alternatives or supplements to A/C in NON-HUMID areas of the country--especially the west. They work quite well in lowering temp about 10-12 degrees as long as the humidity is low.

So yes, the principle does work...

Swamp coolers work with water at ambient temperature, which is allowed to evaporate. As the water changes from liquid to vapor the "latent heat of vaporization" required to accomplish that is absorbed from the air and thereby cools the air flowing over the evaporating water. Air flowing over a block of ice is merely being cooled by the cooler air surrounding the ice, by a process called "adiabatic heat transfer." The ice is sufficiently cold that the localized effect is noticeable, but significant cooling of actual air mass is a great deal less than that accomplished by a swamp cooler.

It does indeed require low humidity, or the water will not evaporate. Air passing over a block of ice will be pretty much equally effective (or ineffective) regardless of humidity, because evaporation is not involved.

However, apparently, simply throwing some ice into the water within a portable evaporative cooler's water reservoir, can allow both principles to be at play? Sorry-- my year of college physics was some time ago.

Regardless, my point remains. This can be an effective means to affect, at least some local cooling effect.

and, since some heat is released by melting the ice, it could make the place a little hotter after the ice is gone.

FWIW, my grandmother had a fan with an "ice cage" on it just for this, but she never used it.

His Blog is called:nothingtobegainedhere:

without a/c. Your suggestion of using ice (I would even just use ice cubes in a shallow bowl) sounds like it might work and I might try that----just experiment with it, you will know soon enough if it works. Why listen to us???

I do have one thing that I do whenever the heat gets too high and unbearable. I have a piece of fabric (from an old percale sheet), and I wet it, then put it around my neck. The material that I use seems to matter---towels do not work, t-shirt material does not work, but sheet material does. As soon as it gets warm, I take it an flip it in the air (just needs one flip) and it is instantly cold. I will wipe down my arms, legs, face, feet, whatever, and keep flipping it to cool it. It really works for me. In fact, I am using my fabric right now.

And a window fan turned on AFTER the sun goes down will really cool a room off. That is how I am able to sleep. The night air really is cool. I used this even in Houston in the worst of the summer when the a/c went out for a week and I was fine---at night.

wet sheets and hang in open doors and windows, or create a 'wet sheet room' on the porch so that any airflow would be cooled and humidified

especially in the evening when it was time for bed. I bet the same principle would work with a fan blowing though a wet sheet

But I had a cooler that you put ice into and the fan in it blew the cold air out. Just like your "air conditioning," I had to sit in front of it as it did not cool the room, but it cooled me.

in the furniture store he managed in 1936 when it was over 100 for weeks in Iowa. He always thought the effect was mostly psychological.

.....wringing it out, and pulling it over oneself at bedtime. They said the hope was that they would fall asleep before the sheet dried out.

My routine is a wet hand towel on the floor under my feet. Cool damp feet really do make a huge difference.

It was 102 here today -- our first really hot day this year. In my place, with no AC, it was 78. That's pretty good!