries in the back of my truck with a 12 volt inverter and a cord to hook up to my house when I was home for lights and minimal electricity use. Since then I kept adding and upgrading my system to where it is today. I did masonry and handy man work for cash and anything else that people needed, electrical, painting, some plumbing, yard work or whatever was needed. I was a pastor of a small non denominational church, did karaoke at the lodge, and eventually wood crafting. I am 80 years old now and never applied for SS. My assets are not in Fed "notes" but in precious metals or bitcoin to avoid the inflation tax as well.
Do you have a post on Substack where you expound on this? Link it here, if you do! 😎
Yes. https://substack.com/home/post/p-150871150
On my substack I discuss a philosophy I call Xandari which is a distillation of much of my thinking over the last twenty years and a dream I had in the past.
“Imaginary lines drawn up by sociopaths”. That, as the kids say is a bar 😀. I am stealing that one!
Pro wrestling is real ... _________________ .
When I was a boy in south Florida in the summer, before there was much home air conditioning (businesses would have a sticker on the door with stylized icicles hanging from the letters that announced: IT’S KOOOL INSIDE!) sometimes on especially hot summer days the bathtub would be filled, some corn starch added, and one would soak in a corn starch bath, from which one would emerge coated with a dilute slurry, a little of which would remain upon being patted—not rubbed!—dry. It seemed to help a bit. It was not a daily thing.
Now, this is a life hack I hadn't heard! Did the corn starch residue last long at giving you some relief from the heat?
As I recall the actual effect lasted for a couple of hours, but we felt obligated to pretend that the relief lasted until evening. It may have had a beneficial baby powder effect that I didn’t appreciate at the time.
At least half of all my trips/vacations/etc embrace unplanned chaos. Too much planning destroys the experience!
As far as staying cool, this is Vegas, baby. You either use AC or you flee - as I just did for 5 days. The wife and I escaped the heat up at beautiful Lake Tahoe and Reno, NV.
"AC or flee" is the new "fight or flight" 🤣