Is there actually a non-electrical way of cooling a room with a carved wooden box filled with water? I've tried googling every variation of the words "Passive" "Cooler" "Evaporation" "Wood", but can't find anything as simple as the passive coolers in Rimworld seem to be.
Posted Jul 16, 2019, 7:57 PM UTC
Yes, the Ancient Egyptians at the very least were known for using evaporative cooling.
https://www.curioushistory.com/ancient-egyptian-air-conditioner-over-4000-years-old/
It's not the same as just "making a wooden box with water", but the concept of using the evaporation of water as a cooling method is very old.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler
You could probably operate one with a manual crank...
No need for any kind of power at all if you plan the building's ventilation around it.
https://www.bendpak.com/shop-equipment/swamp-coolers/cb-30/
We used these all over the middle east for outdoor cooling needs such as guard shacks.
Look for Zeer pot. It's not a room cooler, more a non-electric refrigerator.
Yep. Very common in the desert southwest US. Well, these days they're mostly metal and use an electric fan, but the concept's the same. https://www.homedepot.com/b/Heating-Venting-Cooling-Evaporative-Coolers/N-5yc1vZc4lr
Yup! But they only work in dry climates. I never saw one until i moved to Colorado. I've got one now, and its a very cheap and eco-friendly alternative to air conditions. Lots of people in my neighborhood use giant evaporative coolers instead of air conditioning.
The concept sounds like a good primitive way to cool a room but also an amazing formula for making moldy houses.
Presumably, wherever it is they use these things would be too dry for mold to form even with a big box of water supplying the room with extra humidity.
Modern building techniques seal up houses a lot more now than they used to, to be heat efficient and save energy you see. Maybe even in a dry climate you might be able to make a modern room rather moldy.
Get a styrofoam container. Fill with ice. Cut two holes in lid, put fan face down on one and leave other uncovered. Works real well
Ah, but you have to start with the ice. This is just distributing the cold you already have.
It works with room temperature water too, even if the effect will be weaker. And you don't need a fan, but it helps. Simply having uncovered water in a room will make it slightly colder, as long as the humidity level is relatively low.
You mean you cant create ice from sheer willpower? :P but yeah, that's technically true now that I think about it
They're the only thing that working after I blew up my power generator and I don't have any components
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Tynan has said in his YT video about where he added it (With drugs and all) that it was inspired by tribal coolers. However other people might have the answer.
So thanks to your super cool question I learned that it is entirely possible to make a pretty decent refrigerator out of pottery, sand and water that keeps food cold enough to have it last for up to a month in hot climates.
I would love it if something like that were in the game, like a single space shelf that acted as a refrigerator.
Yes, evaporative coolers are a thing. Have heard it called a 'swamp cooler' before. For low-humidity places it would work, at least, but I wouldn't want to rely on it in a tropical jungle. Basically as water evaporates, it draws heat from the surrounding air and raises the humidity while lowering temperature.
I imagine you could get a primitive one by shaving or feathering one end of several pieces of wood, dipping them in a container of water, and letting capillary action draw water up to evaporate out - maybe you have to replace the wood every few days as it molds?
I used portable swamp coolers before I had AC installed. The efficacy of the units went down when the humidity went up. They would totally not work in a tropical jungle.
Stick a bowl of ice water in front of a fan and you can jury rig together an evaporative cooler. But just a box of water as portrayed in game doesn't work. You need the fan part to disperse the humidity.
You don't need a fan, just controlled air flow. Evaporative coolers have been a thing since ancient times and can be ridiculously effective, but you need to plan the whole building around them.
I once went down a rabbit whole of "ancient' temperature regulation. Sometimes I wonder if those ancient people were smarter than we are (I know that we actually have the same intelligence I don't think we are smarter than ancient people). They came up with some seriously awesome shit.
It wouldn't surprise me if knowing less made them better at coming up with creative solutions using what little they did know. The Romans had heated floors. I don't have heated floors and I live in a much colder climate. Clearly something went wrong at some point.
They're common in the American West
There's one on my roof.
My dad had one. It suuuuucked
Lets not forget that evaporative coolers are prone to legionaire’s disease.