Has anyone used these cooling vests???

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some of us dont have the priviledge of having an airconditioned shop like some do. all of my work is done in the garage, so in the summer it is grueling hot! But thats how it goes, So what i try to do is work in the early mornings and late evenings during the hot months.
 
I'll let you know in a month, Victor. At under $40, this is a must have for me.

It's only May, and yesterday the temp was 97 degrees with 80 percent humidity. Me thinks it to be a hot summer in Georgia.

Thanks for the post!!!!!
 
I saw a "suit" worn under the costume by characters at Disney World. It is cooled by water circulating thru dry ice. It lasts for about 45 minutes before the character has to go and get recharged.
 
I have used a couple similar ones in the past. When we have a hot summer and the temperature in the plant at work is 30C+ (86F+) they can keep me from wilting before the shift ends.

Understand that you will be damp the entire time you wear it, preferable to a hot sweaty shirt though.

If there is no air movement the evaporation rate slows down and doesn't cool you as much. If indoors fan or two helps in that regard.

They are wet and dust will stick to them. You can't chuck them in a washing machine to clean them.

When you sit back in a chair you leave a wet spot for the next person :rolleyes: and water may run down into your back valley area.

Follow the instructions on soaking them. They can be over soaked. I like to hang them up for a bit after soaking to let the excess water drip off, or the below your waste garments get wet too.:frown:

They are only good for a summer or two at most before the water absorbing stuff in them wears out.

The price of ones shown are good. You can also find them in some of the motorcycle outfits (bikers want to be cool while looking cool :smile:). Sometime for the same price and sometimes higher, just like the different safety suppliers do.

Stay cool :tongue:
Pete
 
They work well as long as you have some airflow. If there isn't any airflow around you then they can feel like a hot wet blanket. Especially when it's humid. Also their claims of 5 to 10 hours of cooling time are greatly exaggerated. My experience has been a couple hours at best.
 
No AC in your shops!!! That's appalling.:eek:
 

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We use something similar in a neck scarf with the stuff inside. It works about an hour + before it needs to be recooled. I keep one in my lunch box while wearing the other. They help me quiet a bit working in chemical plants on construction. My guess would be that 5 - 10 hours is very optimistic.
Charles
 
I am afraid this won't work very well in 80 percent humidity. Evaporative cooling doesn't work well when the dew point is above 55 degrees. When the air is 80 percent saturated, there is very little evaporation going on and as a result, you are just hot and wet instead of just being hot.

If an evaporative cooler (swamp cooler) won't work in your climate to cool your house, this probably won't work to cool you.
 
I read about a similar vest on articles for hyper-miling. They were, however, pockets with ice packs in them to keep you cool so you did not have to run the ac in your car and affect your mileage.

Might do some searching for that to find a vest that you don't have to soak.
 
I have Multiple Sclerosis and heat just kills me. I'm getting the vest where you have freezer packs that go into pockets. That way you can get extra freezer blocks and turn as long as you want. We have high humidity here and Sharon is right. No evaporation no cooling.
 
We used something similar to this in the Hangarbay and flightdeck, when I was in the Navy stationed on the USS Harry S. Truman. They were stored in a big freezer looking box and lasted about an hour.
 
we use something like this on my hazmat techs when they put on their level "A" gas tight suits. Ours used cold packs rather than soaking in water. These vest depend on evaporation to keep you cool, so if you use then inside, a fan to keep the air moving should do the trick! :biggrin:
 
As long as air is moving water is evaporating,other wise my lumber would not dry in the summer.Maybe I'm wrong.Thanks everyone for the input I think I will give i one a try I work in the heat to much to not take the $30 gamble.Victor
 
seamus7227 said:
some of us dont have the priviledge of having an airconditioned shop like some do. all of my work is done in the garage, so in the summer it is grueling hot! But thats how it goes, So what i try to do is work in the early mornings and late evenings during the hot months.
Click to expand...
I feel you Seamus, It was scaulding hot when I was in Wichita Falls and my shop wasn't A/C either. I moved to ALA and am still in an un-A/C'd shop. :( Anything's got to help!
 
Bet you spend more on hot coffee in a week.

If you want to see if the vest would work put on a T-shirt soaked in warm water and wrung out. If you feel cooler after a few minutes the vest will do the same. If it is still a warm wet T-shirt the vest won't be useful to you.

Most of you have no problem dropping 4 to 6 times as much money into a tank of gas for the trucks you commute to work in, so $30 is nothing. :wink: :rolleyes: :biggrin:

Pete
 
If the humidity is high, they won't work as well either... the drier the air, the better they will work... wouldn't work for me though, I have to turn in a smock because the sanding dust tends to cause my skin to break out and itch.... also would think that saw dust and sanding dust will stick to the vest since it's wet...
 
Hey Victor,

I bought one of these a year or so ago http://www.texascoolvest.com/ for my guys and I to wear under the big, heavy protective (bite) suit we wear when training K-9's to bite.

I've also worn it doing yard work and working in the shop.

No air movement needed...works like a CHARM! Lasts a couple of hours, and re-"freezes" in ice water in about 15 minutes. I bought a second set of inserts so we could rotate them.

FYI, Lee
 
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