I was wanting an air conditioning unit for my tree house. So I thought, why buy a $250 A/C unit, when I could build my own?
It is very low cost to operate, compared to a central a/c, and provides spot cooling/heating, only cooling/heating the areas you want to cool/heat, heatly.

It is also eco friendly, because it uses water as refrigerant, and it can multi-task, cooling/heating the room, while cooling/heating your beverages (or whatever) in the cooler.

Step 1: Step One: Supplys

Supplys needed:

Salvage from the house(or Walmart):

1 Box Fan
Screw Driver
Scissors
Utility Knife
Est. cost $0-$25

Buy at Lowes:

1 Smartpond 155 gal/hr fountain pump
1 20' box of 1/4"(ID) copper tubing
1 20' coil of 3/8"(ID) vinyl tubing
2 hose clamps
1 pack of zip ties
1 Cooler-32qt(8 gallons)
Est. Cost $50.00
Congrats. You just got through step one.

Step 2: Step Two: Build It.

take the fan. turn it to where it sits front-up. Start coiling the copper around the fan.
place a zip tie every 6" of copper. Once finished coiling, attach vinyl tube to feed end of copper.
Then, lead the tube to the pump. Connect it. then, cut the tube in half. Clamp the remaining half of tube to the return line, and lead it back into the cooler. Use the hose clamps to clamp down the connection between the copper and the vinyl tubing.

Step 3: Step Three: Enjoy It.

Fill the cooler up with water, and plug in the pump. Let it run for 3 minutes, to get the coil cold, and then turn on the fan. Enjoy your new cold stream of air! I have made mods in the updates step.

Step 4: Specs

Ok, this unit puts out aprox. 3200 BTU/hr on high.. It uses aprox. 200 surge/120 running watts(if not higher-these are only estimates), and it is better if you use it for spot cooling(ex. blowing on you at night, chilling an area, etc.). See Updates (next step) for my idea for a possible modifacation(3).

Step 5: Updates

Ok, I have made some updates to it since I posted this instructible.

1. I cut the kink out, making the flow faster and it cools better.

2. I got another cooler that is bigger, more insulated, and doesn't leak(FINALLY! No more moldy carpets!)

3. I have re-worked the system with a radiator!

4. I also added some safety labels, pic 3.

5. I added an internal coil of copper to the cooler. The returning water runs through the copper, transferring more heat. This method works a lot better than my original method.

6. I insulated the water lines

7. I added more copper on the back of the fan for more heat exchange.

8. I made another version. https://www.instructables.com/id/home-made-air-conditioner-version-two/#