| My wife and I Have lived in an all solar home for | | | | squirrel cage fan and the bilge pump right next to |
| twenty years. We heat, power and now cool our | | | | the existing pump. I can actually use the original |
| home with the sun. Living in a solar house requires | | | | fan and pump on those hot nights when the sun |
| us to to think conservatively when using energy. | | | | has set. Having the new radiator fan placed in |
| Keeping our home cool in the summer was a | | | | front does not seem to work less efficiently and |
| problem to begin with since our solar electric | | | | the regular fan does not seem to be affected by |
| charging system could not provide enough energy | | | | the radiator fan being in front of it. |
| to power a conventional air conditioner. | | | | The last thing that I had to do was mount a solar |
| In a home that we used to live in we used an | | | | electric panel somewhere close. I decided to make |
| evaporative cooler to cool our home. They work | | | | a tracking mount so that I could run the solar |
| well in dry climates and use about 1/4 to 1/3 the | | | | cooler a little bit longer in the early morning and |
| power of conventional units. Since we live in a | | | | late evening. It has proven really beneficial since |
| relatively dry climate, I thought that I might be | | | | we gain 2 to 3 extra hours of usage during the |
| able to use the same type of cooler in our home. | | | | day. |
| I originally purchased several units that were used | | | | The cooler works surprisingly well for our 1600 |
| inside the home. They had some area to add | | | | square foot house. It is definitely not the |
| water but they were not very efficient since | | | | recommended size and should be larger to |
| they did not bring in outside air which is the most | | | | provide more air circulation. The unit that I |
| effective way of cooling. They also used 110 volt | | | | converted is a 3000 cfm unit and is actually |
| AC power which our solar system provides but | | | | undersized for our home. The bottom line is that |
| they used more energy than we liked. | | | | it does still work well. If I wanted to I could |
| I decided to buy an existing window mount | | | | eventually make a second unit and place it in |
| evaporative cooler and convert it to run on a | | | | another room in the house. So far I have not |
| single 12 volt solar panel, one that was able to | | | | seen a need. |
| provide between 75 watts and 125 watts of | | | | The secret to using the solar cooler is starting it |
| power. The existing cooler had a squirrel type fan | | | | early in the morning and letting it run all day. Other |
| and 110 Volt motor and pump. I decided to leave | | | | types of air conditioners usually do not come on |
| those there and not remove them. I added a 12 | | | | until the temperature is getting hot already. By |
| volt automobile fan and a marine bilge pump to | | | | turning our solar cooling unit on early, we seem to |
| the now solar cooler. Solar cooling is possible. | | | | maintain at least 15 degrees cooler and many |
| I mounted the radiator fan right in front of the | | | | times as much as 20 degrees. |