Homemade air conditioning

[American Zombie]

Saw a link for this at Majorgeeks - Homebrew AC

I think I would get tired of filling can with ice and water but I did find this clever.

 

[Mastershakes]

I'm so trying that. 30 bucks? hehehehhe.

 

[jimi_81]

saw this on slashdot.
such an easy concept.

30 bucks for parts. how much for a trash can of water every 3, 4 hours?

 

[Perris Calderon]

it's still using freon and a compressor to provide the ice...this is probably pretty inefficient in electricity

 

[Yharn]

if i didn't have AC it would be a lot cheaper to make ice in my freezer than buy a new AC unit.

 

[Mastershakes]

it's still using freon and a compressor to provide the ice...this is probably pretty inefficient in electricity

it's always on, and it's sealed. it merely keeps the temperature stable. it may need to work a bit harder to constantly cool the water down to ice.... but the inefficiency wouldn't develop until you decided to cool down the entire kitchen by leaving the door open.

 

[VenomXt]

the best part was this

To avoid dying this summer,

 

[Steevo]

My grandfather was much smarter.

He has a artesian weell on his place, he had it capped and it provides pressurized water flow to his home (In Missouri, err Misery) and he uses a old air to air intercooler from a large truck (modified for water) and a large box fan attached to it for cooling.

The only expense is the electricity for the fan.

 

[Perris Calderon]

it's always on, and it's sealed. it merely keeps the temperature stable. it may need to work a bit harder to constantly cool the water down to ice.... but the inefficiency wouldn't develop until you decided to cool down the entire kitchen by leaving the door open.

freezers are on a thermostat, they aren't always on, and because the insulation is so excellant, just opeing the door alone to get the ice is a bad idea, much less re cooling more water into ice.

the more in a freezer that's frozen the less the compressor will work

there's a much easier and more efficient cooling system that will cool better.

it's called "evaporative cooling"

if you atomize the water particles and disperse them at intervals, (there are fans that are already designed to do this) the evaporation will cool the area.

especially effective in dry climates, but effective in most places nun the less

this is the best method for cooling a backyard open area by the way

I did this for my brother in law in cali;

we made a waterfall, and used some of the volume of water to distribute into the leaves on his bushy trees above the rocks.

we created a sort of rain forest affect, we put our outdoor table in that area, and on the hottest days, it's comfortable over there

 

[LeeJend]

My grand pappy was doing this 100 years ago. The proper method is to blow the fan across a block of ice.

Before refrigerators you had an ice box (insulated cabinet with a holder for a big block of ice). Fresh ice was delivered every few days by truck from the ice house.

It's always amusing to see people rediscover old technology.

PS "Those who fail to study the past are condemned to repeat it."

PPS You can get a window airconditioner for ~$80. No condensation, no mess and no refills.

 

[Xie]

My grand pappy was doing this 100 years ago. The proper method is to blow the fan across a block of ice.

Before refrigerators you had an ice box (insulated cabinet with a holder for a big block of ice). Fresh ice was delivered every few days by truck from the ice house.

It's always amusing to see people rediscover old technology.

PS "Those who fail to study the past are condemned to repeat it."

PPS You can get a window airconditioner for ~$80. No condensation, no mess and no refills.

You basically posted what I was going to. Your basically doing what they use to do before air conditioners. I think these days you would be better off just using one instead of wasting so much using the ice method.

 

[Steevo]

freezers are on a thermostat, they aren't always on, and because the insulation is so excellant, just opeing the door alone to get the ice is a bad idea, much less re cooling more water into ice.

the more in a freezer that's frozen the less the compressor will work

there's a much easier and more efficient cooling system that will cool better.

it's called "evaporative cooling"

if you atomize the water particles and disperse them at intervals, (there are fans that are already designed to do this) the evaporation will cool the area.

especially effective in dry climates, but effective in most places nun the less

this is the best method for cooling a backyard open area by the way

I did this for my brother in law in cali;

we made a waterfall, and used some of the volume of water to distribute into the leaves on his bushy trees above the rocks.

we created a sort of rain forest affect, we put our outdoor table in that area, and on the hottest days, it's comfortable over there

We call them swamp coolers here, and yes they work well to cool the air, and add humidity to it too.

I still prefer air conditioning as it leaves the air dry and cold.


You can also boost the efficiency of a standard window unit using a very slow trickle of water dropped into the condenser fan, the water evaporating off the cooling fins of the condenser will lower the temperature of the freon much more than just warm air alone. So much infact that you can actually freeze any condensation between the fins of the evaporator core if you aren't careful.

 

[hoarp001]

Hi, i tried building one of them and it was useless, so i built a much more complicated one...

The finished article looks like this...

www.gunge-stuff.co.uk/iac/done1.jpg

The bottom box houses a box of ice and a pump. The pump pump the cold water up into the top box where it is pumped around a Cool-O-Brick (invented by me). This is just a big heatsink with copper pipes coiled around it. The air is blown through it and it comes out nice and cold.


www.gunge-stuff.co.uk/iac/done2.jpg

www.gunge-stuff.co.uk/iac/done3.jpg

quite cool though