A good way to improve on this already great idea would be to use 2 coolers ( or at least, a separate enclosure of some kind for the heater core.) 1 cooler would contain the ice/ice-water and the pump. The 2nd enclosure would contain the heater core and the fan. Take the 2 hoses connected to the heater core and run them both down into the water cooler (cut holes in the lid to run them through). for the heater core enclosure you would have 2 holes (an inlet, and an outlet) make sure the air flow is required to pass through the heater core (it cannot go around it) and then put the fan in your outlet hole. This way when you turn the fan on it sucks in air through the inlet, then through the heater core, then out through the fan. You already did this by putting the heater core and the fan in your current lid. The fan sucks outside air in through the heater core, then blows it out the fan. The only thing this would do is reduce the amount of moisture you are adding to the air in the room you are cooling. It also wouldn't hurt to put some kind of bowl or tray or something under the heater core to collect condensation. I like this simple but effective idea and nice job on it. thanks for sharing
I did a diy ac unit with a fan and copper coils but there is so much condensation, your design solved the drippage problem. Now the problem you have is that the fan is too loud. If you want to perfect your creation, I suggest an extension furnace duct fan, they do run about $100 though but its very quiet. Nice job!
It's efficient because it's pulling the air through the radiator making it cold and pulling it through the cooler full of water which is already cold and then blowing it out
That's pretty neat, you're the only one I've seen that has used a heater core for a make shift a/c unit. Points for creativity! Looks cool man...no pun intended.
Brandon Goodheart Back in the 60's, my neighbor used a heater core, an old kitchen exhaust fan, a piece of plywood cut to fit the window opening, two sheet metal reservoirs, some tubing and of course ice in the top reservoir, to make a window a/c unit. It cooled his bedroom down about 20 degrees from the outside temp.
Or, you could run the air into the heater core, and out of the heater core to the outside air, and have the heater core submersed in the ice cold water. This way the air never touches the water and picks up no humidity, and is cooled by being forced through the fins which will exchange the heat/cold under the water. Only drawback, is your limited to the volume/force of the air flow to that which will flow through those heater tube. You could put a Y connectors and run two cores at once to help increase the amount of air flow. If humidity is not a problem, then this setup is best. Another option would be to add another hose to that outlet of the core, and run it down to the water. Then put a plastic liner over the water to separate the water from the air above it. Since the cooling isn't taking place by air hitting the cold water, but rather being forced through the fins, this would still allow the fins to stay cold, and the air would not contact the water, so no humidity.
if he put the fan in front of the core the heat from the fan motor would heat the water inside the core at a faster rate and it wouldnt be as effiecient.the way he does it the heat from the fan motor isnt being blown into the cooler along with the outside air tempature wich is more effiecient and alot cooler.his sytem is great because the core pre cools the air before it enters the cooler and then also discharges the cool air from the ice inside the cooler.its brilliant.im gonna make one myself.nice job.
This is a good idea however a slight improvement would be to get another cooler and totally Seperate the water from the heater core and fan and just run your hoses between the two coolers. This way the heater core will actually dehumidify the air which is what you want on a hot summer day. The way you have it now will work, however it potentially adds more humidity to the air
looks like there's room to mount the radiator inside the insulated box. this would make it more effective in cooling and longevity. you could have a smaller exit hole with an adjustable pvc elbow. you can also attach a 3' hose to the exit of the radiator. simply leave it coiled in the container, but pull the end out to easily drain the warm water.
It would be nice if we knew the temp of the air coming out and how much air is actually being moved. How long does the bottled water keep the moving water cold to a point that it cools the air. Here is a idea. Take the fan out of the igloo take the cooler out of the igloo run the hoses for the water out of the igloo just the hoses. Attach the heater core in the cooler unit to the fan. This not only makes it more direct. It also reduces the humidity level in the room with allows the cooler to function properly by using the evaporation of the fan. If the room in wich you are cooling goes above a certian humidity level the ac unit begins to act as a humidifier for the room instead of a cooler. This is called the W.I.C. index. You can look it up just look for what the index is in your state or county. Usually a hvac certified or ac installer will know this kind of information. Good luck and keep on keepin on my friend.
Jason Bannan, I think what you were saying might help me but it was unclear. Could you rephrase more clearly how you would improve the design in this video? If you cannot be more clear on what you'd do, would you be able to link to a diagram or something?
The heater core is used so when the hot air is going through it the water absorbs the heat. I still have this but I have made some mods to where it is smaller and 12 volt powered.
This is a good portable unit but kinda over kill for home. 1. The core can mount to a house fan. 2.That pump may push too much water, less is more here. 3.Exhaust fans produce less cfm using more amps than most fans. 4. A much smaller water storage can be used with smaller pump saving space.
Over kill for a home? Try under kill. Evaporative cooling require a very dry climate as in not much humidity, also the continued use of a swamp cooler, produces a wide variety of molds upon the surfaces that the cooled air hits upon unless appropriate measures are taken. It works for a little while and then it's like a cool mist like sauna which will cause everything in the area to become moist and damp and just perfect for mold to form upon.
Also, I tried plastic bottles with frozen water inside which greatly decreased the amount of moisture released into the air, but they melt so fast and you better have an endless supply of them which seems to me a bit tedious.
As long as the water is not evaporated into the air, this is an air conditioner and not a swamp cooler. You know, you could probably take a real air conditioner and water-cool it instead of air cooling which means it would require no ventilation. Easier said than done though...
awesome video, convert the hot air into cold air with the radiator and without having the air making contact with the water would be the best trick to have less humidity. maybe add another tube that goes through a styrofoam floor and under is where your cold water is
That's great for about 30 mins and then your ice is gone. That's the biggest challenge is keeping stuff cool enough to last threw the night I have experimented with this also the only thing I have seen that looks like it works is on RU-vid a guy that chills the pipes he is blowing the air through check it out comes up under diy a/c
what about using dry ice since that is -300 degrees Fahrenheit that'll make it super cold and it'll last for hours since it don't melt like regular ice
Brilliant idea, this is a great design as it draws the air down through the chiller and blows it into the room. In this configuration you scavenge cooling not only from the coil but also the inside of the cooler. Also any condensation falls directly into the cooler which eliminate a collection system but also avails the unit of the coolness of the condensate which otherwise would be wasted. My only dislike is the loudness of you component choices. All in all:GREAT JOB!!!
I agree that your design is a great improvement over those Ive seen with cooper wire on a free standing fan. You take care of condensation while maximizing the use of the cool temps of both the ice and water. Ive already made a cooler ac but am looking to modify it with your chiller design. Thank you for sharing.
you know this exterior cooling fans on cars, the newer ones are quieter. There are pull and push type. That fan has to directly near that radiator for max air flow.
Like they say. 1ton chiller is exactly that! 1 ton of ice. Its a lot of ice. This is spot cooling. Be interesting to work out how long it would run for full of ice. The theory is simple and sound. Just how much ice you have and the size of the cooling coil. Heat rejection absorption phase change = cooling. This will dehumidify the air so it won't be sticky or sweaty.
what you should do is do a hose on the exhaust from the radiator and that hose go outside and outside burried a copper pipe in the ground thats cold so the water goes through the pipe and back to the resevoir and you got always cold water
Should have put your blower over the heater core. That way if the coil is getting cold, and the fan is sucking that right up and blowing it out towards you.
Simply run cold water via pump in inlet and recycle the icy water it would last very long comparatively . You don't need icy water just attach another radiator and create a loop to radiate heat.
a smaller squirrel cage type blower or lower RPM's...would probably do better as it would reduce heat intake and make your ice last longer...just my HVAC/R opinion :)
May work better if you blow the air through the coil instead of pulling air through it. just a thought. maybe blow the air into cooler out through the coil. If you've tried that, would you let me know which is best? also, salt water could help pull the temp down from 32°(F) to closer to the actual temp of the ice out of the freezer. maybe even closer to 0°(F).
What do you mean absorbs? it's not like the heat is going anywhere, the water gets hoter by this, so does the temperature in the container which makes the blowing air warmer. It all evens out, and actually you are adding the heat created by the water pump. All the cooling comes from the ice that you brought from another room.
You should have described the reasoning behind that construction. What's the purpose of that car heater? And the whole water pumping? I may be missing something here but I don't see any serious evaporation to call it swamp cooler, also because the whole cooling comes from the ice you put there I would imagine that turning the pump on makes the performance worse as it exchanges the heat/cool from water with the outside of the container faster.
that's an amazing idea but I would use a submirgable pump because if the cooler pump ever tips over it's done. also was that fan originally a furnace inducer?
Hi awesome video quick question, I live in southern California and the summers get pretty warm, my work truck doesn't have ac do you think this would work well enough to cool down the cab of a work truck? Thanks
I don't see the purpose of the heater core...if you had the air flow In The opposite direction than I could see why you would use it. I would think the warmer air blowing over the aluminum coil would send colder air through, similar to a real ac. If you blew the fan into the cooler and the air came out of the heater core it would be colder. I think the heater core is currently warming the water more rapidly as its out In the open. You could place the fan over it also and allow it to pull the cool air off of it and just create a vent hole in the top. Sorry it's sounds confusing...
wsvitak honestly believe that the radiator is being used to cool down the incoming air into the cooler. This way the ice will last longer. It's two separate processes. The intake air flow is cooled by the radiator. And the ice stays cold. Then the fan is used to draw the cold air. The only thing that I would add is maybe an air filter.
Also fyi any condensate being produced from the "evap coil" to condition the air is void when your helping evaporate the water out the box adding humidity to the air.. Thus not an A/C.
why didn't you blow fresh air through the heater core ? i do believe that would have been more efficient, due to the fact your blowing the cold air out of the cooler melting your ice .
man i built me one yesterday kinda like what you did, except i got my ice and lil bit of water in a 5 gallon bucket, then my radiator standing up with a drip tray under it for the condensation , then got my quiet osculating fan behind it, keeps it cool as hell, but i still have the humid air feeling, but cold as shit, how can i get it to work like a regular A.C that takes the wetness out of the air?
This is a fantastic design! I was just on the point of doing something very similar when I stumbled upon your video. The radiator position is excellent because I've seen many builds where there is serious condensation on the radiator after a very short time. This design puts the condensed water right back into the tub. With only 1 gallon how long does it run for? I'm looking at getting a chest freezer with around a 50 Gallon capacity. Thinking of using anti-freeze and dropping to -20. Worth it?
It's not that I don't agree with that method being more efficient but the water might splash everywhere. The fan might be too powerful that there might be an electric shortage due to the water splashing everywhere.
AmuckPVP alright,i understand ...how about putting the fan on top of the radiator... what happen is that ,the air goes to the cool radiator,in to the cooler and out of the fan,but the main cooling is in radiator.....it beats the purpose of radiator thou....i hope you get my point...
AmuckPVP thats not an attitude thou..its called "pursuit of excellence".......in last part of the video says :tell me what you think in a comment section"..so "i tell"
MrJonjon1st "thats not an attitude thou..its called "pursuit of excellence"......." Thanks for the fallacious excuse but no. "in last part of the video says :tell me what you think in a comment section"..so "i tell"" Was that me?
I've been researching for a good DIY A/C projects and been through large amount of projects, let me tell you that you should be proud of your project man, I consider it one of the best if not the best. The Dayton fan is going to raise the price and amount of elecricity used but it's surely a good add up, is there a chance to calculate the amount of watts per hour used with Dayton fan...?
Sir you are awesome! am borrowing your idea. Am from Arizona and we get the 120 degrees here so that is going to help. Just one question: where can i get that air blower? thanks
Is it possible to cool the water with peltier modules but the hot side would be a problem so the container must be outside the room and the core inside with the fan like a split type a/c
Can you provide temperature measurements. Do you still use this being that it’s 3 years old or did you perfect it since this looks like a prototype.? Not sure it would cool down a small room but looks like it would work for spot cooling. Thanks, I like the idea?
Use a pump to spray the water trough the air outside (so it cools to the wet bulb temperature). then collect this water and pump it trough the radiator in the house.
Why do you need water circulation when you are already passing air through the container? the water does not seem to have any cooling effect whatsoever
The heater core will actually pre-cool the incoming air and the two working together WILL produce air significantly cooler than just the ice in the container alone.
I do not really get your point. However, would flowing water not create friction which leads to heat gain? And why is passing air through the container filled with ice not enough to produce cool air? Will water circulation really produce cooler air? It does not seem to make sense, well, at least to me. I do hope that nice people like you guys on the internet could help me clear my doubt. Thanks
I doubt the flow of the water through the core would produce friction enough to produce heat. The idea I guess is that air passing through would be pre-cooled by the (heater)core and further cooled inside the enclosure before exiting via the fan. The only thing I see here that may be of benefit would be to keep the pump outside of the enclosure, only because the heat produced by the pump motor might hasten the ice melting inside.
Don't be so hard on him. Better these dialogues inform and build people up than bring them down. I dont think thats your intent, but its never bad to be mindful of good wholesome foundations for growth! Thanks!
Maybe 2 heater cores. One for the intake air flow in the other in the other underneath the fan. Just link them together? By the way great video I liked and subscribed some. Seems brilliant to me :-$
Like it.....am designing my own right now and am going to use small aquarium sub-pump to circulate cold water through evap drip panels cut to fit cooler with small 12v fan. Trying to figure way to lose the pump though. I have a BEAST inverter/charger 400 watt, that will run my fan, a light, radio and DVD player nonstop for about 30 hours before needing recharge and adding a pump will drop that time. Thinking of adapting wicking humidifier filters instead of evap pads and pump. Fan will bring outside air into cooler where wet, cold filters process air before exiting.....this will mean only need run fan. I like the "radiator" type set up though.....creative, and bet that fan moves some air. Anyone have experience with using dry ice in a set up like this?
Reading other comments, like idea precooling inbound air with pump system you have in vid.....then drawing air through wicking humidifier filter pads will cool it even more.
