whats COOL

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teufelhounden91

Senior Member
Location
Austin, TX, USA
Texas Heat

Texas Heat

Man down here in Austin, TX we have 100-106 degree days for the entire summer and honestly you just have to tough it out lol. We wear sunscreen, cowboy hats/sombreros/military floppy cammo caps, etc. Something with a brim all the way around to protect your neck, ears, forehead, and face, and glasses.

Wearing short sleeves, v-neck, cutoff shirts are all fine IF YOU HAVE SUNSCREEN on, but make sure you wear white or other light colors so the sun reflects off of you rather than absorbing into you. Durable shorts and a belt (if you struggle like i do with pants being pulled down by your toolbelt, a belt helps prevent this). Also low cut white socks and low cut shoes. That's my company's attire at least.

Also keep a 100oz mug of ice water around you at all times, and a backup cooler of water in your truck to refill it.

Thats all, other than that its just about growing a pair and toughing it out. I feel sorry for the guys who's companies require long sleeves, pants, a hard hat, gloves, and steel toe boots. (texas union workers lol)
 

Buck Parrish

Senior Member
Location
NC & IN
We have squirell cage fans with 8" duct about 10' long. If we are out side we can stick one end in the building. If we're in the attic we can stick the duct down in the cool area to blow cool air in the attic.
But mostly what cools us is sweat !
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
You could work on your roof for a couple of weeks while it's 95-100 degrees.......... after that you become acclimated and all other off roof stuff is no sweat.....

Not to be a smart ars, just the truth. Don't forget the sun block and plenty of fluids.

Not everyone is in same physical condition or health and this theory is really dependenant on that. I myself would probably not survive that type of conditioning, but have done pretty much what you said in the past when I was in better physical condition. Once a person has suffered from heat exhaustion they seem to be more likely to be effected by it again if they are not careful. I have never had a real bad case of heat exhaustion but have been bad enough a few times that I know some warning signs and when they start to appear it it time to get out of the heat or things will rapidly get worse.
 

ritelec

Senior Member
Location
Jersey
Not everyone is in same physical condition or health and this theory is really dependenant on that. I myself would probably not survive that type of conditioning, but have done pretty much what you said in the past when I was in better physical condition. Once a person has suffered from heat exhaustion they seem to be more likely to be effected by it again if they are not careful. I have never had a real bad case of heat exhaustion but have been bad enough a few times that I know some warning signs and when they start to appear it it time to get out of the heat or things will rapidly get worse.

same here. just mentioning. My numbskull brother and i and someone else went to the mountains in winter in my van . no heat at all in the van for what ever below temps to acclimate . it sucked. it worked. they continued on to the next point.
I took a plane home. Bed never felt so good.


yes..........stay out of the heat and cold.....it sux...... there IS NO DEFENSE.

peace.
 
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ritelec

Senior Member
Location
Jersey
just to mention......i would have rather not........but i have had......and as you was brain smart enough to get out of the situation.............isn't this fun?


I have never had a real bad case of heat exhaustion but have been bad enough a few times that I know some warning signs and when they start to appear it it time to get out of the heat or things will rapidly get worse.
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
same here. just mentioning. My numbskull brother and i and someone else went to the mountains in winter in my van . no heat at all in the van for what ever below temps to acclimate . it sucked. it worked. they continued on to the next point.
I took a plane home. Bed never felt so good.


yes..........stay out of the heat.....it sux...... there IS NO DEFENSE.

peace.


May not be same for everyone, but personally I can get acclimated to cold (at least to a certain extreme like maybe -10?F or so) much easier than I can heat. But I already have a natural layer of fat for insulation that is more effective than what some have:happyyes:
 

ritelec

Senior Member
Location
Jersey
no disrespect. i must leave for a wake, the grandson, my brother in law, was not there. im going back(hopefully he's there). some type of respect (if he's there). i guess.

off topic but not........you do what you have to do or can do.

let's think of our 18 or 24 yr old military brothers (and sisters) that put up with extreme heat and cold and things i can't imagine.. for us. So we can forget about them (or not), and drive what ever they set up to better us, and at the rate we're going drive it into the ground. (should i move to china).


to the op..............time for an air conditioned office.


God bless them.
God bless us all.


gotta go...



rich
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
no disrespect. i must leave for a wake, the grandson, my brother in law, was not there. im going back(hopefully he's there). some type of respect (if he's there). i guess.

off topic but not........you do what you have to do or can do.

let's think of our 18 or 24 yr old military brothers (and sisters) that put up with extreme heat and cold and things i can't imagine.. for us. So we can forget about them (or not), and drive what ever they set up to better us, and at the rate we're going drive it into the ground. (should i move to china).


to the op..............time for an air conditioned office.


God bless them.
God bless us all.


gotta go...



rich
I was one of those brothers when I was 18-24. I could never do some of those things I did now, and some things I have no desire to do, but someone has to do it. Was still one of the best times of my life. I appreciate all that do serve us, to include police, firefighters, rescue workers, paid and volunteers.
 

Jraef

Moderator, OTD
Staff member
Location
San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
Occupation
Electrical Engineer
Some more details regarding vortex tube cooling technology suitable for electricians doing work in welding jobs and power plants are mentioned in http://www.vortexair.biz/Cooling/Mancooling/mancooling.html
What the vortex cooler people never make clear, because it's an idea killer, is just how much compressor HP is required to operate one of them. They just casually give you the value in SCFM only (they neglect to mention the 90PSI) and let you find out for yourself what that means in the real world. On one project I did at an aluminum smelter where my guy was working on an overhead crane above the pot (an electric arc furnace), I had to run a 7-1/2HP compressor non-stop to feed ONE of those vortex man coolers that was rated for 15 BTU/Hr (25 SCFM). That's a lot of power for an AC for one man, glad I didn't have to pay for it...
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
What the vortex cooler people never make clear, because it's an idea killer, is just how much compressor HP is required to operate one of them. They just casually give you the value in SCFM only (they neglect to mention the 90PSI) and let you find out for yourself what that means in the real world. On one project I did at an aluminum smelter where my guy was working on an overhead crane above the pot (an electric arc furnace), I had to run a 7-1/2HP compressor non-stop to feed ONE of those vortex man coolers that was rated for 15 BTU/Hr (25 SCFM). That's a lot of power for an AC for one man, glad I didn't have to pay for it...

It still cost less than sending him to emergency room, and in your described incident is much more of a necessity than just using it for general purpose 100- 110 degree F relative humidity work conditions. Frequent breaks and lots of water are necessary. Good scheduling helps also. Try to schedule more physical tasks for early in the day when it is cooler and take on less physical tasks during the peak of the heat whenever possible, or even adjust work hours if you can so that you are not even working at the hottest part of the day.
 

PEDRO ESCOVILLA

Senior Member
Location
south texas
when i was framing on northern california, it was 5 gals of water a DAY. big ol' water cooler , 1 bag ice, the rest water and i'd empty that sucker every day . in vermont, i'd drink at least a gallon of water a day working on a construction site. down here, (sw texas) i got a "neck cooler" at the local hardware, soak it, it swells up, wrap it around your neck, it cools, re soak for more cooling. don't soak these in your drinking water, they contain silicone. i've had heat sickness, dehydration, and been hospitilized for it. now.... i can't stay long working in the heat without long sleeves, cowboy hat and water , water, water, and a slower pace. i don't leave my house with out 3/4 gallon every day,( 2qt canteen and a 1 qt water bottle) usually drink more than that, moderate your self when it's hot, slow down( to like 60% normal pace. ) or you won't last, the heat and sun will kick your azz. wow, just writing this make s me thirsty, also, nite time booze will not help you the next day, it dehydrates, which is why the headache.
 

Jraef

Moderator, OTD
Staff member
Location
San Francisco Bay Area, CA, USA
Occupation
Electrical Engineer
It still cost less than sending him to emergency room, and in your described incident is much more of a necessity than just using it for general purpose 100- 110 degree F relative humidity work conditions. Frequent breaks and lots of water are necessary. Good scheduling helps also. Try to schedule more physical tasks for early in the day when it is cooler and take on less physical tasks during the peak of the heat whenever possible, or even adjust work hours if you can so that you are not even working at the hottest part of the day.
Yes of course I was not going to sacrifice my guy over the cost of running the compressor. The point of my example was that the people who push these Vortex coolers as a "simple" solution always seem to leave out that detail. If you had 5 guys on a job and had to now include a 50HP instrument grade (dried, oil free) air compressor and a generator to power it on a jobsite, you had better cover that in your mobilization cost estimate!
 

kwired

Electron manager
Location
NE Nebraska
Yes of course I was not going to sacrifice my guy over the cost of running the compressor. The point of my example was that the people who push these Vortex coolers as a "simple" solution always seem to leave out that detail. If you had 5 guys on a job and had to now include a 50HP instrument grade (dried, oil free) air compressor and a generator to power it on a jobsite, you had better cover that in your mobilization cost estimate!

Well you would get kind of tired carrying a hermatic compressor unit around all the time if you choose that route to try to keep cooled:)

Maybe someone needs to develop a way to intravenously pull blood out, run it through a chiller, and pump it back in, and somehow with low risk of infection or other problems. Could even make it so that it can warm you when working in cold.:cool:
 
Location
durham,nc
Occupation
Electrical contractor
Start acclimating before the season gets really hot . Don't use A/C when home or keep it as high as the family will allow (we keep ours at 78-80 .)

Be on the job no later than 8 am( 6:30-7 is better.) Try to start packing up around 2, if not then slow your pace way down. Go home chill out . Start over. There unfortunely a cumilitive affect when doing it over multiple days so by day 3-4 you will really slow down. All was beware of heat related symptons and stop if they present themselves. Drink plenty of room temp water. Cold water warms you up because the body has to produce heat to warm the cold water to body temp.

I've been working in the NC summer heat for 20 yrs now and that is how I deal with it.
 
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