How to cool down the paincave?

Hi

i have a smaller paincave (10ish square meters) in my apartment and even I have two fans I found very hard to cool down myself and my numbers are at least 10-15% lower than outside.

Is it better to buy Lasko blower or some portable AC or dehumidifier?

I have a window but I can only little opens it…

FYI I’m from EU if you have some product suggestion.

Sounds luxury to me. I have a small pain corridor at a guess (5m long x 0.7m wide, Or about long enough for 2.5 bikes and just wide enough for a wahoo knock off trainer desk). No open windows for me either. I usually keep the flat cool and use an 18inch gym fan on my back, two 12 inch mini gym fans on my sides (just to the front of my feet) and a remote control 16 inch pedestal fan in my face. I tend to take my workouts outside if its any more than 15deg C in there if I can though :fearful:

Highly unscientific but comparing an intervals profile from Oct 21 to the last 84 days for inside rides, I was 10-12w (circa 5%) higher over 20min + durations when it was cooler :scream: I have done a lot more group riding and less which probably isn’t helping so it probably isn’t just the heat :thinking:

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I’ve seen kit (NoPinz IIRC) with pockets sewn in to allow for ice packs so instead of cooling the room you’re focusing on yourself.

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Cleva vacmaster were available in the EU, even post brexit. I got my last one on amazon to Ireland. I’ve 3, on remote plugs - 1 front torso, 1 back torso, 1 face/ head.

I train all year in my (insulated) shed - it’s warmer than the house sometimes in the height of summer, and the 3 fans do the job. I have the door wedged a little open.

So… dehumidifier or another (better) air blower?

Whether or not a blower of dehumidifer is the right answer depends on whether you have a heat or humidity problem.

What is the humidity indoors and outdoors where you live?

If you want to get creative, with some carboard, duct tape and one of your fans you could rig a venting system to your narrow window opening to either pull in cool dry air from outside of suck the warm humid air from indoors out.

I started using a dehumidifier last year and I like it a lot. Helps with odor too.

I do wonder if I am giving up some heat acclimation by using it though :thinking:

Do you close the door to the room? If so, try opening the window and opening the door. A window helps more when there is air flow. Cold air pushes hot air, but you need both a source of fresh air and a place for air to go. In the winter, the cold from outside should push into your warmer apartment. In the summer, the cold from the AC should push out the window. Might also help if you can station your bike between those two openings.

De-humidifier.

If you’re in a space with poor air circulation as you described than you need somewhere for the humidity to go. Once you’ve been sweating enough to raise the relative humidity to close to 100% more airflow isn’t going to do much cooling. Evaporation accounts for nearly all of the cooling and if the RH is near 100% that’s not happening regardless of how much air is blowing over you.

Edit: If your in an apartment this is less of an issue but it’ll also be better for the building itself. High relative humidity can contribute to mold growth (not necessarily where you would see it).

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Portable AC unit was a gamechanger in my painden.

Knocks a good 3c off the room temp and i feel better knowing it’s sucking out all the moisture when i’m sweating everywhere.

Got it off Amazon, Netta unit for £250 or so.

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A portable A/C needs a somewhere to exhaust the heat it generates. If you can’t provide that and also seal the window, it’s probably not a good choice (unless there are unvented ones). Piping it into another room isn’t quite a great idea either. I have 7 fans. I’m a big fan of fans. I also wear a sleeveless UA top, and bibs. I used to ride with a skull cap, and now just use a sweat band, and plenty of towels! I do have a ceiling A/C unit, but it takes so long to cool the room down, I’d have to start it running a half hour before I ride.

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What is the better option?
In other words, which is better for removing moisture, a portable air conditioner or a dedicated dehumidifier ?

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A cheap digital thermometer/hygrometer has been really helpful as I have been working on improving conditions for summer training in my garage in North/Central Alabama (where we have both heat and humidity, especially June-August).

For the past few weeks this fall we have had some cool/humid days, some warm/dry, and some cool/dry-by correlating RPE/sweating/etc with temp/humidity I have figured out some targets for each and can make adjustments (some simple/free like venting garage for a few minutes on cool mornings to get close to these targets before starting workouts, some more involved like insulating doors and likely getting a dehumidifier for next summer, as I have found that the humidity seems to correlate strongly with RPE/comfort).

A de-humidifier. Air conditioners of any type (other than swamp coolers/evaporative coolers) can de-humidify but it’s not their primary purpose. An AC only de-humidifies the room enough to meet its (dry bulb) temperature set point. If there’s not enough heat being generated in a room (relative to the capacity of the AC) than the AC either can cool the room with warmer air or by cycling on and off. The AC doesn’t know how humid the room is but a dehumidifier will.

For the OP’s situation, if the window opens enough to fit one of those dual fan window exhaust (or mixed) fans that would do roughly the same thing and be much cheaper both to buy and operate.

I have vent mounted on the window so I just pushing fresh air inside but probably after some time i cannot get rid of the all humidity…

Personally I would turn that fan around so the moisture vents to the outdoors instead of other rooms in the apartment. May or may not help with the trainer room but should make the adjacent rooms a bit more comfortable.

I have central AC, but it doesn’t blow enough air in my basement to meet my summertime needs in terms of both temperature and humidity. So, I got a dehumidifier. But, I found that it heats up my pain cave by a few crucial degrees. So I also installed a portable AC unit to supplement the central AC. Given the power draw of the AC unit, I had to bring in an electrician to run me a separate circuit for the unit. Now, I can keep my pain cave at a steady 60 degrees American (15.5 degrees rest of world) and 60ish percent peak humidity (goes up as I train) even in the dead of summer. With 3 fans, I am cool enough to train.

Anyway, given a choice between the dehumidifier and the AC unit, I run the AC unit. I often don’t bother with the dehumidifier. It doesn’t dehumidify as much as the combo, but it’s enough.

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