Forums | MacLife
You are not logged in.
#1 2005-06-27 2:26 pm
Build your own Air Conditioner!
You're hot and miserable. You have no A/C. You can't afford A/C. You want A/C nonetheless.
Well, in this post I will tell you how to build your own for cheap! You may even have some of the materials at home.
Parts:
1 large cooler. Even the cheap styrofoam ones would work.
a length of flexible copper tubing, enough to make a 16" diameter coil
a small water pump (from an aquarium)
a fan
bubble wrap
duct tape
some salt
1. Bend the copper tubing into a radiator shape or coil (like a burner on an electric stove), no larger than the diameter of the fan. The tubing should be closely spaced, but the spaces should be at least as wide as the diameter of the tubing itself.
2. Run both ends of the tubing into the cooler. You may want to insulate these sections with several layers of bubble wrap. Secure with duct tape.
3. Attach one end of the tubing to the pump with duct tape.
4. Fill the cooler with ice and water. You may want to dump some salt in there as well, this will allow the water to get colder than 0 Celcius. Now that I think of it, antifreeze may also work, but it's not really safe for this application.
5. Close the lid of the cooler as much as possible. If you have a styrofoam cooler, you could even punch two holes into the lid to run the tubes through.
6. Set the fan in front of the coil of tubing and turn it on. You may want to duct tape the tubing to the fan.
7. Turn on the water pump.
And there you go, an air conditioner. It should last about as long as the ice does.
EDIT: I have built my own homebrew air conditioner! I have also posted instructions on how to do it! And best of all, I took lots of PICTURES!!!
Last edited by jeff-o (2005-07-15 5:03 pm)
"I'd rather be told, 'Have a nice day.' by someone who doesn't mean it, than 'F*** you!' by someone who does." - Lewis Black
Offline
#2 2005-06-27 2:40 pm
- Fried Chicken
- Member
- From: Good question - keeps changing
- Registered: 2003-11-17
- Posts: 4557
Re: Build your own Air Conditioner!
Post pics.
Just because something is legal, doesn't mean it's right. Just because something is illegal, doesn't mean it's wrong.
Offline
#3 2005-06-27 2:50 pm
Re: Build your own Air Conditioner!
When I build one, I will... I just thought of it this afternoon! I'm gonna need some copper tubing, have everything else.
"I'd rather be told, 'Have a nice day.' by someone who doesn't mean it, than 'F*** you!' by someone who does." - Lewis Black
Offline
#4 2005-06-27 2:53 pm
Re: Build your own Air Conditioner!
Offline
#5 2005-06-27 4:01 pm
Re: Build your own Air Conditioner!
The consensus of the Fark crowd is that, that is really not an 'air conditioner.'
Offline
#6 2005-06-27 4:01 pm
Re: Build your own Air Conditioner!
Malkin wrote:
http://www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/~gmilburn/ac/
???
Hmmm, different Jeff (Geoff), same city... How odd!!!
Mine doesn't waste water though, because the warm water goes back into the cooler to be re-cooled by the ice. You'll have to pay a bit more for the pump, but that's like $8 from wal-mart.
Interesting setup with the gravity feed though...
"I'd rather be told, 'Have a nice day.' by someone who doesn't mean it, than 'F*** you!' by someone who does." - Lewis Black
Offline
#7 2005-06-27 4:09 pm
Re: Build your own Air Conditioner!
Yeah, from the bottom of that guy's instruction page:
A closed circuit version of this is entirely possible. I've spoken with someone who is in the process of constructing a version of this using antifreeze as the fluid, dry ice to cool, and a small pump to keep the system moving.
Maybe you two ought to get together. 
Offline
#8 2005-06-27 5:11 pm
- peepl_r_dum
- Member
- Registered: 2005-05-18
- Posts: 505
Re: Build your own Air Conditioner!
I understand it's been HOT out your way. 
I may try that. I"ve got an old fan and a cooler and some water. I need a bump and some copper pipe. Right now it's cold and rainy so it's not a priority. 
Good idea though. Let us know hw it works.
Offline
#9 2005-06-27 5:19 pm
- jkahless
- Member
- From: Right in front of you.
- Registered: 2002-01-05
- Posts: 10011
Re: Build your own Air Conditioner!
Build one that uses ammonia and a compressor loop. 
Screw the ice.
Offline
#10 2005-06-27 5:30 pm
Re: Build your own Air Conditioner!
In all seriousness - a better solution involves a fan and dry ice.
Unless you have kids/cats
In her right hand Jenny held the Bible of her mother
Jenny had a pistol in the other
-- Steve Taylor
Offline
#11 2005-06-27 5:43 pm
- jkahless
- Member
- From: Right in front of you.
- Registered: 2002-01-05
- Posts: 10011
Re: Build your own Air Conditioner!
resedit wrote:
In all seriousness - a better solution involves a fan and dry ice.
Unless you have kids/cats
It's a lot simpler to make water ice than dry ice. 
Offline
#12 2005-06-27 5:49 pm
Re: Build your own Air Conditioner!
Yeah, I can make water ice in my freezer (or even scrape it off the shelves in there...) I have to PAY for dry ice. I don't think my local stores even stock the stuff.
Besides, the dry ice's reaction with pretty much any coolant would no doubt be rapid and even explosive. We all saw FC's dry ice thread, right? I don't want that happening in my bedroom, thanks.
"I'd rather be told, 'Have a nice day.' by someone who doesn't mean it, than 'F*** you!' by someone who does." - Lewis Black
Offline
#13 2005-06-27 5:49 pm
- I'm with stupid
- Hey Crabman!
- From: Bakersfield, Ca
- Registered: 2005-02-01
- Posts: 192
Re: Build your own Air Conditioner!
Aqua Man wrote:
The consensus of the Fark crowd is that, that is really not an 'air conditioner.'
Fark those semantics obsessed fascists! The air
This isn't who it would be if it wasn't who it is.
Offline
#14 2005-06-27 5:51 pm
- jkahless
- Member
- From: Right in front of you.
- Registered: 2002-01-05
- Posts: 10011
Re: Build your own Air Conditioner!
jeff-o wrote:
Besides, the dry ice's reaction with pretty much any coolant would no doubt be rapid and even explosive. We all saw FC's dry ice thread, right? I don't want that happening in my bedroom, thanks.
Not necessarily. You'd just moderate the cooling.
Offline
#15 2005-06-27 6:12 pm
- dv
- Negusa Negest
- Moderator
- From: Minneapolis, MN
- Registered: 1999-08-30
- Posts: 18078
Re: Build your own Air Conditioner!
Why not use a compressor to generate the cold? But oh, wait, then you'd have a real air conditioner.
"Now commences the process of cutting off the head, which generally takes from an hour to an hour and a half by an expert workman with a sharp blade." -Reuben Delano, Wanderings and Adventures
Offline
#16 2005-06-27 8:45 pm
- Pariah
- James Carville Fan..
- From: Belly Of The Beast, Oklahoma!
- Registered: 2001-05-24
- Posts: 18394
Re: Build your own Air Conditioner!
A box fan, an old radiator from a car and your garden hose.
Mount in your window and there you go.
You're all smart enough to fill in the blanks.
"and it's not surprising that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
Barack Obama
Offline
#17 2005-06-27 9:01 pm
- kryptKnight
- Member
- Registered: 2003-12-03
- Posts: 57
Re: Build your own Air Conditioner!
If you get ice from your freezer make sure you don't use your radiator thingamabob anywhere near the freezer. The warmness (a very scientific term) extracted from the freezer is radiated by coils on the back of the fridge, releasing heat into the room the freezer is in, thus heating it. Because of some executive proclamation of thermodynamics, you'll wind up heating everything up if you fan contraption is too close to the freezer, which will be outputting more heat anyway because of the increased workload.
The moral of the story: close the kitchen door whilst using this thing.
Offline
#18 2005-06-27 9:08 pm
- jkahless
- Member
- From: Right in front of you.
- Registered: 2002-01-05
- Posts: 10011
Re: Build your own Air Conditioner!
Pariah wrote:
A box fan, an old radiator from a car and your garden hose.
Mount in your window and there you go.
You're all smart enough to fill in the blanks.
Lead leeching into where ever you dump the water?
Offline
#19 2005-06-27 10:55 pm
- Pariah
- James Carville Fan..
- From: Belly Of The Beast, Oklahoma!
- Registered: 2001-05-24
- Posts: 18394
Re: Build your own Air Conditioner!
jkahless wrote:
Pariah wrote:
A box fan, an old radiator from a car and your garden hose.
Mount in your window and there you go.
You're all smart enough to fill in the blanks.Lead leeching into where ever you dump the water?
Ya cuz radiadors are made of lead 
"and it's not surprising that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
Barack Obama
Offline
#20 2005-06-27 11:17 pm
Re: Build your own Air Conditioner!
dvpierce wrote:
Why not use a compressor to generate the cold? But oh, wait, then you'd have a real air conditioner.
and you'd need somewhere to exhaust the heat produced.
btw - this method will also produce more heat than it cools - the heat is produced by the compressor that makes your ice. If that's in your garage, that's fine.
Or you can make the ice at night.
Last edited by resedit (2005-06-27 11:18 pm)
In her right hand Jenny held the Bible of her mother
Jenny had a pistol in the other
-- Steve Taylor
Offline
#21 2005-06-27 11:25 pm
- mo' ron
- PS3 4 EVA
- From: NC, USA
- Registered: 2002-10-15
- Posts: 14242
Re: Build your own Air Conditioner!
I think it was the babylonians or the sumerians or possible the egyptians (some ancient civilization) that use to hang wet mats from the ceilings in temples to keep the place cool. The drying of the mats would remove heat energy from the air, thus slightly keeping things cools. Try hanging wet towels around, and keep the window open...
What is the difference between Vista and OSX?
- Microsoft employees are excited about OSX.
Offline
#22 2005-06-27 11:25 pm
Re: Build your own Air Conditioner!
Pariah wrote:
A box fan, an old radiator from a car and your garden hose.
Mount in your window and there you go.
You're all smart enough to fill in the blanks.
That won't do much good.
That would take some of the heat away from the water in the radiator, but it would not cool the air passing over the radiator unless your tapwater is really really really really cold.
A make shift swamp cooler might work to some extent - if your heat is a dry heat. That takes heat out of the air.
In her right hand Jenny held the Bible of her mother
Jenny had a pistol in the other
-- Steve Taylor
Offline
#23 2005-06-28 2:37 am
- Freezer mac
- iPod scroll wheel
- From: next to a big cold lake.
- Registered: 2001-01-06
- Posts: 7370
Re: Build your own Air Conditioner!
mo' ron wrote:
I think it was the babylonians or the sumerians or possible the egyptians (some ancient civilization) that use to hang wet mats from the ceilings in temples to keep the place cool. The drying of the mats would remove heat energy from the air, thus slightly keeping things cools. Try hanging wet towels around, and keep the window open...
and if you blow a fan over a wet towel, its called a swamp cooler, but it doesn't work when its really humid.
Offline
#24 2005-06-28 3:29 am
Re: Build your own Air Conditioner!
In many places - they do a similar thing to make a cheap fridge.
A porous clay pot gets water placed in it, and another put is inside that with what you want cooled - and a rag is placed over it. Evaporation through the porous clay pot cools the water which cools what you want kept cold.
In her right hand Jenny held the Bible of her mother
Jenny had a pistol in the other
-- Steve Taylor
Offline
#25 2005-06-28 7:23 am
- Pariah
- James Carville Fan..
- From: Belly Of The Beast, Oklahoma!
- Registered: 2001-05-24
- Posts: 18394
Re: Build your own Air Conditioner!
resedit wrote:
Pariah wrote:
A box fan, an old radiator from a car and your garden hose.
Mount in your window and there you go.
You're all smart enough to fill in the blanks.That won't do much good.
That would take some of the heat away from the water in the radiator, but it would not cool the air passing over the radiator unless your tapwater is really really really really cold.
A make shift swamp cooler might work to some extent - if your heat is a dry heat. That takes heat out of the air.
I dunno, my hose water is about 50 degrees.
"and it's not surprising that they get bitter, they cling to guns or religion or antipathy to people who aren't like them or anti-immigrant sentiment or anti-trade sentiment as a way to explain their frustrations."
Barack Obama
Offline
