Evaporative Water Coolers - Near freezing water in MasterCool
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renzo
07-01-07, 10:39 PM
We have a heat exchanger that can lower water temp to 33D F. Would it be worth all the time and trouble to rig up a hose/valve system so that we keep near-freezing water in the resevoir of our MasterCool swamp cooler? In short, does the water temp in an evaporative cooler make much of a difference in the air temp/humidity exhausted?
Joe
Joe
syperk
07-06-07, 10:07 PM
That's a good question!
My intuition is that it wouldn't make that much difference. I mean, sure, if you had a pad a mile thick filled with freezing water, then presumably the air coming out the other end would be close to freezing, but I think for most coolers, the evaporative effect is going to dominate.
Think about it this way: the energy required to vaporize a kg of water (about 2260 kJ) is significantly greater than the energy required to raise it by 1 degree C (about 4 kJ). So to take the same amount of energy out of the air (to reduce its temperature), you could allow 1g of water to evaporate, or you could allow over 565g (about a pound) of water to be heated by the air by 1 degree C. Given that the surface are of the pad in contact with the air is limited, and the air only spends a very brief time in contact with it, I can't see the latter effect being very significant.
But, I could be wrong...
Cheers!
Simon
My intuition is that it wouldn't make that much difference. I mean, sure, if you had a pad a mile thick filled with freezing water, then presumably the air coming out the other end would be close to freezing, but I think for most coolers, the evaporative effect is going to dominate.
Think about it this way: the energy required to vaporize a kg of water (about 2260 kJ) is significantly greater than the energy required to raise it by 1 degree C (about 4 kJ). So to take the same amount of energy out of the air (to reduce its temperature), you could allow 1g of water to evaporate, or you could allow over 565g (about a pound) of water to be heated by the air by 1 degree C. Given that the surface are of the pad in contact with the air is limited, and the air only spends a very brief time in contact with it, I can't see the latter effect being very significant.
But, I could be wrong...
Cheers!
Simon