Inside the Thermador Swamp Cooler REVEALED !

I used one across Texas and into Ok City. It didnt help at all and chipped the edge of my window glass

 

I couldn't wait until the weekend, reading the thread got me motivated on my lunch hour.


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no leaks

 

Just about spewed my coffee on the keyboard when I watched the youtube vid of the hamster!!

 

there is nothing to them... anyone can restore them with a little time.. did one a yr ago and guy is still using it to today... yeah in humid climates they are pointless pretty much... only way I got some use out of it was putting ice cold water and ice inside and pulling the rope quite frequently... haha.....

 

I think it's the same thing they use in swamp coolers for houses and I think you can buy pieces of that at hardware stores or Lowes or Home depot.

It looks like they have synthetic replacement padding for those now too that might be easier to deal with.

 

I know an old topic, but how are you guys Re-sealing these after you open them up? I had to disassemble mine to pop out some dents.

 

I am old enough to remember riding in my dads '53 mainline Tudor down the San Juaquin valley in mid summer with one of those. In low humidity they work great. I have a large evaporative cooler in the window of my garage. It was 106 on my patio today and my garage was 79. The concept is sound, but high humidity makes them worthless. Pretty much an arid southwest device.

 

awesome thanks for the info

 

The internal end rear cap was originally sealed with tar . If you do need to take the internal end cap off.... you will need to cut through the tar to get it off. You can use simple plastic roofing tar to seal it back up.

 

The stuff inside is excelsior like the other poster said....essentially wood shavings. The excelsior holds the water in the air path. Spinning the tube every so often keeps the excelsior wet....it doesnt have to spin all the time. You can buy the excelsior mats where ever swamp coolers are sold....Home Depots in Arizona even carry the excelsior. If the water is not distilled, evaporating tap water will leave the white mineral deposit.....on a home swamp cooler, the excelsior pads are changed yearly for best performance. Some newer design roof top coolers use a honeycomb paper instead of excelsior to hold the water. Auto coolers OR home coolers work the same (1) keep pad wet (2) move air over pad. In the old days, people in Arizona slept in their front yards and draped a wet sheet over their cot using a clothes line to hold the sheet in a tent shape. This was the forerunner of the swamp cooler. Now you know too much about them. We have a mist system on our back porch using a 3000 psi pump that pumps 1 gal/min thru fog nozzles. When the outside temp is 105, the porch is maybe 90 deg. Low humidity is the key for this stuff to work.....try the auto cooler in Florida and you only get wetter.

 

Sure does............until it melts, 20 miles from home, and you are left with nothing but water. I suppose you could pack a cooler full of ice and re ice it, but trust me, no one did.

 

Friends of ours got to packing theirs with ice, then they decided dry ice was the route... a few miles down the road they pulled over to empty the dry ice out, as it was TOO cold!

 

They were too "cold" because they were being suffocated LOL.

The smoke you see coming off of dry ice is just water condensation. The dry ice itself, though, is solid carbon dioxide. If you're in a closed room with it for long enough, you can start to suffer from carbon dioxide poisoning.

 

As usual- listen to Mother boys and girls, that is correct. I have a salesperson that tried to deliver product packed in a quantity of dry ice. He nearly didn't make the trip.
Otherwise, swamp coolers or "evaporative coolers" work quite well here in the high desert and other low humidity areas. There is a limit though and seems to me it only is able to cool about 20 or 25 degrees max. When its a hundred, you're lucky to bring it down to 80, but 80 is better than a 100 right?


Posted from my office while pretending to work!

 

Great pictures and information. I read on one site the mat material was balsa wood fibers. Is that what you found?

I found what I believe might be a 1st series Thermador Cooler. The unit rests on top of the window and has tabs that insert into the upper track. There appears to have been pads between the unit and the face of the glass. I cannot make out what the decal used to have for a name of this unit. Does anyone know?

The problem with this design is the unit blocks most of the view out of the window. There are no provisions for braces or brackets.

I've seen a similar unit that is almost identical except the fill cap was relocated so the unit could be flipped and not block you view as much. I believe those also came with a brace.

I think they went away from these models as flat glass went away and sloped windshields came in. My unit barely fits in my 4 door front window.

If anyone knows more on these units I would appreciate the info.

I found one post that had a picture of one from a November 1940 article.

 

I found a past auction where one just like mine was sold. That seller was nice enough to send a picture of the front and back labels from his first series KOOLAIR.


What is interesting is the patent number on the first series, 2,142,895, is dated Jan. 3, 1939 but the actual patent is for a pasteboard (cardboard) corrugated stock box. It had an "L" shape slot on the front for air to enter. It hung off the top of the window. Dry ice was the intended coolant. This would have been the predecessor to the first series KOOLAIR.


The second series KOOLAIR was essentially flipped upside down so it did not block the view out the window as much. The patent number for that one is 2,230,020 which has a diagram of the first series unit. This Patent is dated Jan. 28, 1941. These used water and the mystery material that was in between the mesh was described as "a loose filler such as Excelsior or the like."

 

Thanks for the info Ron42Dodge! To bad I didn't buy one of theses things back when no one was interested in them.I live in a dry climate area so I think I could actually see some benifit from useing one them.

 

is there a company out there that makes replicas or sales parts for them. just wondering

 

Thanks for the pics and info. I just pulled one out of a ditch on a pasture we rented .

 

Can anyone clue me in on how to preload the spring for the wheel?

 

Try looking up lawn mower pull starts. Might give you some ideas.

 

Great Article! I used it to crack open my thermador and start cleaning it out. I'm hoping someone here has an extra air screen piece I circled in this image (not my photo). Mine is missing. I'm happy to pay for it.

 

You have to have some flow for these to work, opposite rear window barely cracked open lets hot air out as cool air fills passenger compartment.

 

5But do ya go one of theses. Sear Car cooler, same age. 12 hi/lo blower. uber rare. (wish I could find a manual) still new in box (cept shortened cord.)

 

Hi Speed Queen
Is the Seare car AC unit you posted photos of in this thread for sale please?
Cheers
Jonneeb

 

There is a fellow hambr that builds exact steel repo- "Themadoer Car Coolers". Die stamped ends, lower supports, front screens and more. Mot cheap but cheaper than buying a rusted out one for $200 buks and paying someone to restore it... The green coolers were at the Long beach swap meet in Nov.19 for over $500. There i s an ad on Craigslist Northern Virginia

 

Hi I see you make awesome repops!!! How much for a report back cover? I lost mine.

 

I see you make awesome repops!! How much for a repo back cover? I lost mine.

 

@Nacifan see above posts. Thanks.

 

try this guy ..
https://www.ecophagefabrication.com/