Roof Sprinklers

[Richard D]

It’s 93° today here in Texas City. I’m sitting under the porch of my friends house And the tin roof is 125. He hit it with the hose and knocked 30 degrees off. I can’t be the first person to ponder a recirculating water cooled roof system?

 

[lilredex]

It is called adiabatic cooling, commonly found used in nature and cooling towers, etc.

https://whatis.techtarget.com/definition/adiabatic-cooling

 

[Lassen Forge]

Works well, I do that on my metal roof on my shop, between that and my swamp cooler (with the occasional bag of ice dumped in), it stays a balmy 74 in there, when it's 94 outside.

 

[dkmc]

A local machine tool builder I worked for long ago, had 2 water wells on the property. They pumped water up out of one well, thru hanging fan forced radiators in the plant, then up onto the flat roof. What didn't evaporate off, drained off and went down the second well.

 

[sgiss]

Greenhouses use to use that system - I think they dyed the water and also recirculated it. I did it when I had a house next to a creek and the water was free and gravity feed. Garden sprinkler on the roof. If you are paying for the water or the pumping, I wonder what the cost dynamics are?

 

[Richard D]

Garden sprinkler on the roof. If you are paying for the water or the pumping, I wonder what the cost dynamics are?

That's what I was wondering, but I think the cost would be minimal if you had good gutters and re-circulated the water, of course some would evaporate by the very nature of the cooling process. It's really humid down here, that may be a factor. Also, I wonder if it would cause accelerated wear on the shingles?

 

[LXCam]

My first house didn't have anything more then a couple window units and a portable swamp cooler. So when it got brutal I'd set a sprinkler on the roof which really helped **** the heat out.

 

[HotRodBoater]

Hey Richard D. I'm in Texas City right now about to go into GBR. I just bought a place in Dayton with a metal building that has a 40x90 metal roof. I was considering some gutters on the eve walls with a large tote on the ground at each corner of the building. Rain water would collect in them and I was considering some cheap 12v pumps wired to a timer fed by a battery bank hooked to some solar panels. The evaporation is what creates the cooling effect, but what doesn't evaporate will run back into the totes.
I'm not sure if it will be worth the expense or not, but I honestly want all of those components for watering trees and grass anyway, so why not try it?

 

[HotRodBoater]

Only thing I'm unsure about and haven't researched yet, is if "cheap" 12v pumps have enough head pressure to push water up to my 20+ft roof peak

 

[Richard D]

Only thing I'm unsure about and haven't researched yet, is if "cheap" 12v pumps have enough head pressure to push water up to my 20+ft roof peak

True, that may be an issue.

P.S. What is GBR?

 

[HotRodBoater]

Galveston
Bay
Refinery

aka: Marathon