Swamp cooler question

I rigged up a quick swamp cooler just to see if it would work and I have to say, I am shocked by how well it has worked. So now I want to put together a more respectable system. I would like to find something tall enough to put a 5 gallon carboy in and be able to close the lid. So far I haven't found one that allows me to do that. Any suggestions on what model of cooler would work?

How about a 30 gallon plastic trash can?

+1 on the 30 gal trash can, you'll still need to vent it to let co2 out. I've had great success with this simple setup.

This one will work but you will have make a hole in the lid or remove it.
Igloo 70 qt. Icecube cooler. Not the cheapest in the world.

+1 on the 30 gallon 4 sure

el cheapo trash can


With the evaporative method, a cooler would be a waste of money.



EDIT: Hold on a sec, why do want a lid if you are using evap cooling? Did I miss something? It wouldn't work...

I saw a large ice chest at BJs and thought about standing it on its end so the door opened like a refrigerator and putting in some ice packs. It should hold the cold nicely and you could easily stand a carboy in it. You could open the drain hole to let the pressure out.

I didn't do it so I can't vouch for the idea but the chest was about $69.

I'm using a 6 or 7 dollar 30 gallon plastic tote. Works great.

arturo7 said:

el cheapo trash can


With the evaporative method, a cooler would be a waste of money.



EDIT: Hold on a sec, why do want a lid if you are using evap cooling? Did I miss something? It wouldn't work...

Click to expand...

Its not using the evaporation method. Its a tub full of water with frozen 2 liter soda bottles (or something like that) swapped out daily. Yooper has a picture of her swamp cooler like that, I think.

OK, that makes more sense.

Really shouldn't be calling it a swamp cooler if it doesn't use evaporative cooling.

arturo7 said:

el cheapo trash can With the evaporative method, a cooler would be a waste of money. EDIT: Hold on a sec, why do want a lid if you are using evap cooling? Did I miss something? It wouldn't work...

Click to expand...

Hmmm ... It does appear that I am a bit confused. I am currently doing a swamp cooler in an actual cooler with some frozen water bottles tossed in. For some (drunken) reason I thought that adding a lid would make it better. I guess if I want to go with a true swamp cooler I would need to focus on maximizing the evaporative cooling properties. If I want to chill my carboy in a cooled tub of water I would need to focus on maximizing the insulation properties of my tub. Given how well my current hybrid system of swamp cooler, fan, and chilled water is working, I may just stay with what I got. It is holding a steady 68 degrees in one of the hottest, most humid, prolonged heat waves that I can ever remember. All I have to do is swap out the frozen water bottles each morning and evening so it is a pretty simple system to maintain. Problem solved, thanks!

GRHunter said:

Hmmm ... It does appear that I am a bit confused. I am currently doing a swamp cooler in an actual cooler with some frozen water bottles tossed in. For some (drunken) reason I thought that adding a lid would make it better. I guess if I want to go with a true swamp cooler I would need to focus on maximizing the evaporative cooling properties. If I want to chill my carboy in a cooled tub of water I would need to focus on maximizing the insulation properties of my tub. Given how well my current hybrid system of swamp cooler, fan, and chilled water is working, I may just stay with what I got. It is holding a steady 68 degrees in one of the hottest, most humid, prolonged heat waves that I can ever remember. All I have to do is swap out the frozen water bottles each morning and evening so it is a pretty simple system to maintain. Problem solved, thanks!

Click to expand...

I don't use evaporation, either - just cool water and swap out frozen water bottles once a day. Works great for my needs, plus its just so simple.