jbossolo

And "only" $500! I'll take three!

mrbill_fl

isn't the cooler in a cool shirt system just some aluminum tubing inside a cooler?

why not replace the cooler with a 12v fridge/freezer and add that alum tubing? (like Jack said earlier)

these work well:


just cut some holes for the tubes, and seal it up with 3m 5200.




edit... just saw the post dates.... wow! old thread..

HiWind

... good point

Those engels are great - owned one for years which I used across Africa - but way too heavy and cost $800.

This looks worthwhile/solid/easy to use ... veskimo

Jimbo951

No. Cooler contains ice with water and the cold water is pumped directly through shirt.

mrbill_fl

-what's to stop replacing the cooler with a fridge, *other than weight and cost?

Yes, you would still need water and ice, but it would last indefinitely. if the fridge was set to say 35degrees...

attach a pump to the outside w/ a timer or volume control sw..


but yeah, $800 would buy a lot of ice...


-you can get a propane fridge too... but that might be hard to get past tech....

JackOlsen

I looked into this, and even bought one of these Coleman Stirling Power Coolers, which cost about $450. It's a 12V cooler that will freeze water or keep it very cool.

I think it's a bad idea for a race car, since the cooler is heavy and takes a while to cool down enough to be helpful. My idea was to make a seat cover out of the tubing from a Cool Shirt and have the thing function as a kind of air conditioning for long drives to tracks. I think it was a viable idea, but I had my first kid about the time I was putting it together, and now (with two of them), it's still going to be a while before I'm traveling to tracks that are six hours or more from home.

For racing, my plan was to swap in an ice-filled cooler. Less weight, that way.

I tried the freon cans on a track day, once, but wasn't happy with the results. I think the little ice chest is the best way to go.

But if I start driving to the farther-away tracks again, I might put together the electric version. Unlike actual (installed) air conditioning, it can be taken out when you want to lose the weight.

mrbill_fl

Well the engle mt35 (34qt) is 46.3lbs. -actually less than I thought...

http://www.engel-usa.com/index.php?p...hk=1&Itemid=59

and mt17 (16 qts) is 37#...

http://www.engel-usa.com/index.php?p...mart&Itemid=59


coolshirt cooler is 24qts at 4#...

http://shop.coolshirt.com/p/club-sys...es?pp=25&pp=25


the question for me would be if the fridge could take the track abuse...

LostSouth

Take a look at aquarium chillers. You would have to add a small pump to circulate the water, but from a circulation standpoint, they work the same way as the cool suits.

HiWind

just picked up a cheap (unused) cool shirt for $100 so I figured I'd take the (ice cold) plunge even if its not ideal.

Feels great after a quick 20 lap session today and it was 29deg C with sun beating down.

But resally (and per the question above) not very impressed by the quality of the (dis) connectors..
1 popped out half way through the session and while the stop valve prevents spillage, its annoying
to see that the little semi-sprin loaded connectors seem to be able to lose their spring too easily.
I also broke one of the plastic loops off the bottom of the box by ratchet strapping too hard
- not necessary really, so mostly my fault - but over all not what I'd consider tough enough for the track.

Will fit a couple of angled aluminium piece to body inbetween seat rails ... or maybe
plumb it into the bonnet to get that 5kg into the front

Anyone have/know a neat solution for safe, clever fitment?
The hollow space below the passenger seat is just a tad too small for the box to seat nicely.

Is it p-car sacrilege to rivet or drill into the metal pieces below the seat on the floor? (ie not the floor)??

Lou L

First thing I do when I get to the hotel room at the track is fill plastic bowls ( the plastic containers you get at Chinese take out for soup works great!!) with water, crank the freezer in the refrig down all the way, and freeze them. gets you through the 90 enduro's in Fla easily and lasts most of the day. A lot better than the ice you get at the 7-11's. FWIW

HiWind

thanks Lou - I'm on it - using milk cartons which I'll cut away.
Can you put too much water in these things?

comatb

In the past I used to make one large ice block but found that it became a battering rams against the side mounted pump. I switched to the 986 system but it is not substantially better than the Cool Shirt system we had.

Ritter v4.0

I have a hybrid 986 system (different box and their shirt dismantled and the bladders sewn inside a Stand21 FR shirt). It works well enough but my lid still gets hot.

Regardless of the H2O system I was wondering why, instead of a helmet blower, small diameter tubing arranged in a coil could not placed in the top of the helmet (between the shell and the padding) and fed via lines coming down the back or side of the helmet between the seams in the padding. Dual pumps in the box could feed your shirt and your helmet at the same time. In the event of an accident its compressible PVC tubing and just water. Might even help cushion the shock.

Now if you are in the NE or NW you probably think that this is excessive but in the SE when summer ambient temps can and do run to 105F you are looking for every conceivable way to stay cool throughout a 4 hr enduro.

Gary R.

Sounds like you are describing my cool suit shirt, which has a hood with water lines in it. I use it along with a helmet blower in the summer.

Ritter v4.0

Except that the tubing is hard-wired (hard-tubed?) into the helmet itself- but yes.