[TheForge] Air Conditioning

[xlch58 at swbell.net]

Jerry Smith wrote:
> How many of you out there have your shops air
> conditioned, because I would like to know who you do
> it. I need to have a door open while I am forging and
> more likely than not I am forging outside because of
> the heat build up in my shop building.
>
> Jerry
About five years ago there was a discussion of swamp coolers for the 
shop.    I got in the habit of picking up every attic fan I found on big 
trash pickup day.  I have about eight or nine now, and since I no longer 
have room for them, have loaned them out to friends with warehouses or 
large areas to cool.  I kept one that I boxed in with a tube frame and 
sheet metal housing mounted on casters.  I was going to make a big swamp 
cooler out of it, ala http://www.portablecoolers.com/, but  settled on 
hooking up a simple mister system bought at Lowes.  Works fine for the 
driveway with the mister on, and without I can point it into or out of 
the shop to get air moving.  In Texas, you acclimate your body, or hide 
all summer long, a little breeze to help your natural bodily cooling 
processes along is all you need.  If it is still too hot, well then it 
is too hot.     Coming from Texas, I love the heat, (I travel a lot and 
it feels great in the summer when I feel the heat in the airbridge 
getting off the plane --home)  and used to say if it was dry it couldn't 
get too hot.  That was before I worked in Tempe.  Once it heads north of 
110, it doesn't matter how dry it is.  It has gotten as high as 122 
there, though they have been beat by Lake Havusa who has endured 128.    
When I was there, it regularly bested 113.

Charles