Repticooler/portable A/C temp. Temp drop

[Deanners83]

Has anyone used the repticooler and felt it worked? I am not getting a low enough temp drop at night. I keep my AC at 75 with the fogger and misters it drops it a bit lower but not enough. I aslo have small pc fans that run 24/7 (pulling air out, not blowing in)Do you turn them off at night for higher humidity? I tend to keep them on? I worry about the fog being to dense with no air flow. I guess I should just trust the "chimney effect"

 

[Beman]

I have run the pc fans when I fogged. I found that they did not effect the fog since they pulled air up and out and the fog was heavy and dropping to the bottom.
I have not used the repticooler. I did look at it but decided it seemed harder to use with how high my cage sits up off the ground.
I run a window unit air conditioner at night. I am able to get down to 60-65 easy that way. Which you need the colder air to be able to fog. I would not recommend fogging without getting temps below 68. You start running the risk of respiratory infections if the cage is hotter.

 

[Deanners83]

I did not consider that! very valid point. Since I keep my A/C unit around 74-75F I wonder if I got one of the portable A/C units that uses water to cool would work to drop the temps at least 10 degrees. since it will be cooling already cool air.

 

[Sonny13]

I know @dinomom did or have used the Repticooler. What I know about those small portable a/c units uses water, that they don’t work for dropping 10 degrees. I’m using now during this hot period a regular airco to drops temps in the room.

 

[dinomom]

I know @dinomom did or have used the Repticooler. What I know about those small portable a/c units uses water, that they don’t work for dropping 10 degrees. I’m using now during this hot period a regular airco to drops temps in the room.

Correct! and I swear I responded to this...

My experience is it will do 4-5 degrees and obviously uses a fan so no other fans needed. It does have the capacity to drop in ice cubes to bring it down faster.

In OP's case if the AC was down to 70 degrees it would go to about 65-66 on top and probably a couple of degrees cooler.

As Beman said it is a bit of trouble to get up on a chair and refill it every 3-4 days.

 

[Deanners83]

I went and bought a portable evaporative cooler. hopefully it does the trick. if not, I'll return it and get a portable A/C unit. I just didn't want to go that route because they all have dehumidifiers. I went with the evaporative cooler because it adds humidity. hope it lowers the temps at least 10 degrees. that would put it at 65 and then I could fog.

 

[Beman]

I went and bought a portable evaporative cooler. hopefully it does the trick. if not, I'll return it and get a portable A/C unit. I just didn't want to go that route because they all have dehumidifiers. I went with the evaporative cooler because it adds humidity. hope it lowers the temps at least 10 degrees. that would put it at 65 and then I could fog.

Is it the kind with a tank you can pour the water into? If so add cold water and ice cubes. You will get a better reduction in temps with this than room temp water. I had a mini baby one that I used on Beman's cage when I first moved to AZ because I had to re establish my plants in my enclosure and gradients. I did it more for humidity but also a temp drop. I found it worked really well for both. I stopped using it because the cage finally balanced out and because cleaning the filter on the thing was ridiculous.

That would be my only warning with it. Make sure your replacing or cleaning the filter monthly. You do not want it growing bacteria.

 

[Beman]

Correct! and I swear I responded to this...

My experience is it will do 4-5 degrees and obviously uses a fan so no other fans needed. It does have the capacity to drop in ice cubes to bring it down faster.

In OP's case if the AC was down to 70 degrees it would go to about 65-66 on top and probably a couple of degrees cooler.

As Beman said it is a bit of trouble to get up on a chair and refill it every 3-4 days.

I looked at them but I am so dang short I need a tall ladder just to change bulbs and clean the top of the cage. I was like nope not going to be able to deal with filling that high regularly. lol

 

[Sonny13]

Correct! and I swear I responded to this...

Sorry, couldn’t remember your experience with it, only that you had/have one

 

[dinomom]

Sorry, couldn’t remember your experience with it, only that you had/have one

No problem, I see that my response did not show up so I probably forgot to click "post".

 

[Beppo]

I would love to know if it works for you as I’m having a similar issue

 

[Deanners83]

I would love to know if it works for you as I’m having a similar issue

So far I'm not a fan. I plan on returning it. it changed the temp only about 4 or 5 degrees. which brought it to 70. Definitely not low enough.

 

[Beppo]

So far I'm not a fan. I plan on returning it. it changed the temp only about 4 or 5 degrees. which brought it to 70. Definitely not low enough.

Thank you!

 

[Beman]

So far I'm not a fan. I plan on returning it. it changed the temp only about 4 or 5 degrees. which brought it to 70. Definitely not low enough.

Was this using room temp water or adding ice cold water?

 

[Deanners83]

I added ice to the water, but with it being a larger tank the ice melted to fast. it might have been cooler in the beginning, but once the ice melted it was back to just cool water. I don't trust it to give consistent temps. I returned it and just got a 10,000 bcu portable A/C unit. I can't wait to see what it does! I tested it a bit and yeah.. it gets pretty cool. I didn't want to cool the room to 62 yet. Hopefully with my central air at 75 and the portable A/C set to 62 I can get cooler temps more easily. I plan on misting, and then fogging to bring it even lower. I will let you know how it goes