Staying cool with out air conditioning

[COcyclist]

Oil Pan, Great build, nice high quality work. I can assure you this will work for all the reasons you posted above and from personal experience. I am using/repurposing a medical device called the Polar Care Cube that I bought after an injury. It uses about a gallon of ice water circulated through insulated tubes to a 9"x12" pad designed to reduce swelling on an injured knee. This is my second summer of testing and I got 60 mpg highway tanks in summer driving in 2014 with this device and almost no use of A/C. I power it with a small inverter plugged into a lighter socket.

I have found that with this small pad velcro strapped to the headrest and the pad at the base of my neck, I am comfortable into the mid 90s with fresh ice for about two hours. I dress for heat (shorts, light t-shirt and flip-flops) have tinted windows all around and use a cooling towel I picked up at Lowes. On long downhills where I don't want to exceed the speed limit I run full A/C in DFCO which adds a little more engine braking to the diesel engine and uses no fuel in the VW. At slow speeds in town I open the windows to flush out some cabin heat.

With your big cooler and pads I am confident you will be comfortable and be able to keep a passenger cool as well. Mine is too small to use on anything but solo trips so my mileage suffers when I have a passenger.

http://www.buymedtech.com/breg-polar...tain_notices=Y

(I just noticed that this devise is supposed to be prescribed by a physician.)

[oil pan 4]

How much ice does that cooler hold and how long does it last?
If it holds a gallon then I am guessing you could put at least 5 to 6 pounds of ice in there and some water to circulate the cold.


I just searched "cold therapy" on the "health care" section of evilbay and with that hugely over generalized search criteria guess what it came up with?
Your shoulder pad. They seem to be very popular.
Its kind of neat, you can see multiple earlier generations of that cooler pad listed for sale.
Seems any one can get one with out a dr note, but use at your own risk if you do.

Man if I would have known about those 11 years ago I could have really used one. The air force just gave me vitamin M and a hard time when I went to the clinic for chronically sore shoulders.

[user removed]

Worked in an old downtown (no breeze) shop with a flat tar roof (body shop). It got so hot in summer the tar would drip down into you hair (back when I had some) and you just ripped the hair out. I used shop rags and the water fountain to keep cool so I could keep busting out work. One rag around the neck and one at each armpit, wrapped around the arm itself, with a regular shot of cold fountain water to keep you from passing out from heat stroke.

These days I just hang on to a large styrofoam cup fill it with ice and then top it off with cold water. Now If I can just stop forgetting it when I take it out of the car at a yard sale.

I use a thermos for longer outdoor times, like a round of golf or a trip to the range.

regards
mech

[COcyclist]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

How much ice does that cooler hold and how long does it last? If it holds a gallon then I am guessing you could put at least 5 to 6 pounds of ice in there and some water to circulate the cold.

If I buy it at the store, I can fit most of a 10 lb bag in then top off with water so 6 or 7 lbs roughly. At a pit stop I can refresh my cooling towel in it too.

It lasts about an hour of really cold water and another hour or so of cool water. It has a small pump so it just runs continuously and isn't a big draw on the alternator.

[oil pan 4]

The heated seat gets warm, but not ridiculously hot like some OEM seats.
It only draws 2 amps so it will cooperate with an alt delete.

[COcyclist]

Originally Posted by oil pan 4

I mainly wanted it for the heating function for this winter. All for only $50 shipped to your door (USA).

I assume the above photo is of this seat cushion you referenced in post #35? Infrared image?

[oil pan 4]

Yes same seat cushion.

[tf4624]

final photos of project?

[oil pan 4]

I cant post any right now since I am out side of the country.

[mwilliamshs]

Some great ideas in here. I have a Donjoy Iceman cold therapy box that'd be great for this if it ran on 12v instead of 7v. It works awesomely for a sprain or to quickly recover from extreme heat. It's temp adjustable with an inline thermometer and a bypass valve. I guess I could try it on my regulated power supply and watch amperage as i turned voltage up...interesting. On the other hand a 12v in, ~7v supply shouldn't be hard to come up with. This buck converter says it's over 90% efficient and they're usually pretty durable, for $9, what's to lose?