Bed Cooler for Hospitals

Our local weather will not help one to improve the chance of recuperating from health quickly if one opted to stay in ventilated wards in our hospitals.. and sadly to say, only private wards in our hospitals have air conditionings and how many of us is willing to foot the bills if it is not subsidized. This is so because hospitals do not want patients to share the conditioned air and it would be expensive to filter the air to get rid of the gems and bacteria. The alternative then would be the bed cooler for these wards.

Bed cooler is becoming a common household equipment especially when electricity bills keep going up year by year. It now takes roughly about $50/= per month to run an air-conditioner for a small bed room. If the house has several air-conditioners operating, the bills may run into several hundreds per month. On the other hand, bed cooler consumes only 1/10 of the electricity to provide almost the same sleeping comfort if not better sleeping comfort than the air conditioner.

Bed cooler is nothing but an age old technology that allowed chilled water or chilled air to be recycled underneath the bed sheets and thereby, extracting the body heat while a person is sleeping. They come in many forms and shapes and the most common ones are the chilled water type that one can purchase off the shelve for about $800/= for single bed and about $1300 for a double bed. A good designed bed cooler should last as long as any ordinary air conditioner.

I have been sleeping with a bed cooler for about 2 years now and I turn on the room air conditioner only when the ambient temperature exceed 30 C, even then, it is just to cool the room to 27-28 C. I will set the air conditioner to switch off automatically around 3:00 am. I can also turn on the bed cooler for an afternoon nap without worrying about the electricity bill. To provide air circulation in the room, I would normally turn on a stand fan at slow speed, blowing air onto a cooled wall when I use the bed cooler.

I hope I can garner enough support to persuade our local hospitals to install or retrofit the ventilated wards with bed coolers. We will get old one day and may be bed ridden in a hospital for months. Hope that after reading this post, you can pass the message around to increase the awareness.

http://skyjuiceiswater.blogspot.sg/2014/02/bed-cooler-for-hospitals.html

Declaration: I am just a private individual who has no business interest in bed cooler.. just want to share what is good for the community..

i dunno abt other hospitals in spore but due to the recent hazy issue, cgh no longer open windows to provide ventilation for class B2 & C wards. while there no centralised aircon systems, the hospital use those portable aircon units to be retrofit inside the wards and working together with the fans, the wards are generally cooler than the waiting area aka tv area outside the ward.

Hope this is a temporary. It is not a wise decision. 1st, the portable airconditioners are not as efficient; 2nd, one has to share the conditioned air. I would not be able to sleep well if I know someone in the same ward keep coughing or have some yet to be detected commutable disease. for a longer term, they might have to install efficient air filters but this again is not a good long term solution.

sleaguepunter said:

i dunno abt other hospitals in spore but due to the recent hazy issue, cgh no longer open windows to provide ventilation for class B2 & C wards. while there no centralised aircon systems, the hospital use those portable aircon units to be retrofit inside the wards and working together with the fans, the wards are generally cooler than the waiting area aka tv area outside the ward.

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revealer said:

Hope this is a temporary. It is not a wise decision. 1st, the portable airconditioners are not as efficient; 2nd, one has to share the conditioned air. I would not be able to sleep well if I know someone in the same ward keep coughing or have some yet to be detected commutable disease. for a longer term, they might have to install efficient air filters but this again is not a good long term solution.

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u beri difficult to please, no aircon complain hot & humid. got aircon complain disease spread.

what i understand from hospital was that they worry patients kenna breathing problem due to breathing in the smog so they come up with the portable aircon solution. I personally dun like aircon as it very impractical, if kenna same ward as lau siak patient, knn whole day smell shit. i rather hot & humid than smell shit.

I am viewing from hygienic views.. if it is to just get rid of the smog, a ventilated system consisted of just fans and ducting with a good filter works much better than portable air conditioners. If it is for comfort; of course, portable air cond wins hands down but it is just unhygienic to share circulated air..What a sick and weak person wants is not to catch another disease while hospitalized..some simple ones such as colds could kill.. A ventilated and filtered system plus bed cooler would be the best when there is a smog..closing up the windows and doors would only cut some smog but not much..only a good set of air filter such as hepa filters will filter the particles of about 2u to 10u size..which is the smog.. closing up windows and doors may reduce outside air and isolate some smell (of the bigger particulate) but not the invisible and smell-less micro particles. The hospitals should get experts to recommend than to use other methods.

This article gives some information about how efficient is our air conditioning filtering system. Take a scale of 1 to 10, the home air conditioning filter is only 2; meaning, it is only 20% efficient. It is only slightly better than staying in-doors without any air conditioning. Ordinary air conditioners are not designed to take good filter as it will require them to have a large fan.

http://www.achrnews.com/articles/a-guide-to-understanding-hvac-filter-selection

air-conditioning in a closed environment is the worst for sick patients suffering from viral infections with respiratory difficulties. best is to rest in a shade with warm tropical breeze going thru' your system.

When I was recovering from a heart attack at a local hospital, the room I was in had an airon & was quite cold. I think the aircon is in there for therapeutic reasons for those with cardiac problems.

has anyone been to DB(detention barracks)?it is the coolest place in singapore without any airconditioning because of its unique architectural properties.

i propose we design our hospitals like DB.minimal external heat penetration,and minimal internal heat generation,(objects that generate heat like lights,televisions,fans etc).

johnny333 said:

When I was recovering from a heart attack at a local hospital, the room I was in had an airon & was quite cold. I think the aircon is in there for therapeutic reasons for those with cardiac problems.

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you are lucky but there are many unlucky person around.. as much as more than 60% are unlucky

frenchbriefs said:

has anyone been to DB(detention barracks)?it is the coolest place in singapore without any airconditioning because of its unique architectural properties.

i propose we design our hospitals like DB.minimal external heat penetration,and minimal internal heat generation,(objects that generate heat like lights,televisions,fans etc).

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Fully enclosed space underground will usually be a few degree cooler than those rooms "seeing" the sun.. there is such concept called "natural cooling" that uses cool underground space, sun shades, trees and other stuff to cool a building..

frenchbriefs said:

has anyone been to DB(detention barracks)?it is the coolest place in singapore without any airconditioning because of its unique architectural properties.

i propose we design our hospitals like DB.minimal external heat penetration,and minimal internal heat generation,(objects that generate heat like lights,televisions,fans etc).

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hahahahhaa... have you seen "detainees" splashed with water in their underwears standing in front full blasting airconditioners.

bakkuttay said:

hahahahhaa... have you seen "detainees" splashed with water in their underwears standing in front full blasting airconditioners.

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dont think so,cause theres no underwear allowed in DB,in case we asphyxiate ourselves with the waistband or something.

frenchbriefs said:

dont think so,cause theres no underwear allowed in DB,in case we asphyxiate ourselves with the waistband or something.

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aiyah,,, referring to more than the dbs lah.

I think bed cooler with water running underneath will get hong sip.

revealer said:

you are lucky but there are many unlucky person around.. as much as more than 60% are unlucky

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Eh.. when I got my bill I almost had another heart attack

That is why I now spend plenty of $ on precautions such as juicing & on health supplements. It is cheaper & less painful than going to a Spore hospital.

ginfreely said:

I think bed cooler with water running underneath will get hong sip.

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Actually the answer is no. This is because one is never in contact with water, only through a plastic sheet or tube; also, unlike air conditioners, bed cooler are running water around 25 C temperature which is most suitable for human comfort without one in contact with any water condensation. Water only condensates at around 22C. On the other hand, air conditioners have to throw air into the room sometimes at around 18C (or 65F) in order to cool and maintain the room temperature at around 25C (get close to outlet and feel the cooler air). Though there is no water condensation in the dehumidified air , the higher temperature difference could cause some to have joint pains when one is too close to the air outlets. This is because the joints expand and contract more at higher temperature differences.

revealer said:

Actually the answer is no. This is because one is never in contact with water only through a plastic sheet or tube; also, unlike air conditioners, bed cooler are running water around 25 C temperature which is most suitable for human comfort without one in contact with any water condensation. On the other hand, air conditioners have to throw air into the room sometimes at around 18C (or 65F) in order to cool and maintain the room temperature at around 25C (get close to outlet and feel the cooler air). Though there is no water condensation in the dehumidified air , the higher temperature difference could cause some to have joint pains when one is too close to the air outlets. This is because the joints expand and contract more at higher temperature differences.

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how much are you selling for???
post the price leh!!!!!!

johnny333 said:

Eh.. when I got my bill I almost had another heart attack

That is why I now spend plenty of $ on precautions such as juicing & on health supplements. It is cheaper & less painful than going to a Spore hospital.

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The differences between air conditioned and natural ventilated ward is more than double. It was quoted that the natural ventilated wards (B2 and C) are subsidized.. think the subsidy is limited. It is the room sharing of space and cost of airconditioning that make up the differences.

https://www.ktph.com.sg/guide-hospital-charges

bakkuttay said:

how much are you selling for???
post the price leh!!!!!!

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I have none to sell. I have no business interest in this. Just stating the facts and figures as an experienced M&E engineer for many years. My very purpose is to create awareness so that our hospitals will use bed cooler to save our hospital bills for our comfort stays. Lets face it , we will get old and sick one day eventhough we don't like to talk about it. If you have any other questions on bed coolers or airconditoiners, I would be glad to assist.