On 5 Aug, 22:27, lister wrote:
On Aug 5, 6:53 pm, "Pete"
wrote:
"lister" wrote in message
roups.com...

Hi all,

I keep rabbits in an 8x6 shed. This is currently insulated with 2"
expanded polystyrene. Although this helps, it still gets very hot
inside during the summer months.

I am planning on buying a cheapy portable air con unit to bring the
temp down, but the problem is that these are very noisy (or so I've
heard), so I don't really want to stick it in the shed with the buns.

I have a double garage about 4 meters away from the shed, and had the
crazy notion of siting the air con unit in there, and piping the
cool / hot air to / from the shed via some kind of submerged pipe.

Am I nuts? Would I need a minimum diameter pipe? (Would drain pipe be
ok for instance?) Whats the best / cheapest way of insulating the
pipe? Would is be ok attaching such piping the air con unit of will it
cause problems?

Many thanks for any suggestions,
Lister

Good idea, but why not try something different. Put a few large fans in the
roof of the shed with a covering to stop the rabbits injuring themselves.
Set the fans to suck air from the hutch and blow it out. This will drag
cool air in and take the warm air out. Cover the tops of the fans to stop
the rain getting in, perhaps a piece of wood a few inches above. Try a few
kitchen/bathroom type fans in the top of the walls. They can shift a very
high volume and if mounted correctly are not noisy. You might end up
freezing the poor rabbits with their own aircon.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thanks for the suggestions, but I should perhaps rephrase my problem
slightly in that I need to keep the shed COOLER than the outside air
temp. Rabbits really don't handle heat well, and with the very hot
summers we have been having (well except this year!), I have been
trying to insulate the shed against heat from outside to keep it
cool.

This is impossible really since the buns have access to the outside
via a tunnel, so I am always going to get hot air entering through
this. I already put that silver bubble wrap stuff over the roof in the
summer, and the rest of the shed is in shade anyway.I do have fans,
and whilst these help slightly, they are not as effective for rabbits
because obviously they don't perspire like us.

It really has reached the point where some kind of refrigeration is
required, but I need to work out the best and cheapest way to do this.

Thanks again.

Sure you can pipe it in. You may need to add a (tangential) fan to
overcome pipe resistance. But its going to be more energy efficient if
you run it closed circuit rather than sucking warm air in to cool.
That means 2 pipes.

I dont know whether for the same cost you could get a big hole dug
under the shed. If so, exposure to underground soil would help keep it
below outdoor temp all summer long, free of run cost.

Another lower energy way to do things is to cool a pool of water using
night air temp. Stop any external circulation in day. This will get
your water below outdoor temp, and can cool the shed in the day. Max
cooling is obtained by using a differential thermostat.

Fans dont cool dry warm blooded animals as much, but do still provide
some cooling as long as rabbit temp is above air temp, and are
relatively energy and cost efficient compared to ac.


NT