HOLY CRAP IT IS HOT.

[Stephanie Ratanas]

Who else roasts in a warehouse without air conditioning? Any tips besides giant fans? I'm going on two years with this but some days I just really wonder if there's something out there that I'm missing. I know some warehouses have those giant fans that are supposed to lower the temp 15 degrees or something... anything else? My only solution right now is to jump in the Mississippi River for a few minutes after work. Such relief.

<--heat stroke face, not embarrassment.

-stephanie

[Marty G Curtis]

How I beat the heat or at least try. We get up at 03:00 or 04:00 am and quiet at 10:00 or 11:00 am so does the kid that roast for the old lady.

[coffeejoes]

Hello! Fortunately I roast in an air conditioned space. In your case fans will give you the sensation of moving air and evaporate some moisture from your body but really the fans are just pushing around hot air. Short of installing air conditioning, the next best solution is to spend about $130.00 for a cool vest. These have been used by the military and various outside work people.I am familiar with these vests via the greenhouse/landscape business. The vest have pockets that you place frozen packets into to regulate your body core temp. The packets are good for 4-6 hours, extras can be purchased for longer periods of exposure. If you use one of these vests your productivity will skyrocket, no doubt a argument you should use with management. You can find these vests at gemplers.com I too am located in Mpls. the new suburb of the rain forest. Good luck.
Tim

[cultiva]

is the heat making a significant change in your bean cooling? I remember at my old spot I had to adjust to take that into consideration. I wonder how that changes the cup quality?

on another note, I went to Seattle and visited Tullys warehouse. a few Probat full bag roasters, extremely hot. they had hvac flex tubes running to the roaster to cool off where the person stands. just a tube of cold air. Hey!! maybe install a window air unit and run a long tube to where you stand?!? that would look interesting!

see you in Omaha for GBV in August? it's hot here too:)

[cafenginer]

We're finally getting some relief here, BUT the last few summer seasons have been increasingly uncomfortable.

The best I've been able to come up with is a small (way undersized for the whole warehouse) central AC unit with the cooled air ducted right at the work stations for my (2) roasters. The air return draws from inside the warehouse space so as to not mess up the air balance in the warehouse and therefore gets pretty ineffective by late in the day. We start very early and quit early to try to beat the heat. Still, I've almost had a mutiny this past summer.

[jeffs]

At our warehouse in St. Louis we run an evaporative cooler along with fans, (one large and one medium sized unit in different sections of the warehouse). It's a water cooled unit that even when we had a couple of weeks back to back above 100, it kept the inside 10 to 15 degrees cooler.

[ErichRosenberg]

Anybody use anything like this?


http://www.wayfair.com/Maranda-Enterpri ... KgodEnYAew

[coffeejoes]

I have used this type of cooling in the greenhouse industry. It is effective to a point. The more air you can move the better. Most effective in a dry climate as opposed to the tropics. In the greenhouse we would use a fiber comb type material about 8" thick and 4-5' high and running the length of the greenhouse. At the top of the comb would be a water dispersion tube to gently allow the water to drip on the fiber. At the bottom of the comb would be a collection gutter to remove any of the left over water. If it was adjusted correctly, very little water ever dripped into the collection gutter. The opposite end of the greenhouse housed 48" diameter exhaust fans pulling outside air through the fiber and hence dropping the temp. of the air. I still think the best way to keep cool is with the use of cooling vests. I have used these as well and they work great. For a couple hundred bucks try it.

[coffeejoes]

Just looked at your link for the vest. This is different than the one I have used but the concept is similar. Here is what I have used:
http://www.gemplers.com/product/145854/ ... oling-Vest
or
http://www.gemplers.com/product/165511/ ... oling-Vest