# Evaporative refrigerators that work in high humidity? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 21, 2011, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evaporative-refrigerators-that-work-in-high-humidity/572098 "2011-02-21T07:49:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![sweeteviljesus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/898d66/32.png) [@sweeteviljesus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sweeteviljesus)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evaporative-refrigerators-that-work-in-high-humidity/572098/1 "2011-02-21T07:49:20Z")
I recently saw an article about someone who “developed” a refrigeration method meant to be used in Africa or other areas without access to electricity that used evaporative cooling to cool the contents of the refrigerator. Such things work in dry environments, but are a fizzle in high humidity environments, especially in still air. Is there anything like this that can be used in high humidity that isn’t particularly exotic? Thanks, Rob ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evaporative-refrigerators-that-work-in-high-humidity/572098/2 "2011-02-21T23:00:49Z")
You could concoct schemes doing things like drying air with sorbents that get cycled to recharge them, and returning the air to ambient temperature, and then evaporating water into that dry air. You could also open and close a window to the sky to radiate heat away during the night. It’s debatable whether these approaches are “particularly exotic” or how easy they’d be to run without electricity, if that’s a goal. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evaporative-refrigerators-that-work-in-high-humidity/572098/3 "2011-02-21T23:03:30Z")
Hey, you know what? You could move chunks of gadolinium into and out of the fields of magnets. They get hot in one location and cold in the other (I forget which is which). There was a plan to make home refrigerators on this principle. The beauty of it for challenging environments might be that you could use something other than electricity to move them, like wind or a sun-driven stirling motor, maybe even do it by hand - and there’s no fluid refrigerant or pumps. ---
**Author:** ![ZenBeam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3ab097/32.png) [@ZenBeam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZenBeam)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evaporative-refrigerators-that-work-in-high-humidity/572098/4 "2011-02-21T23:16:41Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > Hey, you know what? You could move chunks of gadolinium into and out of the fields of magnets. They get hot in one location and cold in the other (I forget which is which). There was a plan to make home refrigerators on this principle. The beauty of it for challenging environments might be that you could use something other than electricity to move them, like wind or a sun-driven stirling motor, maybe even do it by hand - and there’s no fluid refrigerant or pumps. Now you’re just making stuff up. [Oh wait, you’re not.](http://www.eurekalert.org/features/doe/2001-11/dl-mrs062802.php) ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evaporative-refrigerators-that-work-in-high-humidity/572098/5 "2011-02-21T23:31:13Z")
Interesting article, ZenBeam. But my attention was caught by this: > [@](#): > > Instead of ozone-depleting refrigerants and energy-consuming compressors found in conventional vapor-cycle refrigerators … Ozone-depleting refrigerants are now pretty much obsolete. And this new gadolinium scheme is certainly going to consume energy. ---
**Author:** ![beowulff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/beowulff/32/542_2.png) [@beowulff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/beowulff)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evaporative-refrigerators-that-work-in-high-humidity/572098/6 "2011-02-21T23:35:58Z")
Probably better off using an [Einstein-Sziliard refrigerator.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Einstein_refrigerator) ---
**Author:** ![tellmenolies](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b9e5f3/32.png) [@tellmenolies](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellmenolies)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/evaporative-refrigerators-that-work-in-high-humidity/572098/7 "2011-02-23T15:38:08Z")
Maybe you could adapt a [GE refrigerator](http://www.hhgregg.com/SubCatalog.asp?CatalogID=436) to work. They always seem to be inventing new technologies. They even have a way to suggest new ideas for things on their website.