Bulid your own air conditioner, cheap!

Cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxSLbpAwibg

Hey, that's very sophisticated, and it looks very high-tech. I think chicks will dig it.

I am a chick, and I dig it.

Im about to rig this up in my miata, great idea

And that's the original form of air conditioning. Air cooled with ice. That's why we say 'Tons' of cooling because it refers to the amount of cooling a ton of ice can do.

My uncle made one a few years ago. so-so results

Neat.

But a couple of things- unless you are flush with a lot of tools (which I'm not), those hole saws are at least $10 apiece. And using two would be $20. Or if you don't have a good access, that could be closer to $30. No biggie.

More important- where is the ice made?

If that's frozen in your refrigerator, the heat that the frige makes to freeze that ice is well more than the cooling that the ice will provide- so net heat- you would be better off doing nothing.

If the frige or freezer is outside, that is different. But not that many people would think of that.

AKA, "swamp cooler".

In reply to foxtrapper:

If the ice is in the enclosed jug, it's not swamp cooler. You need water evaporating for it to be a swamp cooler.

We use these same idea different take at paintball events. One of the garage tube frame canopies enclosed with tarps, with 2 or 3 of those running inside makes for a NICE getaway from 90* heat when you just want to cool down. Everyone pitches is 5$ and it's enough to keep the gennie running all weekend and keep the coolers full of ice, not to mention they still keep your water nice and cold.

RossD wrote: In reply to foxtrapper: If the ice is in the enclosed jug, it's not swamp cooler. You need water evaporating for it to be a swamp cooler.

Oh, you're right! I couldn't see the video earlier, and I thought the streamers were water spray.

RossD wrote: In reply to foxtrapper: If the ice is in the enclosed jug, it's not swamp cooler. You need water evaporating for it to be a swamp cooler.

You'll still get condensation from the jug so it will still increase humidity, but not as much as a swamp cooler.

I made one out of a cooler with a bilge fan (AKA "electric supercharger") blowing in one side, over a heater core, then back out. A bilge pump sits in the bottom of the cooler pumping water through the heater core.

It works well enough to cool down the wife's Nova, but the fan is pretty loud. Next time I'd use a cooler with a 2-piece lid too, so everything can mount on one side and the other open for more ice and cold beverages.

A giant computer fan (like 200mm) would be quieter than the bilge blower...might be a good option.

In reply to GameboyRMH:

If that condensation is coming from the humidity in the air, it's actually dehumidifying (while cooling) the air, and that's opposite of a swamp cooler.

Basically a swamp cooler gets you cooler air at the cost of raising the air's humidity. If the air has a 100% relative humidity, swamp coolers wont do anything. There would be condensate on anything with high overall specific heat capacity because it will be slower to reach the air temp and will be below the dew point.

oldopelguy wrote: I made one out of a cooler with a bilge fan (AKA "electric supercharger") blowing in one side, over a heater core, then back out. A bilge pump sits in the bottom of the cooler pumping water through the heater core.

OOOOOOH I like that one... could even bring one on the boat, if things go bad you've got another pump on board.

I built a house once up near you Woody in Shelton that used geothermal heating/cooling utilizing a heat pump along with passive solar. At the time the solar/geothermal systems were paid for by government grants. The geothermal HVAC used a similar principal to the bucket.

The A/C system in my old Chump Car. Passenger would shovel ice into the dash and when it melted it would drain out the factory hose in the bottom.

I thought you just dumped loads of dry ice on your floorboards...

Saturn2020 said:

Lol, looks safe for nature. Greta Tunberf would like this

You meant Great Turfburn?

It's actually pretty easy to make a junkyard ac. Two radiators that are air tight. A compressor. Some refrigerant. One radiator outside the garage, one radiator inside the garage. The compressor (high pressure side) pumps to the one outside, which then has a capillary tube go to the one inside. Simple refrigeration 101. Wouldn't last long though, unless you can braze. 

I have 3 of these in the attic for when hurricanes decide to roll through. The generator powers the fridge, a tv, and these things. One of them has a dryer vent tube that goes right up into the bed sheets. They are also great for race weekends if you have access to a freezer.