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Potential cooling solutions in hot weather .


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I've come up three potential solutions to cooling boat cabins in this hot weather. What do you think ?

 

1. Air conditioning.

The side of my cabin facing the sun is around 50 deg C today but the bottom plate is around 20 deg C, this led me to an experiment with a desk fan and some cardboard ducting feeding the fan with the air from under the floor, the theory seems to work and got a noticeably cool output from the fan. Developing it further would mean having an area of the bottom plate welded with fins as heat exchangers and ducting the cabin air through it. For a new boat being built the ballast could be arranged in a pattern to allow air flow through it, the ballast acting as a cold store ?

 

2. Evaporation cooling. 

A solar powered pump and a drip feed hose on the roof that keeps the whole area wet with canal water, I tried this with a mains water hose and it does work, the problems are that raw canal water blocks small pumps and the boat would develop a coating of silt which would need regular cleaning. 

 

3. Water cooled air con.

A solar powered pumped closed circuit , a coil lying at the bottom of the canal and one in the cabin with a fan behind it should get 20 deg C cool air flow from the fan. Not one I've tested yet. 

 

I'm still looking for a suitable 12 v pump with a low flow rate and quiet operation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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For 90 odd percent of the time, hot weather isn't a problem in the UK. For those other times, our glorious canals were constructed to link a well-stocked network of waterside pubs. ;)

 

I jest: your solutions show real promise, but they'd be far better contemplated over a glass of something cold! :)

 

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2 minutes ago, Sea Dog said:

For 90 odd percent of the time, hot weather isn't a problem in the UK. For those other times, our glorious canals were constructed to link a well-stocked network of waterside pubs. ;)

 

I jest: your solutions show real promise, but they'd be far better contemplated over a glass of something cold! :)

 

You're right, my experiments were put on the back burner since we moved to a mooring 200 m from a pub. 

 

 

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3 minutes ago, Jen-in-Wellies said:

There is a bloke in a shady pub got one for sale...

Back in the 70’s when we had our car broken into and the radio stolen the Bobby who came around to take the details and who also happened to live a few doors down from us said “Want to buy one? I have a second hand one in my garage.”  Then, as an afterthought, “It’s not hot!”

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I painted my flaking cream room with gloss cream. Initially I regretted it given a few people on here advised that gloss on the roof wasn't a great idea - but the difference it has made in terms of keeping the heat out is amazing though hopefully not at the expense of me falling in the canal on a wet day... I imagine the gloss helps to reflect the light.  Additionally I keep the blinds down religiously. Even in 30℃ heat outside, it is bearable inside the boat.  I also have a 9000 btu portable air conditioning unit which I can only use on shore power but since repainting the roof I have not used it so much. Really surprised how much difference it has made actually. 

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5 hours ago, RichM said:

I painted my flaking cream room with gloss cream. Initially I regretted it given a few people on here advised that gloss on the roof wasn't a great idea - but the difference it has made in terms of keeping the heat out is amazing though hopefully not at the expense of me falling in the canal on a wet day... I imagine the gloss helps to reflect the light.  Additionally I keep the blinds down religiously. Even in 30℃ heat outside, it is bearable inside the boat.  I also have a 9000 btu portable air conditioning unit which I can only use on shore power but since repainting the roof I have not used it so much. Really surprised how much difference it has made actually. 

My roof is cream, and probably glossy to start with although less so now, and I'm convinced the colour makes a big difference. I rarely moor in the shade as I want as much sun on my solar panels as possible. Even during the recent very hot weather the inside of the boat has not been anywhere close to unbearably hot... as long as the front and rear doors are open to allow a bit of a draught.

 

This afternoon I have been moored up next to a boat with a dark(ish) blue roof. There was a very noticeable heat shimmer visible above his roof but not above mine.

 

 

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20 minutes ago, Lily Rose said:

My roof is cream, and probably glossy to start with although less so now, and I'm convinced the colour makes a big difference. I rarely moor in the shade as I want as much sun on my solar panels as possible. Even during the recent very hot weather the inside of the boat has not been anywhere close to unbearably hot... as long as the front and rear doors are open to allow a bit of a draught.

 

This afternoon I have been moored up next to a boat with a dark(ish) blue roof. There was a very noticeable heat shimmer visible above his roof but not above mine.

 

 

Just put your hand on your light roof and then on your dark solar panel and see the difference. I can even feel it  on the light and dark blue on the slide 

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6 minutes ago, CompairHolman said:

The wind scoop that is used on sea going boats has never transfered to the inland waterways, maybe it could be use full , it would need to rotate into the wind though for a stationary moored boat.

1568131194_images(3).jpeg.2de34f0e1864fc0cf3e371f03a44854c.jpeg

We use an old mirror dinghy sail on our sailboat to much the same effect (too tight to buy a proper one). 

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14 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Just put your hand on your light roof and then on your dark solar panel and see the difference. I can even feel it  on the light and dark blue on the slide 

Some of the incoming radiation is being converted to electricity  by the panel, rather than ending up as heat energy, so the effect will be less than for, say, a black painted area.

 

Do solar panels get hotter in the sun if you open-circuit them? I guess they must: I can't see where else the energy can go.

 

MP.

 

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14 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

Just put your hand on your light roof and then on your dark solar panel and see the difference. I can even feel it  on the light and dark blue on the slide 

A white narrowboat once moored next to our dark green one, when I put my hand on the roof of each the difference was remarkable, ours was too hot to keep contact for more than 2 or 3 seconds, by contrast the white one felt cool.

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46 minutes ago, nb Innisfree said:

A white narrowboat once moored next to our dark green one, when I put my hand on the roof of each the difference was remarkable, ours was too hot to keep contact for more than 2 or 3 seconds, by contrast the white one felt cool.

If you gold plated your roof it would be even cooler

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On 26/08/2019 at 15:41, CompairHolman said:

I've come up three potential solutions to cooling boat cabins in this hot weather. What do you think ?

 

1. Air conditioning.

The side of my cabin facing the sun is around 50 deg C today but the bottom plate is around 20 deg C, this led me to an experiment with a desk fan and some cardboard ducting feeding the fan with the air from under the floor, the theory seems to work and got a noticeably cool output from the fan. Developing it further would mean having an area of the bottom plate welded with fins as heat exchangers and ducting the cabin air through it. For a new boat being built the ballast could be arranged in a pattern to allow air flow through it, the ballast acting as a cold store ?

 

2. Evaporation cooling. 

A solar powered pump and a drip feed hose on the roof that keeps the whole area wet with canal water, I tried this with a mains water hose and it does work, the problems are that raw canal water blocks small pumps and the boat would develop a coating of silt which would need regular cleaning. 

 

3. Water cooled air con.

A solar powered pumped closed circuit , a coil lying at the bottom of the canal and one in the cabin with a fan behind it should get 20 deg C cool air flow from the fan. Not one I've tested yet. 

 

I'm still looking for a suitable 12 v pump with a low flow rate and quiet operation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Let me know if you find one! My Bolin heating circulation pump failed a few years ago, & they are no longer available. I've not yet found an adequate & quiet replacement & the one I'm using is really annoying

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6 hours ago, MoominPapa said:

Some of the incoming radiation is being converted to electricity  by the panel, rather than ending up as heat energy, so the effect will be less than for, say, a black painted area.

 

Do solar panels get hotter in the sun if you open-circuit them? I guess they must: I can't see where else the energy can go.

 

MP.

 

That's an interesting thought 

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7 hours ago, MoominPapa said:

Some of the incoming radiation is being converted to electricity  by the panel, rather than ending up as heat energy, so the effect will be less than for, say, a black painted area.

 

Do solar panels get hotter in the sun if you open-circuit them? I guess they must: I can't see where else the energy can go.

 

MP.

 

So all these solar farms are not only saving using fossil fuel and producing greenhouse gasses they are also cooling the earth?

7 hours ago, CompairHolman said:

The wind scoop that is used on sea going boats has never transfered to the inland waterways, maybe it could be use full , it would need to rotate into the wind though for a stationary moored boat.

1568131194_images(3).jpeg.2de34f0e1864fc0cf3e371f03a44854c.jpeg

There has been no detectable breeze where we have moored the past couple of days, at sea that is very unusual

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11 hours ago, ditchcrawler said:

So all these solar farms are not only saving using fossil fuel and producing greenhouse gasses they are also cooling the earth?

Probably not. The electricity they make will mostly end up as heat somewhere else on earth, so the net effect is zero. For cooling, you need mirrors, and it's a good idea not to overload the atmosphere with IR-absorbing gasses too :)

 

MP.

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