Learn Me: Cool Suits

codrus (Forum Supporter) said:

Toyman! said:

Dealing with the ice and water is a pain. Especially during driver changes at an enduro event. 

...

I refused to spend brand-name money on a cooler with a bilge pump so I built my own. 

These two are connected.  You don't spend brand-name money on "a cooler with a bilge pump", you spend it on a product that is optimized for the use case.  The Cool Shirt brand coolers have a handle on top, quick disconnect fittings on the side of the cooler, loops on the side for securing it in the car, and a custom bracket that's exactly the right size.  The solution for driver changes is to have two of them, prep the second one with ice and water (and the maintenance additive that keeps it from growing mold) shortly before the pit stop, and then you just swap the whole cooler in about 20 seconds while the driver change is going on.

 

My setup is identical to Coolshirts setup because I copied it almost exactly. Same fittings, same strap downs, same pump. Swapping a cooler has too many steps to go wrong. 3 scoops with a medium-sized pot and dumping a bag of ice takes 3 seconds and there is nothing to go wrong and any splashed water runs out of a floor drain behind the system before the car reaches the end of the pit road. 

wvumtnbkr said:

My opinion after 12 years of racing with and without a cooling system...

Buy the name brand shirt.

Get the universal fittings from McMaster Carr (if you Google it, you will see what I mean).

Build your own cooler.  It's easy and cheap.  Get a cooler with a positive latch and a gasket on top (so it doesn't slosh water out everywhere).

Just need a cheap 12v bilge pump and screw it into the cotton of the cooler with zip screws. Put a bunch of rtv in the screw holes.  Run hoses out through top side of cooler.  Drill the holes in the cooler very slightly smaller than the OD of the hose so that it seals when you pull it through the holes.

Put a wire mesh cage around the pump so ice doesn't smack the pump and you keep large chuncks out of the system.

WAY cheaper than the commercial offerings.  Plus, you can get a cooler that fits your geometry better than the standard offerings.

I agree with all that, except I don't mount the pump to the cooler anymore. I leave it loose and position it on its side. I've found that the pump primes faster this way. My hose from the pump to the cooler fitting is stiff enough that the pump doesn't really flop around.

I've also found that if I want the ice to last, it's better to make big ice blocks instead of standard sized cubes. It's not a huge difference, but can be enough to last 2 hours instead of 1.5 hours in the Texas heat.

Regarding fittings, not all shirts use the same fittings. For my endurance team, we replace the fittings on incompatible shirts.

I really like this dual fitting for the end the driver connects to: Dual Hose Barb Fiting

In reply to Oapfu :

Oh, man, so they are running a tiny phase change cooling loop in there!

I saw the Technology Connections video, but my takeaway there was "These things work, but they're stupid because they only drop temperatures by 30 degrees". Would circulating water that's 30 degrees below ambient through a shirt be effective? And would I be able to power such a system with a car alternator? No idea. I mean, with the traditional cool shirt setup, the water is at 32*F, not 70. But I intend to find out anyway. I'll probably end up with a traditional cool shirt setup and then... I guess... a water cooled CPU since I bought all the gear to play with?

My endurance team had Cool shirt suit system and the various teams had similar setups, it worked for a 1/2 hour and then was worthless. We would spend time during the pitstop putting more ice in and bailing water out. One team that I raced with used old gatorade bottle that had a chemical mix that stayed frozen would last 2-4 hours and filled the cooler with just enough water to circulate and keep cool. During the pit stop he would check them, it was a lot lest of a mess. He would have 8 of them in the cooler with specific instructions not to drink them. When year in champcar they had cool suit systems setup in the pit to get plug in before or after you stint, I found that the best method.

confuZion3 said:

I saw the Technology Connections video, but my takeaway there was "These things work, but they're stupid because they only drop temperatures by 30 degrees". Would circulating water that's 30 degrees below ambient through a shirt be effective? And would I be able to power such a system with a car alternator? No idea. I mean, with the traditional cool shirt setup, the water is at 32*F, not 70. But I intend to find out anyway. I'll probably end up with a traditional cool shirt setup and then... I guess... a water cooled CPU since I bought all the gear to play with?

Driver tolerance to heat varies a lot, but in my case, no, circulating water that's 70F with ambient temperatures at 100F is not effective.

The cheapskate solution:  https://glaciertek.com/

No plumbing needed. The cooling pads that go in the vest don't require being frozen to work (in fact, I don't think they will freeze). Only downside is they add bulk that needs to fit inside your fire suit. I was happy enough with mine considering the investment. 

BTW, haven't used it for several years, so if anyone is interested I'd sell it pretty cheap.

Our Lemons team uses a homemade cool shirt system, Cooler with a bilge pump in it.  My shirt is a home made dual layer T shirt with hoses in it, other drivers have gone to a name brand shirt.  The pump system took a bit of fiddling with the valve position setting and protections from sloshing ice.  Other than the one time that my hose was kinked it really works.  I don't mind some heat but the 24 hour at Autobahn several years ago pushed us into getting one.  Anyone remember that, 80 and humid at night 95 and humid all day, 24 hours of hot.

IMO they're a pain but when you need them, you need them.  All depends on use case.  For low-stress events like HPDE where you have a lot of time to mess with things between sessions, yes. For endurance racing where you have a crew of teammates, yes. For sprint racing, I only use them on the hottest days, especially if I'm crewing for myself. I really only need it when I'm sitting in grid, which can largely be alleviated with planning and timing. 

I've got a homemade cool box in my Miata and I really miss it in the Formula Ford.  I used an RV water pump mounted outside of the cooler for a pump.  I carry a spare pump in the trailer but I haven't had to use it on the 5 years that it's been there.

My heat tolerance level is pretty low and I find that using a cool shirt type system is a must for me. Yes its more work to plan for additional ice for the day but well worth it to not be physically drained at the end of the day.

In addition to Ice you'll want to bring about a gallon of water to fill the system at the start of the day. If you just put ice in the cooler there will be no water to cool or circulate. As others have stated don't forget the mold prevention additive. I've seen cars where people didn't use the additive and it can get pretty nasty.

I just bought a car after sharing with my brother for a few years and it didn't have a working system, some parts but not functional. I kept an eye out on Marketplace and found someone who buys estates and had a Cool Shirt brand cooler w/pump, shirt in the sealed package and hoses in the sealed package. I bought that grouping for $100 which I think is a steal. So if you keep an eye out there are deals out there. I do have a cooler and pump listed there myself, yes the parts that came with my car. Its listed at $50 but if someone local from this board wants them I'll let it go for $25.