Early Retirement Extreme Forums

I live in Texas, where summer days are routinely over 100F. I have a few fans that I bought without research and they are OK, but I'm investigating investment quality fans or other alternative cooling methods. My main complaint with the big fan I have now is that it is very noisy (to the point where my wife and I have to yell over it when in different rooms).
The fans are working for now, but when the the temperature rises I'm going to need something active. I saw a few units on Amazon that evaporate water to reduce temperature in ambient air by up to 12F, but could I get anything that uses the same process as a heavy-duty AC unit for 1 room? Or do I need a license or something to get freon?
I currently live in an apartment and plan to for the foreseeable future, so I'm looking for small-scale portable solutions (can't build a water pod or anything). I also live on the 3rd floor, while the AC unit is on the ground, so I wonder if that detracts from the units efficiency.
Let me know of any ideas you have!

So it sounds like you have central air in your place but you don't want to pay for the power to run it?
You could get a super efficient in-window AC. I have one I use for the bedroom at night. It adds about $15/month to the power bill for me, that's turning the room into a walk-in freezer at night (how I like it). I basically shopped around for a unit with the lowest BTU's I could find (because my bedroom's tiny) and the highest EER rating I could find. I paid about $130 for it on amazon about 5 years ago.
I also like placing a few small fans (just stuff I picked up 2nd hand) so they're blowing directly at me. I have a 12" fan under my desk that blows right up my shorts when I sit down (feels fantastic), plus a little 4" fan on the desk that I can aim at my face. Both are almost silent when they're on low.

More ideas:
- plants (provide shade and evaporative cooling)

- blinds or drapes

- swamp cooler
Try Googling "passive cooling." Unfortunately most of those tactics have to do with how the structure is built and can't be retrofitted into an apartment.

Wet t-shirt + fan... Poor man's AC!

I'd do what Mike said; window unit and icebox the room you're in.
If you're in a low humidity environment swamp coolers are the bee's knees.

Depending on which part of the state you're in, geothermal cooling could be an option.

Move into one of my one bedroom apartments.
Qualify on disability: Get "hurt". Have a doctor friend

write you a disability statement. File it and get it turned down. See an attorney (maybe Maus) and file it the second time whereby they automatically award it.
Once awarded, apply for a government subsidized apartment, whereby you will pay 30% of your adjusted gross monthly income in rent. You will also receive $46.00 a month towards your electric bill from your Uncle Sugar.
Live in cool comfort at tax payer expense (mostly).
Sarcastic? yes it is, but if everyone else is doing it, why can't you?

Junkyard radiator and a little tubing. Run tapwater, 60 degrees in most of TX, thru the radiator and back into the sink. Cheap geothermal cooling. Of course, this may impact your water bill. Use the fan thru the radiator to dump room heat into the water, then the drain to remove the water. On a smaller scale, a junkyard heater core will work.

Get a small water pump for a fish tank and about 4 feet of the tubing that fits it. Coil the tubing on the face of a fan. Set the fan on a 5 gallon bucket that you fill with I've water once a day (less if insulated) and rig the pump to move the water from the bucket through the tubes.
Cheap, and hardly uses any power. There's probly more detailed instructions out there on the Internet somewhere.

One alternative cooling idea I've seen posted elsewhere is to put your pillowcase in the freezer when you're not sleeping. That way you won't need A/C at night. (I have not tried this, so I'm not sure how effective it is.)