I’m ChrisB from the Ecophage channel and I’m always up to something. If its cool, I'm into it. Porsches, Volkswagens, fireworks, sports, atvs, welding, snowmobiles, fabricating, cannons, drones, animals, oh my. Lets see what we can get into. If its not fun, you just might learn something!
Your idea is irrelevant and a unnecessary money wasting solution. you should elevate the portable AC and just attach a hose to the window and let the unit pump the condensed waste water to the window by itself.
@@carloscruz8564 no it isn’t look at the comments people have found it useful not everyone wants a raised up air conditioner or has one in a situation that it can be raised above ground level What do you think everyone’s scenario is the same That’s friggin ignorant Than go running for suck on a free video simply giving suggestions Bro if you can’t afford $49 bucks for a lift pump and want to make some eyesore box for it to sit on that’s on you Don’t go acting all ignorant because you think everyone has as low standards for aesthetics as you do
Soak the bushing in motor oil or similar for 15 or so minutes. Then it will be lubed and will last a lot longer. This should be done with all bronze bushings.
@@ionion1785 no I would say can bus would be more susceptible to interference. I think shielding harnesses twisting wires and having things properly grounded and the correct spark plugs (with resistors) would solve fm interference
@@ecophage ok thanks, I just installed an led bulbs to my car and when I turn it on the fm radio signal has gone or it had a signal noise interference, I dont know what could be causing.
@@ionion1785 ooooh yes that could be unrelated to can bus (because radios are pretty simple and don’t use can bus but do pick up electric signals) so yes LED bulbs especially cheap ones could totally cause an interference with a radio.
@@Walkingtall88 dang! If the barrel was big enough to fit the m-80/m500s then maybe we’d be in business! I was thinking of scratch building one with an even weaker return spring or no spring so it really kicked back
@@mattgruber3933 well it has a digit face it it rains often here. I doubt it would survive unless I built a box for it. I did consider putting it in the basement and ducting it up.
@@ecophage You can remove the display panel and run the wires to the compressor and fan. I did that and it works fine. Basement sounds great as you avoid the rain and it may be cooler down there. Worth a try!
I don't see why you couldn't run an auger off the heat of the stove, with thermo-electric. Maybe hand-crank or wind up a spring to kick-start it, and then let the auger work off the TEGs. You could also use a battery to get it started, and then run off TEGs and re-charge the battery.
@@harrymills2770 possibly. I did try that but the amperage from the tegs only operates the weakest motors. I suppose you could attach a half dozen together and you might get a normal motor to work but it never worked whenever I tried it
@@ecophage I didn't think that the augers in pellet stoves required that much power. Peltier converts only a small fraction of the heat energy. It just seems like all that energy coming off the stove should be MORE than enough to run a little auger. Thanks for sharing your knowledge on the specifics.
@@ecophage Than you will need to worry about a drain. Many of these units drain into a pan underneath and then evaporate. But like you with high humidity, it cant evaporate. Mine portable has a small drain at the bottom of that pan gets full, or a drain up top so you can just drain it somewhere, which usually doesnt work becaue you need that hose to go somewhere. Its a shit design, but thankfully I dont have to worry about it
yes this method works but on a polo it says to use a 12mm tap but on doing it on a restoration the starter had worn on the inside of the bush it could not get a grip so i had to use a 13mm tap
@@albertchavarin6538 we have a full kit available on our website. It includes a pump, filter and hoses. Alternatively I believe the pump was a fiat washer fluid pump not cheap about $50
One other thing I dislike about this style of AC and also is probably the reason you’re condensing so much water is that they create negative pressure as the hot side of the coil is inside the house and pulls air from the room over it to exhaust out. This creates negative pressure and pulls unconditioned hot and humid air from outside so it’s always struggling to keep up. I took a small cardboard box and created a plenum box to tape over the intake for the hot coil and ran another duct outside, so exterior air is pulled in to cool the hot coil. Doing that pressure balanced the unit and within minutes you could feel how much cooler it was
Yeah its common to put ice in these which does work when its humid, they think dry ice is extra cold or something not thinking about what dry ice really is!
Would it be just as easy to put the tubing from the A/C directly out the window instead of into a pump? You may have to raise the A/C on a block to make sure the drain hole is above the window sill.
ooh if people don't have any clue at all.... the water is important. basically the water drips down in the base of the unit. there is a small fling wheel or a pump but in 99.9999999% it's a fling wheel that throws the water against the condenser and evaporates it. helps the compressor to fight the heat. you are misusing the outlet ment for dehumitification. if you run this without the "exaust pipe" in dehumid setting you let the water out that way. you are currently punishing your compressor. for what and why? this will make the compressor run way harder -> higher headpreassure and therefore it craps its pants way earlier. perfect. to add: if your ac has to much water it shuts off and shows that to you. basically only if you have extreme amounts of humidity in your home that is a probleme. else this workes wonders. meaning if you don't live in thyland in the middle of the rainforrest it should be fine. to add second edition: your machine should have a second outlet for water. i had my machine propped up on a "box" that the hot air duct could go straight out. not portable anymore but worth it. i rigged a tube on the lower outlet so that it starts overflowing short of switching off the device. it never lost a drop that way. but i had it done. its a lot of trying out with the machine disassembled. but i did that anyways to clean that thing. and please for the love of god, don't even think about doing a two duckt conversion. that strains the blower and compressor. there are many options like buing a 2 duct system for example from midea, or buy a portable minisplit. they are worth any penny you invest into them. they are way more efficient and "silent". the condenser is outside, no pumping air out of the window. ok watched the video further and my conclusion is: you have the shittiest ac possible. a less then 200 bucks piece of trash? or just an american model? i can't decide. the manufactrer cut all costs by removing the fill level sensor. how cheap do you want it? YES YES YES. wow ok i see your need for that dumb solution. i understand it now. therefore with all my hart i suggest buying a portable minisplit to you. that has a pump build in and the heat exchange is outside, connected only by a relatively flexible pipe 2 or more meters long and only 3 to 6 cm in diameter. some of them can even be disconnected.
yeah i know about the fling wheel thats why i showed it. Ok im trying it your way its ben 12 hours and the AC is starting to make a weird noise, btw like previous stated in the comments. its STILL 92% humidity here
@@ecophage Looks like you are in a converted porch, so maybe its a combination of your local weather and your particular use case as even when we have that kind of humidity even at 10-20*f hotter, I haven't had an issue with my portable unit.
Perhaps you should read your owners manual. Normally portable air conditioners drain the condensation from the evaporator coil (the cold coil) and pump it onto the condenser coil (the hot coil) to evaporate it, which is why they are labeled "self-evaporating". Unless you live in extreme humidity, this process works fine and increases the efficiency of the unit. Unless your unit is giving you errors (usually "FL" on the display), there is no need to set up a condensate pump.
@@ecophage but what does the unit's instruction manual state? Both of my units have drain plugs too, and yes if I pull them out there will be water, but I've never had to manually drain them. The drain hose for your unit is likely for dehumidifier mode and likely isn't necessary for air conditioning mode. Now, 80% RH could be a problem, but again, the unit will shut down and display an error if the water fills up too high. Draining isn't necessary unless the unit tells you the water is full.
@@EngDrewman “drain hose is required for dehumidifier and heat pump mode” Well it’s only got 4 modes and ones fan so pretty much most of the functionality requires a drain hose. Not to mention if I’m pulling 5 gallons of water out per day and you’re saying it evaporates all that supposedly. That has to hurt energy efficiency. Energy isn’t free so evaporating all that water has to come at a cost. Collecting it and pumping it seems more efficient. Not to mention the manual talks several times about what to do when the unit fills up with too much water. Having the drain hose always installed prevents this problem Don’t be to critical. Look at the comments. I’ve already helped people with similar problems with this video
@@ecophage I'm not being critical, and sorry if I came across that way. I'm just trying to help you understand how the unit works. To be fair, 91% RH may be too much for the self-evaporation function to work. Some units have a built-in condensation pump to run the water over the condenser coil; this is likely the extra buzz you are hearing. Doing this actually significantly increases the efficiency of the unit; I can go into the physics of why if you'd like.
Hello, thank you for the video. I realized it's been three years, but I just got a Vanagon and I'm doing the interior. Could you share how difficult it was to remove and then put back the headliner? I wanna do it, but I worry it may be too difficut for someone with no experience. Anyway, thanks for all the videos. They are all very much appreciated.
Just came across this today, very cool idea. Thinking of doing this with my wood stove. Although one thing does concern me. When burning wood, my stove does heat up to 300 celsius (600F) on the outside, so I'm worried that the pellets would ignite outside the stove, in the feed tube or hopper. @ecophage Does your stove heat up as much? Does the feed tube heat up at all? Or isn't it an issue?
@@mtbmaniac25 it does not run hot enough to ignite the pellets in the hopper. Plus the hopper is isolated in the air away from hot surfaces also there’s not substantial airflow in the hopper the air is constantly being pulled away so it would be hard for them to ignite the only issue I have is if there’s a clog it will smolder up the drop shoot to the hopper
If you don’t have any mechanical prowess don’t evaluate shit you don’t understand First use the leg to raise the barrel so the action clears the ground I have one of these and they are great
@@glicknicklenorp1068 hey numb nuts the arm doesn’t hold itself up that’s the whole Fukien problem genius This is a knock off the rear arm has no ability to hold itself watch the video I tried using the arm to hold it up it can’t be set at any point it flops around Obviously I could tell what the problem was if it worked I would have propped it up This was a bad knock off yours is real likely sped
@@glicknicklenorp1068 watch my channel, I’m literally an ASE certified master mechanic and engineer kid I make a living selling manufactured products This wasn’t manufactured correctly did yours have a hole in the back obviously this one was built like shit to the point of not being able to function Do you also think I shouldn’t have drilled the hole in the back? Was that my lack of mechanical prowess?
Well if you took the time to drill the fuse hole why didn’t you just fix the leg too? Fixing one with out fixing the other doesn’t make for a thorough evaluation Also you didn’t evaluate the quality of the cannon nor point out its shortcomings or strengths Had you made those observation in your video it would have made sense and accurate test
@@aussmith5335 it’s the tiniest Philips head screw and the tabs are thick metal it would have to draw the pivot tabs in like a 16th of an inch. It’s just terribly manufactured. It’s not even the same as the photo on the box
@@ecophage In my Harmon stove when I burn Wood & son I can go a month with out touching the ash pan. Maine Wood Pellets keep the vacuum close by. Clean every 3 days
I appreciate this video. Clearly you have the right kind of bad taste! Are the bolts/hardware/body end caps/sheet metal, rust proof? I live by salt water. The air is salty. Go figure. I'm wondering if I should paint the inside before assembly with some rust retardant paint or some-such given the humidity that it produces. Does the outside color affect the efficiency? I believe black would heat the unit up (unless I'm mistaken) making it an effective hot forced-air blower...maybe? I'm planning on painting it a slate blue-gray. If I buy one, I will be mounting it on my post-apocalyptic sci-fi geek art car. I'm going to make it look as much like a tube-type missile launcher as possible to accent my front-mounted plasma projectors. Cool air, and (imaginary) death from above! (Assuming I'm uphill from other road warriors.) Yes. I'm a geek. I'm OK with that. I always get right-of-way at four way stops. And meet a lot of police officers every time I move until they've all had a good look at the car like little kids...It's actually cute. Most of them just want to look. Some are dicks. But I like watching their faces drop when I tell them that it's RCW 46 compliant and quote the law. Also very enjoyable :)
@@ratstar thanks haha yes I too live near the ocean. The hardware is stainless and zinc coated. The back cap is also zinc coated and the intake cap is aluminum. The unit itself is plain steel and requires painting inside and out unless you want a rust patina which many do. Yes color plays a huge deal. The darker the less efficient it will cool. So shiny (to reflect light/heat) and light colors, medium greys are ok I’d say That’s cool I’ve actually had customers put these on creative art cars before. Check out our website I think there’s a yellow Vw bus on there that’s got a similar style to what you’re describing I’d like to see that customization, I’ve painted these like objects before like a Duracell battery or beer can.
@@pedroabarca3839 I used a cheese cloth originally but now I have these actual original style wood fiber pads here: www.ecophagefabrication.com/ecophage-products/p/vintage-swamp-cooler-padwick-rebuild-kit
@@ecophage Did you use a surgical gauze that the doctor gave you or did you use a different one, the material you use is the original but it is very expensive for me since I am in the south of Mexico, but I am interested in knowing how to replace it
@@pedroabarca3839 oh I actually have bags of loose I’d sell you for a dollar just pay shipping Cheese cloth is what I used on this one but it’s must less efficient because it doesn’t hold water like the wood fibers do
This video is completely correct but the tap size should have been provided because it is essential to doing this task correctly. If the wrong tap size is used it could ruin the bushing making its removal much more complicated. Use tap size 7/16" which comes in 14, 20 and 28 threads per inch (TPI) standard sizes. I use 7/16-20. The more course 14 TPI thread will be a bit harder to drive and might cause the bushing to spin in the hole. The bushing is soft brass so start slowly, don't push it too hard and take care to keep the tap straight into the hole with each turn. It will take several turns of the tap for it to cut the thread the bushing before it bottoms out in the hole and the bushing begins to pull out along the tap thread. Once it is removed take a Q-tip wet with oil or grease to clean out the brass particles in the hole. A former VW mechanic told me he used a pneumatic driver on the tap that would complete the process in less than 2 seconds but wait for some experience before trying this method. When it's time to insert the new bushing slip it over a 9/32" socket on a 1/4" drive with a long extension. Use plenty of grease inside the bushing and over the socket and it will keep it from falling off. Align it with the hole and hold it there with light pressure then gently tap it in. It will make a deeper sound when it hits the hole bottom. A good time to evaluate the starter motor replacement is when the engine is removed for rebuilding. Good luck!
@@ecophage Great idea! Then I would refer the user to use any drill/tap chart to measure and select the correct tap size for the bushing being extracted. There are plenty online.
Thanks for making the video, my buddy sent me the eBay link to one of the ones you mentioned and I am glad I saw your video after making me realize the eBay posting was shit and for quite more money than a real swamp cooler
Ugh, I JUST sold my last one, a complete original Ive been sitting on for a year. The buttet coolers arent cheap though, $800+ Ive got lots of other coolers available from about $200-$750
