Can I make an A/C out of clay??? 

Such an interesting video. Thank you for the no shade to those of us who use AC. My AC broke a little over 2 weeks ago and living where I do that is just torture. I'll be glad when we get it fixed hopefully next week. I think before those of us with AC can cut back, we need big companies to cut back on what they are doing so the planet can start cooling down, and then we'd all need the AC less. We used to actually have Fall and Winter where I live. Now we just have Summer and Slightly Less Hot Than Summer. I miss snow so much. I really hope we can start reversing what has been done to the planet. Hope everyone is staying cool as they can for now. ♥

Just a couple points about these coolers: Due to the method of operation being evaporation these coolers increase the humidity in the air, this has the effect of making the room feel hotter than it is, and in situations where there isn't much air flowing into the room and there is a lot of heat going in it can feel even hotter than it would have been without the cooler. Another effect is the lessening effectiveness of the cooler itself as both the temperature decreases and humidity increases, eventually stopping to work completely if and when the dew point reaches ambient temperature, otherwise known as 100% humidity. All of that is not to say that these coolers are bad, just that they are situational, and generally they work better outside. In my city the temperature this noon was 35C with 66% humidity, which would make the dew point somewhere around 26C. This is the absolute lowest temperature this cooler could achieve here, and with the increase in humidity it would feel quite terrible. And indeed when working under similar circumstances and using an evaporative cooler with a massive fan there was barely a difference, even the flow coming out of it barely felt colder. A desiccant based system would work better, but be a lot more complicated to install and maintain. However, another city in my country regularly sees temperatures of around 42-43C throughout the summer with heatwaves reaching as high as 49C, except with humidity at around 15-20%, which would make the dew point somewhere around 10-20C(it would be closer to 10 in most circumstances). This makes such coolers extremely effective there.

If you don't use them as AC you might consider partially bury near a tree or plant and using them as a water reservoir for the plants :)

Growing up in Egypt, we used to have those clay jars where water remained cool, despite high temperature. It was so refreshing drinking such cold water in hot summer days, without refrigeration.

As someone with a science background, my suggestion is to put them on an outside wall like what you show in the beginning. As you have it now, the heat goes from inside the clay (the water) to outside the clay (the room). Currently, you just have water coolers in the middle of the room. If you make the room the inside of the clay, heat will move outside of the room.

Maybe not the best as a cooler (unless you live in a very dry climate where swamp coolers are actually effective), but these would make great little indoor humidifiers for a plant room! Having a fan on them to increase the evaporative effect would also help.

I know this goes against your "passive cooling" concept, but you could increase the evaporative effect by training a fan on the pottery. As others have mentioned, this concept works very well in climates with low relative humidity. High humidity doesn't allow the moisture to evaporate and the cooling effectiveness is significantly reduced. This exact same concept can be used to make a water chiller (as you mentioned, the water in the tubes gets quite cold) it makes for a refreshing drink! I found this project really interesting!

I would've definitely tried this when I was in Arizona! Here's how I would redesign it: - Smaller tubes for more surface area. Use a small pipe to help them keep their shape. - Arranged with a small gap between each tube into a panel (think radiator) - Make the base hollow so that filling one tube flows into the rest of them - Add another connecting piece across the tops for support - Make a small hole at the top for filling the tubes. Closed with a clay lid or a leftover wine cork - Sized to fit on a shaded window's sill for air circulation - Place multiple panels with the tube positions staggered

I'm an American, and I thought it was odd that you thought 67F was hot, because in my area we usually prefer temperatures between 70F and 72F. But I converted 23C to Fahrenheit and it apparently comes out to ~73.5F, which feels much hotter and is personally out of my personal comfort zone. Very neat video, very fascinating. Just wanted to be an American and point out the Fahrenheit thing lol

You cannot expect a cooling effect the way you envisioned. A/C is essentially a heat pump -- you move energy from one place to another. In your setup you are moving energy from the water to the room via evaporation. This does NOT remove any heat from the room. What you have made are some awesome water coolers.

The main thing that determines how well this technique works is humidity. If the environment is dry, these work *really* well. If the environment is humid, they will do almost nothing. Other folks mentioned a fan - that would help move that cooler air around and make it more efficient. But if the region is humid, they unfortunately won't do a lot

I think this is great. You've basically made a beautiful "swamp cooler". This will work well in a very dry climate. It looks very lovely too.

I think if you put a fan behind them you would get or at least feel a better amount of cooling. I think they would work on the same theory as the "swamp coolers" my brother uses in CA. It uses a water cooled EVAP coil. Anyway they make for a really cool sculptural piece. 😊

In addition to the fan, which is going to help a lot, a grooved surface would nearly double the surface area for a lot better cooling. Probably look nifty too. I would also consider using a low fire glaze on the inside and outside of the bottom inch or so. If your evaporation keeps up with the seepage, you might get way with no drips. At worst, it will stop you losing water to wicking from the towel or surface it is sitting on. Finally, lids to keep the mosquitoes from breeding in there, avoid drowned mice, etc

One degree cooler IS actually a lot cooler. 23c to 21.5c is gonna make you feel much much cooler. I come from India, and we try keeping temperatures inside our homes around 21. I think this really works

Thanks for conducting this experiment.

I might try it near some airflow. I'm so glad I found your channel! Thanks!

Look up evaporative cooler or swamp cooler. We use those in the SW USA. your idea is great. You need a fan to push the cool air around. Try putting a fan to blow across the wet tubes and crack a window to let the air circulate.

You should try putting them in front of a fan or an open window, the air movement will help the water evaporate faster and mix the cold air around the clay with the air in the rest of the room

Since you live in Germany, I suggest you talk to your neighbors about lüften. My family tends to open up windows at night, close them up in the morning and then bring the rollos down wherever the sun is shining from, so the heat doesn’t come in as quickly. Then as soon as it gets hotter indoors we make wind by tying all the doors up and opening specific windows. If you are using humidity cooling (which you are) you need to cycle the air more, as it will make it stuffy.

Watching your videos are what got me interested in taking up pottery! Thank you for your videos and echoing what others have said I would love to see your glazing process

I just started watching the video but I can tell you Yes, this will work. This also works with bamboo. You need to drill holes in the top 3-4 inches (some have made designs with drilling the holes.) It works better if you have a small fan placed tilted up with the tubes circling it set on the lowest setting. Green bamboo is best. We did this as a science project.

I loved this video and the thoughts and motivations behind it so much! I'm an evaporative cooling hobbyist and I'm sure others have said how you're actually so close to making this a practical thing to use to cool your home especially in Europe! All you need is a fan or some air flow with an exhaust to let some humidity and air push out! Passively moving that air is difficult though so I understand your apprehensive to add an electric fan. Maybe run it on solar from the roof with a small 100w panel? Very excited to check out more of your channel

This is one of the best RU-vid videos I have ever watched! I teach ceramics and I will be sharing this with my students and how creative we can be with this ancient building material. Cheers!

Even if your experiment didn’t work out how you had hoped, it was fun to watch and I appreciate your continuous ingenuity. It always inspires me throw caution to the wind and experiment with the clay to develop better ideas & ways to work when it comes to our art pieces. Bravo! 👏🏻 👏🏻👏🏻

I used to make single tubes (with bottoms) and a hole up top for a hook as humidifiers to be hung on water or oil filled radiators (not electrical ones). Great for windowsills with plants, dry winter air etc. Never seen this idea but it will at least humidify the air. You can color the clay with maison stains and still be porous. Make them look like bamboo with a little design adjustment. Interested to hear the verdict on function!

I think it’s amazing and cooling the room 1,5C is much, considering that the room would only have gotten hotter because of mid-day temperatures rising. The fact that it didn’t go higher, but even lowered is just awesome, also given the fact that the structure isn’t that big. It works! I love it 😻

It's cool that the process has built in down time so doing the maintenance stuff doesn't feel like wasting time.

This was really interesting, but it made me laugh when mentioned the temperature. I’m a southern Californian and it’s typically around 40C in the summer time, and 20C is cool for us. We would never use the AC in those temperatures.

Run a fan onto your cooling tubes. This will increase the rate of evaporation and spread the resulting cool air around the room. This is basically a deconstructed swamp cooler :)

Channels like thesemake me feel like going back to my ancient pottery roots.

Looks good for outdoor areas

I think you need to test the effectiveness of this system in a room temperature hotter than 67 which is pretty cool already.

I love seeing the creative process with artists in different mediums. The same way you look at a bent tube and go "ah, looks like coral" same exact thing with music and 2D art haha.

It was informative. Thank you.

Great job on the video. They're beautiful!

Lovely work! don't give up on it. When I was growing up in Sydney, we would put small towers of terracotta pots filled with water on the verandah of the house and it really did drop the temperature. I think the design of the one that you show at the start has a few benefits that you could play with: being external to the house, being a whole wall, and having small small tubes that create a much bigger surface area by twisting kind of like our brain does. In theory screens made like this that could fit into your window or door should work - ideally not in direct sun.

I loved it! So cool to see your channel growing and your videos improving. ❤ Nice to try and change the world, even just by bringing the conversation and well intentioned ideas.

My mother was a potter. Do what she did: she stuffed pipes and pipe-like stems on her pots - with cardboard tubes from wrapping paper. In a more modern version, you could try pool noodles, at least until the clay reaches leather stage.The ancient Persians (who invented this technique originally) placed the pots at the base of ventilation wells - wind catchers. The wind catchers (still in use today) created a steady breeze. You would have MUCH better success by simply putting on a fan. and circulating the cool air around the room! Love this highly inventive and interesting content.

More artists and craftspeople need to explore alternatives like this.

I think it worked great. You should have compared the room temperature with the temp outside. I guess after a couple of hours the temperature must have raised outside but in the room it was kept 21.5 which is very pleasant. Also I think this works better with a roof fan or a continuos current flowing in the room (at least two openings) and with low light. Great job, beautifully made.

I'd be interested in seeing another update when the weather is warmer. I wouldn't run the A/C at 67F so testing it at that point doesn't mean anything to me. Plus, it would probably do a lot better in higher temperatures.

Play-Doh Fun Factory for Adults!!! I Like it!!! 😄👍

If you use a fan to push air around the tubes it will encourage evaporation and therefore additional cooling.

Interesting info to add to the convetsation, in South America, torids or terra cotta donuts would be filled with water and placed in an open window as an AC. If you put a fan next to them or had them in an open window, it should work. Great video as always. Love how you think out of the box.

As someone who has always been into science but used to be very into creating art, especially with clay, I am so very glad I stumbled upon this video. I have my grandma's kiln in storage and look forward to finding a place I can put it to use so I can explore concepts like this. And, say, terracotta cooling of larger volumes water.

A few things that might help. 1. Increasing surface area by introducing ripples into the clay. Squish it a bit one way and squish it again another way slightly above it until you get something undulating? 2. Setting it near your window, with the top covered with a cloth or something. The wicked water can get the extra boost to evaporate using the sunlight. The cloth is to keep sunlight away from the internal water to prevent algae growth. 3. Instead of adjacent flowering pattern, have a linear wall with some gap between each tower. Against a window, it would provide more shade against the warm sun. If you want more sun, just shift the towers farther apart. More shade, shift them closer together. A really cool video. It was entertaining to see you explore the idea.

Thanks!

Very interesting video, thank you for sharing! I think that your experiment worked better than you think it did though; you noted that the room started at 23 degrees C and that that was 67 degrees F. In actuality, 23 C is closer to 73 F which means that your experiment dropped the temp by 3 or 4 degrees, not 1! And every little bit helps!

Also, if you don’t have an extractor, these tubes could be made with slabs and stuffed with lightly balled up newspapers or something similar, to help them hold their shape while drying . I’m a retired teacher - what a fantastic science experiment this could be! And artful too - let kids carve in designs…

A room full of these would be so beautiful

That's a really interesting approach. It will cool the water that is remaining inside the tubes . You can use the cold water. If you can get the moisture blown outside your house it will take the heat away and cool your space.

You might be able to slide those clay tubes onto some cardboard tubes to dry them, or maybe try hanging them to dry to prevent wrinkles from forming on the bottoms.

Mia I’m confused… I live in SE United States where the temp today is 93F (34C) and 70’s F is actually very comfortable! Even with high humidity! Did you get the temp numbers right?

Great work, I like that you kept the organic design it just came out as. Since this relies on evaporative cooling a fan could help, but maybe a completely passive system could be placing this higher from the floor (hot air goes up, cools down and descends to the floor). I'm thinking of hanging sponge tube corals ;)

mold loves this technique, also really works when it's dry with a breeze

We use a similar concept to offer our rats some cooler spaces in their cage. They don't have tubes filled with water, that screams for a disaster to happen, but we've got a few clay pots in the cage that we wet regularly to create cooler areas so they chance choose to move wherever the temperature feels right for them. Works great for other smaller animals like mice and hamsters too, though my mice never likes the cooled pots and always stayed away from them lmao

That kiln uses the same amount of energy as 30 ac units. Don't lecture ppl about shit u don't understand

Hi, as an engineer I think I may add some upgrades. Put enamel on the outside of the bottom of the tubes and enameled pottery dish - lower leakage a bit. Add fan - enhance evaporation and thus cooling effect. Stagger the tubes - better airflow and again it increases the cooling effect. Use thinner walls - increases leakage but may enhance cooling considerably. Use some kind of bio-neutral dessicant somewhere near (maybe opposite side of the room) - lowers the humidity of the air and thus helps with evaporation (see above). Use more tubes with smaller diameter - increases area for square meter and also it means higher eveporation again. Generally this kind of cooling works the best at higher temperatures of the air so this might be more valid option the higher the initial temperature is. Also there is much more possible enhancements, but without proper calculations and drawings it's hard to explain in a plain text. Hope this helps with improvements and if you ever try it, I'd be glad to see the results.

Thank you youtube for recommending this Queen 🙌 I love your energy and editing and everything else 😭😭❤❤ New sub!! Can't wait to binge all your videos!!

I grew in northern Haiti, a small island in the caribbean and I remember we didnt have electricity 24/7 and my grand parents would literally get a big clay jar and fill it with water and just place in a corner. Water would be cold when you drink it. So I think this concept could definitely work. Just get big enough jars or tubes made of clay in place them in the 4 corners of the room and you have fresh water as well as cooling system in the room :-)

First time watching any of your videos. That was really interesting. You seem cool and knowledgeable.

During my childhood, our town had this massive greenhouse that my family and I would often visit. One of the unique features was a wall on the end that resembled a honeycomb. Water flowed over it, creating a cooling effect throughout the space.

I am so glad I got ac a couple years ago. It’s only the one room but it really helps me to sleep better when it’s crazy hot

The moisture, that these items provided, is why the room felt cooler when you walked in vs the humid room you just left.

I really enjoyed the whole process and your efforts and honesty. although a suggestion that if you had them presoaked earlier and then poured water to test the cooling extent you would have gotten better results and put it somewhere more air circulation is present.

You're on the right track. When it's hot outside, my mom has always used the technique of filling up the bathtub with cold water early morning. I wonder if using a fan would work? Strategically placing fans in corners of the house to help circulate and create a nice breeze.

Interesting video thankyou. I think it worked better than data shows, you could try it again with another thermometer in a room as similar to the room the aircon is at the same time, little something to compare it to. If you wanna get more technical repeat over a few different days or change up were the thermometers sit ie, both on a table, or both on the ground or both on a wall. Could be interesting to see how cold air disperses different. And if height of claircon from floor makes a difference. Great passive aircon idea, would bring in humidity too, could be nice in plant room.

If you put a slow fan next to these, and circulate the air more, you'll probably get more noticeable results

I just had a thought what if they were up high, like on a shelf where the air is warmer the they would cool the warm air, that could work better. I love thelook of them!!

Works even better with a fan or natural wind flowing through the passive cooling elements. And they are best located in the warmer sunlit part of the room like next to the window. It can also serve the dual purpose of being a flower vase or a water storage pot like what the ancients have done to cool both the water and the kitchen space

I think this will be more effective with open rooms, as the idea would be for the air to take the vapor away and thus cooling it down. Another thing to note is the region you're in. This will certainly be more effective on less humid regions, as it requires the water to evaporate to cool down. You can also combine this with a fan in order to make it dry up faster while also spreading the 'cold' out of those tubes

This was incredibly interesting 😮😊

I've seen them block an entry way for a house as the breeze came in it helped cool the clay and spread it around the home. Also since it was outside the rain would hit them sideways and roll down one another

Hi. Maybe I can help. The purpose for those is to act like a swamp cooler. The evaporating water takes the heat with it, but too much in a room will increase the hot humidity level. 1) You need to place them somewhere in the house where the wind blows past them, or blow a fan past the tubes and direct it into the house. 2) You need to keep at least one window open for the hot humid to exit. Otherwise, the room will become extra hot with the hot humidity in the air I hope that helps

I think the cooler will function well to maintain the coolness of the night. That it cooled its surroundings at all when started midday is amazing!

In New Mexico's dry heat we use swamp coolers which are basically the same concept: a diy version is to just hang a white towel across a sun facing window and feed the cloth a small waterline to keep it quite damp, as the sunlight heats the cloth the water is evaporated to the outside and the temp inside the room drops. If you have a rafter window its ideal, the colder air is displaced by rising heat creating natural air circulation.

The cool air would stay relatively near the pottery but facing a fan towards the piece would distribute the cooled air for better effect.

a fan next to them may work better. Wonderful work . looks awsome and is functional for cooling. they look like think reeds.

Maybe 2 hours are not enough to test them… I’d test them later again. I love your videos and ideas. Your way is so cool! 😊

Yay, black mold 😃

seems like a really neat idea! I live in the southeast US where its really humid already and idk how effective evaporation based cooling would be out here (current humidity is at about 60%), but in dry climates this seems like it might work!

im just imagining some kind of ancient style home built around a massive one of these in the center built in a circular shape so that every room touches it, and the top could be exposed to the roof so that it collects rainwater. now im thinking about how the future of architecture could be shaped in sustainable ways like that to help us combat global warming. amazing video! :D

It's also known as a "swamp cooler" because it increases the humidity and absolutely doesn't work in hot and humid weather.

Even if it doesn’t work they are so cute and would make great pots for vine plants

Also keep in mind they will pull the moisture back in that goes into the bottom tray once you make it, and if you add a fan behind them that will help further

Thanks

Interesting implementation. You look a lot like Simone Giertz and styropyro had a kid. A few points I can think of. 1. Air circulation will help a lot. 2. The lower your ambient humidity, the higher the cooling effect. 3. Look into mitticool. It's an Indian startup which makes refrigerators by clay. Maybe a future project? 4. The maximum cooling possible with such a method can be calculated using a psychrometric chart. Keep up the good work!

They look really cool. We bought some evaporative cooling fans for our deck, they work very well. But that's also because they get loaded with ice and have a fan lol. Those would probably work around plants to increase humidity.

I bet those could work really well for keeping a nice level of humidity in the house/room during the winter. I rented a place that was beyond dry from the old steam radiators and I would place metal pans & metal food cans on top the radiator to help add moisture back in the air. This design would probably work better then metal containers.

We used earthenware cisterns to keep our drinking water cool when I was living in Africa with the Peace Corps, and it worked well! The water was always significantly cooler than the air outside, but it was all relative. It would be 114F in the shade, 90'sF in my hut and the water would be maybe in the 80's. I never considered trying to cool my entire hut with it, but it is an interesting idea! Great video!

So its a ceramic swamp cooler. Pretty cool! As long as you live in a low humidity area (southwest US), this would work really well. In the higher humidity areas of the country this will not work nearly as well. For the more humid areas, one might try using desiccants to dehumidify a room as an alternative to electric dehumidifiers. However, when the desiccant is saturated, it will require some sort of energy to dry it out for re-use.

Loved the facts part about A/C and interesting video in general. I love the architecture that utilizes the natural phenomenons and physics. But a good isolation in buildings is ultimately the way to go!

Terra-cotta is great for cooling homes with water evaporation and for watering plants when buried next to the roots also for heating homes It is basically awesome

Nice. I feel like you'd need a shit ton more of the tubes for it to have a significant effect on a room

two things : requires a dry atmosphere (think swamp cooler, American southwest) and airflow. If it is humid then very little will happen. It works because although it would need a fan it would not need a compressor. Some of these large structures built in deserts can freeze water. So, dry desert air, a source of water to supply the porous tubes and airflow to remove the heated, evaporated water vaporer to the outside. If done correctly you can make ice cubes!

Wrap burlap around half of the pipes and expose to direct sun after wetting the burlap will cool the water inside the pipe dramatically. But the burlap portion would need to be outside on a window ledge.

I don't even care how well they work they look awesome

I think it would make the most impact on like a desk or something As a like additional cooling In replacement to a personal fan

Evaporative coolers usually work best in arid environments. They work by adding humidity to the air, so it will be ineffective any place that's already somewhat humid. My old apartment in Arizona had a cooler that worked on a similar principle. Basically, a piece of porous mesh was saturated with water, and then air was drawn through the mesh and into a duct system. This worked decently well in the desert, achieving around a 10-20 degree difference depending on the day. This isn't a passive cooling system, since it does use electricity, however, it uses far less than AC for good results.