The " cool suite"

[garrett113]

I live in Phoenix AZ and I'm currently re building my boat replacing stringers engine mounts transom etc. . If you know anything about Phoenix you know it gets hot as the sun . My garage is very small 20 by 10 feet with a 22 foot boat trailer shoved into it with magic and a few holes in the dry wall so its even hotter. I'm currently grinding a fair amountoif fiber glass. It is far to hot to wear clothing to cover my arms and legs so I am trying to come up with a way to cool down and protect myself from the itchy fiber glass dust. Here is my idea. I am thinking about putting my small 2 gallon air compressor in a old ice chest with a sesperate bucket of water with dry ice in it closing the lid with holes drilled into the lid and connecting the other end of the air hose to a one piece suit. Pressure would be set to 1 or 2 psi. What are your thoughts on this? Is at bad for that dry ice air to be blow wing on you? Even with the Cold air intake would the air compressor still heat the air up to an in comfortable remp?what do you think?

 

[Grub54891]

Re: The " cool suite"

Redneck Air Conditioner - Cheap Cool Air - YouTube
Or do this on a larger cooler...lol

 

[bruceb58]

Re: The " cool suite"

Dry ice gas is a noxious susbstance, it can kill you.

Its CO2. Only dangerous if it displaces the oxygen in the room.

 

[Limited-Time]

Re: The " cool suite"

Both are toxic CO (Carbon monoxide) and CO2 (Carbon Dioxide). Both are also colorless and orderless. CO is by far the more toxic by volume.

 

[garrett113]

Re: The " cool suite"

And that's why I asked lol. I don't think it would be enough volume to cause problems but I don't want to find out.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: The " cool suite"

And that's why I asked lol. I don't think it would be enough volume to cause problems but I don't want to find out.

It wouldn't be enough to cool you down and it wouldn't be enough to hurt you either(not even close). You would have more CO2 in there if you had 5 friends with you just breathing.

Both are toxic CO (Carbon monoxide) and CO2 (Carbon Dioxide

CO2 is not toxic. If it was toxic you would die if you drank a can of coke. Like any inert gas you can get asphyxiated if it displaced enough oxygen.

 

[glenn property of pam]

Re: The " cool suite"

compressed air is hotter than ambient so I dont see this working well. They sell chill vests that you freeze before use and ones that have water pumped from a ice chest so you should be able to redneck something that will work.

 

[garrett113]

Re: The " cool suite"

Yea that vest might work well or maybe the redneck cooler with a hose to the suit.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: The " cool suite"

If you are working in an enclosed garage, why not buy a portable AC unit or swamp cooler?

 

[fishrdan]

Re: The " cool suite"

If you are working in an enclosed garage, why not buy a portable AC unit or swamp cooler?

I use a portable swamp cooler in my garage and it works well. I've been working in the garage when the outside temps are well over 100 and I've been comfortable. The one I have is small and I need to move it around to where I'm working, but I like it as it doesn't take up a lot of space, and I can move it around to where I'm working at... It's something like this one from Home Depot.

Oh yeah, you can't use it in an enclosed garage or the humidity shoots up and it doesn't work very well, need to keep the door open so the cooler draws in dry air from outside.

 

[generator12]

Re: The " cool suite"

It wouldn't be enough to cool you down and it wouldn't be enough to hurt you either(not even close). You would have more CO2 in there if you had 5 friends with you just breathing.

CO2 is not toxic. If it was toxic you would die if you drank a can of coke. Like any inert gas you can get asphyxiated if it displaced enough oxygen.

I agree with Bruce. Carbon dioxide can kill you if it displaces too much of the air in the room - meaning that there won't be enough oxygen to sustain you. A concentration of about 5% by volume will do it. But it's no more toxic than water. (Stick your head into a bucket of water and....)

Carbon monoxide is much more dangerous because the red blood cells seem to "prefer" it to oxygen. Therefore, breathing CO - even at trace levels - causes oxygen deficiency which can result in suffocation. This preference is why it's so toxic.

 

[Limited-Time]

Re: The " cool suite"

It wouldn't be enough to cool you down and it wouldn't be enough to hurt you either(not even close). You would have more CO2 in there if you had 5 friends with you just breathing.

CO2 is not toxic. If it was toxic you would die if you drank a can of coke. Like any inert gas you can get asphyxiated if it displaced enough oxygen.

Like stated here both are toxic, just in different concentrations. Both poison the system, enough of either and you die. Have a Coke and a Smile.

 

[RogersJetboat454]

Re: The " cool suite"

Like stated here both are toxic, just in different concentrations. Both poison the system, enough of either and you die. Have a Coke and a Smile.

Practically everything in large concentrations is considered "toxic".

Fact is though;
Your body needs CO2 to regulate your breathing, and help transport your blood. Every wonder why it's recommended to put a bag over your nose and mouth when you're hyper-ventilated? It's so you re-breath some of the air from your lungs, and raise your CO2 level to regulate your breathing back to normal.

It's already been said, but CO has absolutely no use in the human body. It inhibits your blood from readily accepting O2, and that's why it's such a problem.

I'm sure he wouldn't be wearing his proposed suit while sleeping. If he started feeling like crap, all he needs to do is take the suit off, and get some fresh air.

 

[bruceb58]

Re: The " cool suite"

Like stated here both are toxic, just in different concentrations.

So is water, drink too much water and you die! Having dry ice in a room like the OP described would never have enough concentration to become an issue.

As your links states "poisoning is rare".

 

[garrett113]

Re: The " cool suite"

ffishrdan a swamp cooler would be reasonable, that's what I use at work. However the garage I'm working in doesn't have a water source. Not sure what different types of coolers there are the ones I've seen hook up to a water source. I've also seen at home depot the portable a/c units but at its cheapest 200 bucks. And that would really only be efficient with the garage closed. I don't like the idea of grinding fiber glass for 4 hours in an in closed space. An exhaust system would be a solution to that problem but even still I'm typically fine working in the hot weather I really don't want to buy a cooler. I came up with the " cool suit" as a silly idea but it really fits my application quite well. I'm sealed off from dust even more so with the positive pressure, I'm sealed in with cool air. I'm still not sure whether the amount of dry ice would be enough to cause ANY harm or not, but let say a medium sized ice chest with lots of cold water and ice with salt a fan of appropriate size blowing into the inlet and and exhaust hose connected to the painter suite. The only things I see that would not work is my body heat over powering the cool air which my solution in that case is one of 2 things colder air or more air flow. Second is the air warming up by the time it reaches my suit say 15'x 1.5" hose. That is a problem I don't have a solution to other than a thinner hose (less surface area) which would give you less air flow, double edge sword. Keep the ideas rolling let's try and get away from whether dry ice will kill you in x amount of volume displaced. Proto type to be revealed soon!

 

[garrett113]

Re: The " cool suite"

ffishrdan a swamp cooler would be reasonable, that's what I use at work. However the garage I'm working in doesn't have a water source. Not sure what different types of coolers there are the ones I've seen hook up to a water source. I've also seen at home depot the portable a/c units but at its cheapest 200 bucks. And that would really only be efficient with the garage closed. I don't like the idea of grinding fiber glass for 4 hours in an in closed space. An exhaust system would be a solution to that problem but even still I'm typically fine working in the hot weather I really don't want to buy a cooler. I came up with the " cool suit" as a silly idea but it really fits my application quite well. I'm sealed off from dust even more so with the positive pressure, I'm sealed in with cool air. I'm still not sure whether the amount of dry ice would be enough to cause ANY harm or not, but let say a medium sized ice chest with lots of cold water and ice with salt a fan of appropriate size blowing into the inlet and and exhaust hose connected to the painter suite. The only things I see that would not work is my body heat over powering the cool air which my solution in that case is one of 2 things colder air or more air flow. Second is the air cooing by the time it reaches my suit say 15'x 1.5" hose. That is a problem I don't have a solution to other than a thinner hose which would give you less air flow, double edge sword. Keep the ideas rolling let's try and get away from whether dry ice will kill you in x amount of volume displaced. Proto type to be revealed soon!

Just found this on wiki.
Prolonged exposure to dry ice can cause severe skin damage through frostbites, and the fog produced may also hinder attempts to withdraw from contact in a safe manner. Because it sublimates into large quantities of carbon dioxide gas, which could pose a danger of hypercapnia, dry ice should only be exposed to open air in a well-ventilated environment.

 

[CharlieB]

Re: The " cool suite"

How big an air compressor do you have access to?

There are commercial coolers available, basically compressed air is blown into the base of a T fitting, a unique event occurs, air out one side of the T top is hot while the air out the other is chilled.

They pipe/tube the chilled side into the suit. Winter, pipe in from the heated side.

 

[garrett113]

Re: The " cool suite"

Any idea of what this t fitting is called? Now that you mention it I know I've seen one. I have a 12 gallon.

 

[Cofe]

Re: The " cool suite"

I have used a sand blaster hood with an input air filter and a "air conditioner" connection that works very well. Here is a link for the hood air conditioner. Clem-Cool Air Conditioner [ 23825 ] - CESCO BlastandPaint.com