Topic: Driver cooling / seat coolers / seat padding (flammable ok?)

I bought a couple of relatively inexpensive personal cooling systems that aren't marked fire resistant, so I think I can't wear them.

Could I just put these on the seat padding for cooling?
   I know removing as much flammable material as possible is desirable; but I also know dashboards are frequently left in; and seat padding...

Any opinions on how useful seat cooling would be?
   Back of my mind I think someone uses a similar system, but I went back to 2017 in this category and couldn't find the post(s)...

Re: Driver cooling / seat coolers / seat padding (flammable ok?)

when you say not fire resistant, you mean the shirt itself? All of ours are just plain cotton shirts and we've never thought twice about it. Mostly you want to avoid synthetic materials that will melt to your skin in a fire, but cotton is ok. Obviously fire retardant is better, but cotton should be ok if you have the right multi-layer suit.



I've never used a cool-seat, but I know many people do. I don't think it'll ever be as efficient as a shirt, but probably better than nothing.

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Re: Driver cooling / seat coolers / seat padding (flammable ok?)

Sorry; yes, the shirt itself.

~$20 each for 3 used items. I figured:
"How hard could it be?•"
to switch the tubing to cotton shirts / racing underwear, right?

So I've got at least one to experiment with.

Just looking for opinions.

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Re: Driver cooling / seat coolers / seat padding (flammable ok?)

I've never used a seat cooler,but I swear by the cool shirts.The only issue with the seat cooling is the fact that you will be insulated from the cold water by the thick ass drivers suit...With the cool shirt,you get the full(?) effect of the water on your skin ,no matter how hot it is inside the car.....I turn the system on and off during my stint to keep as much 'cold'in the system as I can....

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Re: Driver cooling / seat coolers / seat padding (flammable ok?)

I made my first coolshirt and balaclava.  It was a ton of work.  After a while, like many of my other clothes. It shrank.  I paid up for the coolshirt and it works great!

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Re: Driver cooling / seat coolers / seat padding (flammable ok?)

I do have a coolshirt. I haven't used it yet.

I'm still planning a build, and was thinking of these as loaner shirts for team members. Then, not fire resistant, maybe coolers for the seat and anyone can benefit (even if just a little bit).

I could be over thinking this.

Re: Driver cooling / seat coolers / seat padding (flammable ok?)

BigBird wrote:

I've never used a seat cooler,but I swear by the cool shirts.The only issue with the seat cooling is the fact that you will be insulated from the cold water by the thick ass drivers suit...With the cool shirt,you get the full(?) effect of the water on your skin ,no matter how hot it is inside the car.....I turn the system on and off during my stint to keep as much 'cold'in the system as I can....

I agree 1000%.

Our cool shirt system is so important to us that if ours stops working, we stop racing.

Captain
Team Super Westerfield Bros.
'93 Acura Integra - No VTEC Yo!

Re: Driver cooling / seat coolers / seat padding (flammable ok?)

Never used a cool shirt or seat. I take ziplock freezer bags, put water in the, freeze them flat and stuff that in my suit after I am strapped in. It takes up a lot of the chest area and works pretty well.

"get up and get your grandma outta here"

Re: Driver cooling / seat coolers / seat padding (flammable ok?)

Mr.Yuck wrote:

Never used a cool shirt or seat. I take ziplock freezer bags, put water in the, freeze them flat and stuff that in my suit after I am strapped in. It takes up a lot of the chest area and works pretty well.

We did that before we got a cool shirt system. We moved on to cool shirts.

On the seat cooler front, on our very first build, we built a seat cooler by creating an ice water tank using the back of the seat. A cooler and pump system circulated cold water through it. It worked but was hard to feel through all the suit layers.

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Re: Driver cooling / seat coolers / seat padding (flammable ok?)

I spent considerable time sewing tubing into the seat and creating a manifold separating different sections of the back and seat into zones so that the water didn't flow as one continuous loop where it would be warm at the end.  You could barely feel it through a layered driving suit.  We've since switched back to cool shirts.  Like BigBird I switch it on and off throughout the stint in order to maximize the ice.  Plus when you leave it on the whole time you don't get that aaaaahhhhh feeling that happens when cold water first circulates though the shirt.  I know you can use a boat livewell timer to have the pump automatically turn on/off at intervals and it's on my race car "to do" list but it never seems to get to the top.

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Re: Driver cooling / seat coolers / seat padding (flammable ok?)

OK, I am that jackass that advocates for a cool seat.  We love ours.  Our idiot drivers are not smart enough to unhook coms let alone TWO tubes before walking away from the car.  In addition, with our ENORMOUS cooler, it runs all day without changing ice at the cost of extra weight.

Everyone will tell you it does no work and they are wrong...you just have to design it well.  IT works so well we cannot leave it on the whole time on track but I have been too lazy to wire up a dwell timer so folks just switch it off for 2-4 laps, on for 3-5 laps.  Works best if you allow yourself to sweat in the suit a little first which you do natuarally.

Truly one size fits all...as in one fists all without being gross.  Total cost for the seat itself was about $60 and an afternoon of lacing the tubes to the refletix while drinking beer.

Re: Driver cooling / seat coolers / seat padding (flammable ok?)

About a year ago we took driver cooling one step further by adding a cool helmet setup.   It uses the same water as the cool suit, but it's directed through a small water-to-air intercooler, which has a brake duct fan to force the air across the fins, and cooling it down.   It works very well with the only downside being we all had to buy new helmets with the fresh air inlet.

https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/G3p6aYCFJduFU2RaH9JEuOHlwvGJAd0R23Cu6nivIYxHyTT3YW-_aGa_2DEN0Wd0O05oXYmbLqiJWlefoO0q4guGWYYEFVpgGCPw82OxUMfHeACQYoi1_2jd6Rhbs9XRYDcAFW2Dnun-JswwF6dSsuggXvGmrEd3LANmaZekafCZqHF1TRZ2EPApiFQUCopVv3U-UVO2wcgfVOWM6BQ8qU9VKYirwlQppG9y8PBrt5wKKYMvq4E0AQ5g79oFqxY6CGOMyDlWp1bhLCYFshwn_OPUTcaSfsbD0PamYI4KI34BEVeSh5H2iiMB4MuEXZjdkDxuexwC-rP8ofepNaKJ8J9x9daLUYZdMEx-NVzePns4UTTglQfmXe2Jy-N1R0wMM_MoF6GXckGcJYixI6OrXaF8TrAkb_HRnHNKQJpZ-koJJW6AALbz76plB8ImDR23hUaRY9M90ZzCsT-0PNLh8gHg41UzlvtmolGVV4JFR84yER7sHmwNHU6hAGX7qnUODJwbQUlLRJjTrtn0Pa6XDDlAYA1nRfyDwZjaF0B0LPg13MzdhdU-3zYlcNOJnv6xPgVuSOt4nW1NHH92U5iO_hGLE1S89PvD4SsKeRw7cuoiX2q-eB1xX_uvHsEJKsbVF7Y_65E_4TSShUVnpYNbwOeVRCcORfkX-hr6N_m5qE2EJJsThhH3ZWrMiWwjZjJfmB5I0jBjj5MWLqjT3RecDIY=w1019-h765-no?authuser=0

Captain
Team Super Westerfield Bros.
'93 Acura Integra - No VTEC Yo!

Re: Driver cooling / seat coolers / seat padding (flammable ok?)

VKZ24 wrote:

About a year ago we took driver cooling one step further by adding a cool helmet setup.[snip]

That setup blows my mind

Re: Driver cooling / seat coolers / seat padding (flammable ok?)

The water to air intercooler setup works great, I’ve been using it for probably 5 years now. Burns through ice faster but the cold air into the helmet is awesome. Now that I have a ChillOut system though it doesn’t seem to have the capacity to cool the driver’s shirt and intercooler, which is a bummer but not having to deal with ice anymore makes up for it.