The Amish A/C?

nicholas bonham-carter

https://www.architectmagazine.com/technology/designing-an-air-conditioner-that-doesnt-heat-the-earth_o

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Larry Weingarten

Hi, The SkyCool system reminds me of work done by Harold Hay, who developed the "roof pond". https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S030626191501168X#:~:text=Since the invention of roof pond system by,systematic review is to synthesize this scientific literature. It was basically a shallow pool on the flat roof, that had lids you could move over the water. You could use nighttime cooling to cool your place the following day, or let the sun hit the water in winter for nighttime heating. Good find!

Yours, Larry

Jamie Hall

I wish I could remember the source, but some years ago I read an article in one of my engineering journals about how the Persians (think 3,000 years ago) cooled their buildings with natural draught and evaporation -- and in some cases could even make ice. It worked for them, of course, because the dew point in the regions in questions were very low (at 80 F air temperature and 10% relative humidity, the dew point is about 18 F -- nice and chilly.

Nothing new under the sun.

PC7060

Jamie Hall said:

I wish I could remember the source, but some years ago I read an article in one of my engineering journals about how the Persians (think 3,000 years ago) cooled their buildings with natural draught and evaporation -- and in some cases could even make ice. It worked for them, of course, because the dew point in the regions in questions were very low (at 80 F air temperature and 10% relative humidity, the dew point is about 18 F -- nice and chilly. Nothing new under the sun.

Evaporative cooler are quite common in the southwest and work very well.  Just need to make sure you have balances in and out airflow. 

mattmia2

this sounds like the name of tiny evaporative cooler sold on an infomercial

flat_twin

Larry Weingarten said:

Hi, The SkyCool system reminds me of work done by Harold Hay, who developed the "roof pond". https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S030626191501168X#:~:text=Since the invention of roof pond system by,systematic review is to synthesize this scientific literature. It was basically a shallow pool on the flat roof, that had lids you could move over the water. You could use nighttime cooling to cool your place the following day, or let the sun hit the water in winter for nighttime heating. Good find!

Yours, Larry

That reminds me... Years ago, the telephone company I worked for kept standing water on the roof as a method of cooling the building.

Regarding Amish air conditioning... I'm aware of one Amish home that buried an air duct of some kind from the top of the hill just behind the house, all the way down the hill and piped it into the house. Cool air flowed down the duct into the house on it's own.

EBEBRATT-Ed

I have heard of a guy flooding the roof, plugging the roof drains when the cooling system went down.

Risky business unless you know the roof can take the weight

Solid_Fuel_Man

Geo cooling has always fascinated me. Basically taking cold ground water and circulating it through a radiator with a fan behind it. 

Mold issues. Here in the northeast our relitive humidity are generally 70% or higher all summer.  

JUGHNE

Cold water passing thru coils has been used here. You have to have your own water well to get cold enough water.
Those who have done it have very green lawns as a sprinkler is running constantly.

I have also added 3 port ball valves to water to air heat pumps for lawn watering.
If the hose gets kinked it shuts down on high head.
Water to dump well in winter and then switch to outside hose connection for summer time use.

The Nebr. state capital building initially used UG cooling tunnels for cooling.
Built in the 20-30's that was the only AC. Has been changed to today's cooling methods by now. The humidity would have been noticeable with the ground tube.

BTW, it took 10 years or so to build....pay as you go method.
It was all paid for when completed. Pretty rare for government work.