Re: Anyone try running a cool shirt/cool seat using the AC system?
Sorry, you don't put it in the car cooler. You use it to refreeze your water bottles that go into that cooler.
Thanks! We should have thought of that, nice and simple.
The 24 Hours of Lemons Forums → Lemons Tech → Anyone try running a cool shirt/cool seat using the AC system?
Sorry, you don't put it in the car cooler. You use it to refreeze your water bottles that go into that cooler.
Thanks! We should have thought of that, nice and simple.
We've brought a chest freezer before, but it seems like those things are designed with enough refrigerating power just to keep everything at a deep-freeze. Not freeze new things quickly.
it's better than nothing, but not nearly as good as expected
The only time we ever used frozen water jugs, we had a hotel room right next to the track with a kitchenette. So we just froze them all overnight in the freezer and brought them to the track in a cooler. Not a good solution for most tracks.
More recently, since we don't feel like lugging the co-captain's chest freezer to the track or screwing around with dry ice, we've switched to bagged ice. It works way better than we initially expected. All you need is an on/off switch with a timer; we use a livewell switch that has settings for always on, 1 minute on-1 minute off, 1 on-3 off, and 1 on-5 off. If you leave it always-on, the water with cubed ice will be WAY too cold and the ice will melt too fast, leaving you with no cooling at all for the last half of your stint. I think for cubes i was running 1-3 or 1-5 depending on the outside temp. For frozen jugs, 1-1 was more comfortable and a little less jarring when it kicked on. I suspect if block ice were available it would be similar to jugs, but I've never tried it.
Now that I think about it, our water pump might be bigger than the ones typically used in suit coolers, so your preferred settings may vary.
We never had to remove water from the cooler either, but that's because the excess sloshes out in turns and gets the floor of the car wet. I'd prefer to find a way to seal up the box better, even it means an added step of fishing a pitcher of water out at every stop.
We never had to remove water from the cooler either, but that's because the excess sloshes out in turns and gets the floor of the car wet. I'd prefer to find a way to seal up the box better, even it means an added step of fishing a pitcher of water out at every stop.
I engineered an overflow into our system that is plumbed to exit the car so the floor doesn't get wet. Before you say 'you can't put water on the track', we don't. The overflow is positioned exactly over the exhaust pipe so the small amount of water hits the hot pipe and turns to steam. Works like a champ.
Most coolers have a drain at the bottom, you can remove/replace that piece with a valve and hose through the floor (like above) and dump excess water at pit stops into a catch pan.
Most coolers have a drain at the bottom, you can remove/replace that piece with a valve and hose through the floor (like above) and dump excess water at pit stops into a catch pan.
Or just get an extra fitting and use the pump to empty the cooler while new driver is getting in.
Or just get an extra fitting and use the pump to empty the cooler while new driver is getting in.
From what I have heard from others, this does work but is a bit on the slow side.
We are going to try using a few of these: https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item. … mid=120782
2 of these fit nicely in the 19 quart Engel drybox/cooler in our car. I will pre-freeze a bunch and use them like ice blocks. Then just swap out for 2 fresh ones at the driver change. Since we don't have room in the paddock cooler to keep enough of these frozen to last the weekend, our idea is to re-fill them with cubed ice just before the next driver change. Having the cubed ice in a container will minimize the surface area of the ice against the water, which should slow the melt rate (similar to a block of ice). We also installed a live well timer to automatically cycle the pump on and off. It can be set to various duty cycles so we can adjust as required: https://www.walmart.com/ip/RIG-RITE-MAN … mp;veh=sem
If you have ac in the car already you could duct a heater core in the cold air flow to cool your cool suit water. Then you just need a small storage tank. If you recirc the cool air it could probably work well. There is the whole ac compressor / high rpm part..
Also, quite a bit of back and forth on cooling ideas here, http://forums.24hoursoflemons.com/viewtopic.php?id=4181
I didn't go any further than what I posted there.
hmm, Has anyone tried just cooling the seat itself instead of shirts? With aluminum seats and some peltiers, might even work....
And the opposite tack, how effective is just cooling the back of your neck?
I've found that some air flow on top of my head does wonders; I've got a helmet with an air vent and a blower setup from Summit. It really changes my whole outlook on life.
The other thing that goes a long way is to buy a good suit. A more expensive 2-layer suit that is light, stretchy, and breathable, coupled with a forced-air helmet, makes me use the cool shirt cooler a lot less, and I'm a big, fat, lazy bastard who really needs his cool shirt. when I finally retired my old cheap-ass suit for a good one, I couldn't believe the difference.
We went to the 5-pound Arctic Ice 5-degree freezer packs in a PVC frame in a small cooler. Two of them keep you pretty cool for about 1.5 hours of continuous use. Then you pull the two packs and replace them at the pit stop. They refreeze overnight in a small deep freeze in the RV. I bought a few extras and we use them in the food/drink cooler too, so no more ice at all for us. I don't miss it.
hmm, Has anyone tried just cooling the seat itself instead of shirts? With aluminum seats and some peltiers, might even work....
And the opposite tack, how effective is just cooling the back of your neck?
"peltiers" just do not have the umph for what we are doing...sorry.
We actually used a battery powered garden sprayer aim at the back of the neck and it helped a little.
This race we are building a cool seat. Same concept as the cool shirt but less effective and less hassel at driver changes.
The mid-engine Chevette team has a great cool seat set up.
Bill
The mid-engine Chevette team has a great cool seat set up.
Bill
I'll see if i can find some photos, but basically it's a removable seat pad with a bunch of 1/4" tubing attached to it. PVC manifold at the top, and at the bottom.
I don't normally drive mid-summer races, because i'm a wuss about the heat, but the people who do drive all say it works well. We're certainly going to stick with that portion of the system. We're just looking for a better way to generate cold water.
We tried the cool seat deal. Basically loops of 1/4"? plastic tubing sewed into the seat cover with manifolds on each side of the seat for in/out. You can feel it and you do get the benefit of cooling your ass but in general not nearly as effective as the cool shirt. We eventually pulled it all out and went back to cool shirts.
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