Air conditioning

[cuthound]

If opening windows and houdini hatches doesn't provide enough cooling, rather than a mobile a/c unit, try pumping water from the cut a d spraying it onto the roof. It will be much more effective at cooling the boat and the pump will consume far less energy. 

[Detling]

My 2600 watt aircon at home struggles to keep the lounge cool (20ft x 15ft) probably manages almost 10 degree drop at maximum.  a widebeam is likely to have more air to cool so maybe 6-7 degrees drop but where is the 2.6 kW coming from. A massive solar array covering the whole roof, or a built in generator.  There are probably better uses for the power than cooling air, bit like electric heating is a no no off grid.  Light roof with good insulation makes a huge difference, my boat does get fairly hot in the sun ( 29degrees last year maximum) so I try to moor in the shade, but when the air temp is over 30ish nothing will keep you cool, you go to the supermarket and stand by the fridges for a while.

[ditchcrawler]

2 hours ago, cuthound said:

If opening windows and houdini hatches doesn't provide enough cooling, rather than a mobile a/c unit, try pumping water from the cut a d spraying it onto the roof. It will be much more effective at cooling the boat and the pump will consume far less energy. 

I asked that question 2 postings ago, so you think it will work?

[wiltshirewonderer]

I had aircon on my barge. Consumed 1kw and kept the main bedroom like a fridge if turned up. It was one of those household units with a massive cooling unit in the chain locker though. Don't know if they are more efficient?

[cuthound]

24 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

I asked that question 2 postings ago, so you think it will work?

 

It will definitely cool the boat through the water evaporating. The unknown is how much power the pump all consume.

 

Of course the boat will probably need cleaning afterwards because of the regime t from the canal water.

Edited July 4, 2019 by cuthound
Spillung

[ditchcrawler]

I think @Loddon had one.

[cuthound]

1 hour ago, cuthound said:

 

It will definitely cool the boat through the water evaporating. The unknown is how much power the pump all consume.

 

Of course the boat will probably need cleaning afterwards because of the regime t from the canal water.

 

Will, not all and sediment not regime t. Bluddy spillchucker ?

Edited July 4, 2019 by cuthound

[blackrose]

6 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

And for it to have a chance of working you would have to have all windows closed

Has anyone tried a sprinkler system pumping canal water over the roof of the boat. it would only need a small pump and a soak hose laid the length of the roof. You would get the benifit of both cool water and evaporation on the steel

 

A friend of mine tried it from mains water at a marina and said it made no noticeable difference.

 

I've hosed my boat down before but it didn't seem any cooler inside. The best thing to do is find a shady mooring.

4 hours ago, cuthound said:

If opening windows and houdini hatches doesn't provide enough cooling, rather than a mobile a/c unit, try pumping water from the cut a d spraying it onto the roof. It will be much more effective at cooling the boat and the pump will consume far less energy. 

 

It doesn't work in my experience.

2 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

I asked that question 2 postings ago, so you think it will work?

No

[mrsmelly]

My twopenneth. We have bus windows which are great for living as we dont feel like cavemen ( we have done the caveman bit on a previous boat ) there are loads of em and can be like a greenhouse. We close all curtains which are blackout heavy type and we have every window open and front and rear doors. We leave the dog in the boat with a lightweight fence across the doors so she doesnt jump off. We do this wherever we are and have never had a problem even when away for hours. Scum bags are usualy little chicken shits and she bounces at the doors and snarls when anyone comes near the boat so never had any scum on board. She would bite them if they did which is great. Lowlifes usualy go at the sofest option anyway and a boat with a fairly big dog is not a soft option. Things to consider are, moor in shade whenever possible and always always leave loads of water out for the dog in heavy unable to knock over bowl/s. Yes if the boat is all portholes its less of a problem but can still get very hot.

[blackrose]

2 hours ago, cuthound said:

 

It will definitely cool the boat through the water evaporating. The unknown is how much power the pump all consume.

 

Of course the boat will probably need cleaning afterwards because of the regime t from the canal water.

 

Well it definitely didn't work when my friend tried it. 

 

Before investing in a pump, sprinkler, etc, just try hosing your boat down from a water point down next time it's a really hot day and see what you think. Or just chuck some buckets of canal/river water all over it. I couldn't tell the difference.

Edited July 4, 2019 by blackrose

[Guest]

2 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

My twopenneth. We have bus windows which are great for living as we dont feel like cavemen ( we have done the caveman bit on a previous boat ) there are loads of em and can be like a greenhouse. We close all curtains which are blackout heavy type and we have every window open and front and rear doors. We leave the dog in the boat with a lightweight fence across the doors so she doesnt jump off. We do this wherever we are and have never had a problem even when away for hours. Scum bags are usualy little chicken shits and she bounces at the doors and snarls when anyone comes near the boat so never had any scum on board. She would bite them if they did which is great. Lowlifes usualy go at the sofest option anyway and a boat with a fairly big dog is not a soft option. Things to consider are, moor in shade whenever possible and always always leave loads of water out for the dog in heavy unable to knock over bowl/s. Yes if the boat is all portholes its less of a problem but can still get very hot.

Our dogs are fine and we do similar to yourself. They tend to settle on the cabin floor when it is very hot, instinctively finding the coolest place. 
I expect it will vary between boats depending on how efficient the insulation is.
I think the idea put forward of exposing the base plate somewhere to create a cool bed might be a good idea. If the dogs don't care for it, I would sleep there in this weather  

[cuthound]

26 minutes ago, blackrose said:

 

A friend of mine tried it from mains water at a marina and said it made no noticeable difference.

 

I've hosed my boat down before but it didn't seem any cooler inside. The best thing to do is find a shady mooring.

 

It doesn't work in my experience.

No

 

When I worked for BT we occasionally had the air conditioning on small operational buildings fail on hot summer's days. Spraying water onto the flat roof of these single story buildings kept them operational until the air conditioning plant could be repaired, and I have direct experience of this. Perhaps the insulation of boats is better than that in buildings, but I doubt it.

 

Evaporative cooling is also used to cool buildings in many parts of the world, although these days usually fan assisted.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler

Edited July 4, 2019 by cuthound

[fergyguy]

21 minutes ago, mrsmelly said:

My twopenneth. We have bus windows which are great for living as we dont feel like cavemen ( we have done the caveman bit on a previous boat ) there are loads of em and can be like a greenhouse. We close all curtains which are blackout heavy type and we have every window open and front and rear doors. We leave the dog in the boat with a lightweight fence across the doors so she doesnt jump off. We do this wherever we are and have never had a problem even when away for hours. Scum bags are usualy little chicken shits and she bounces at the doors and snarls when anyone comes near the boat so never had any scum on board. She would bite them if they did which is great. Lowlifes usualy go at the sofest option anyway and a boat with a fairly big dog is not a soft option. Things to consider are, moor in shade whenever possible and always always leave loads of water out for the dog in heavy unable to knock over bowl/s. Yes if the boat is all portholes its less of a problem but can still get very hot.

Good advice thank you

[blackrose]

19 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

When I worked for BT we occasionally had the air conditioning on small operational buildings fail on hot summer's days. Spraying water onto the flat roof of these single story buildings kept them operational until the air conditioning plant could be repaired, and I have direct experience of this. Perhaps the insulation of boats is better than that in buildings, but I doubt it.

 

Evaporative cooling is also used to cool buildings in many parts of the world, although these days usually fan assisted.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler

 

Well I can only go by my own experience. As I said, it's easy enough to try it without buying anything more than a bucket, so I'd advise anyone interested to chuck buckets of water over their boat every half hour for a few hours and see if they can feel the difference or better still measure the difference with a thermometer or digital temperature gauge inside the boat. I certainly couldn't.

Edited July 4, 2019 by blackrose

[gbclive]

20 minutes ago, blackrose said:

Well I can only go by my own experience. As I said, it's easy enough to try it without buying anything more than a bucket, so I'd advise anyone interested to chuck buckets of water over their boat every half hour for a few hours and see if they can feel the difference or better still measure the difference with a thermometer or digital temperature gauge inside the boat. I certainly couldn't.

My instinct is that if it were to work at all, it would need much more frequent drenching than every half hour, as I think it would dry out quite quickly on a hot day. The soaked blankets kept wet sounds a little more plausible to me. But again relative humidity and wind speed would have a big influence on the outcome.

[ditchcrawler]

1 hour ago, blackrose said:

 

Well it definitely didn't work when my friend tried it. 

 

Before investing in a pump, sprinkler, etc, just try hosing your boat down from a water point down next time it's a really hot day and see what you think. Or just chuck some buckets of canal/river water all over it. I couldn't tell the difference.

Surly its not just a hose down thats required but a damping all day long

[blackrose]

48 minutes ago, gbclive said:

My instinct is that if it were to work at all, it would need much more frequent drenching than every half hour, as I think it would dry out quite quickly on a hot day. The soaked blankets kept wet sounds a little more plausible to me. But again relative humidity and wind speed would have a big influence on the outcome.

 

Well my friend in the marina had a hose with holes every foot running down his roof and it was on permanently. His boat was soaked and he tried it for a couple of days and in the end told me it made no difference.

6 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Surly its not just a hose down thats required but a damping all day long

Possibly, see above. 

 

If you want to know for sure, try it for yourself. I won't be bothering.

Edited July 4, 2019 by blackrose

[RichM]

I have a electriQ compact 9000 BTU portable air conditioning unit. Despite what some of the comments in this topic suggest, the difference it makes on my boat is immense. It's not cheap to run but wouldn't say it's hugely expensive either. On a hot summer's day like today, it's not going to freeze the boat though it will bring the temp down to a more bearable 20-23 °c which is much better than anything approaching 30°c!

 

It is however no good unless connected to the shoreline and I certainly wouldn't run it on an inverter! 

 

 

[Alan de Enfield]

21 minutes ago, RichM said:

I have a electriQ compact 9000 BTU portable air conditioning unit. Despite what some of the comments in this topic suggest, the difference it makes on my boat is immense. It's not cheap to run but wouldn't say it's hugely expensive either. On a hot summer's day like today, it's not going to freeze the boat though it will bring the temp down to a more bearable 20-23°c which is much better than anything approaching 30°c!

 

It is however no good unless connected to the shoreline and I certainly wouldn't run it on an inverter! 

 

 

 

 

Lurv the cat's entry shute - weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee splat.

[cuthound]

23 minutes ago, RichM said:

I have a electriQ compact 9000 BTU portable air conditioning unit. Despite what some of the comments in this topic suggest, the difference it makes on my boat is immense. It's not cheap to run but wouldn't say it's hugely expensive either. On a hot summer's day like today, it's not going to freeze the boat though it will bring the temp down to a more bearable 20-23 °c which is much better than anything approaching 30°c!

 

It is however no good unless connected to the shoreline and I certainly wouldn't run it on an inverter! 

 

 

 

Your one works because the condenser can be Lou Ted outside of the area that you are trying to cool.

 

The cheaper ones use an integral condenser, so the heat they remove is dumped back into the space you are trying to cool. ?

 

As a result they only cool the air directly in front of them and are little better than fans.

[WotEver]

On 04/07/2019 at 09:37, doratheexplorer said:

https://www.coolmycamper.com/ 

 

Has anyone used one of these on a narrowboat?

 

I have plenty of solar, and this only draws 1.8a which is a small amount on the hot sunny days when I'd want to run this.  The reviews are generally very positive.

 

Edit:  Just realised that at 12v it would be about 37a.  Still possible.

It’s 450W so about 45A draw at 12V. Okay if you have your engine/generator running or if you have plenty of solar I guess. 

 

It should work fine as its a ‘proper’, split, aircon unit. 

[ditchcrawler]

23 minutes ago, cuthound said:

 

Your one works because the condenser can be Lou Ted outside of the area that you are trying to cool.

 

The cheaper ones use an integral condenser, so the heat they remove is dumped back into the space you are trying to cool. ?

 

As a result they only cool the air directly in front of them and are little better than fans.

Worse, because if thats the case the energy used is adding to the heat

[cuthound]

7 minutes ago, ditchcrawler said:

Worse, because if thats the case the energy used is adding to the heat

 

True, but if you stand directly in front of one the air coming off is a bit cooler than that coming of a fan.

[Chewbacka]

Fans are more effective for cooling people than dogs because with people they sweat and the evaporation of the swear cools the person.  But dogs don’t sweat, so a fan can only cool the dog down to the air temp, which most of the time is much better than nothing, but if the air is hotter than the dog’s core body temperature then you have a fan oven for the dog.  A bucket of water on the dog will give evaporation and additional cooling, which we did a few times last summer when the poor chap was struggling.

[Bobbybass]

1.88 amps...at 240v ...  will draw (allowing for inverter loss)...about 40 amps from a 12 volt battery.....that is the 'late' 12 volt battery....the one that has just collapsed in a heap...   ?