Homemade air conditioner

Step 3: Submerging the pump and testing it out

I bought a foam cooler to hold my coolant(ice water), as I have easy (free) access to both water and ice. Once I had it all hooked up, with one tube going from the pump into the heat exchanger, and another from the heat exchanger back to the cooler, I submerged the pump and plugged it in. At this point you'll be able to tell whether or not you have leaks real quick. If you do, just shut it off and tighten things up. If you've got a hole in your copper tubing from over-zealous bending, you might have a tricky problem to solve. I didn't have that problem, so I couldn't begin to tell you how to solve it. (I am partial to JB Weld for all things broken though) I've noticed that towards the end of the copper tubing, I'm not getting any condensation, which means by the end, the water has lost it's cooling effect. When I get a bigger pump, the water will flow much faster, and hopefully won't warm up as much. Well, that's about it, any suggestions would be welcome!

Comments

[club81]

Doesnt your ac make alot of condensation???

[monamontgomery]

I am trying to figure out a way to keep the condensation from becoming a lake in my living room. Maybe I'll find a way to drink it.

[robcull]

An easy quick fix for condensation making a mess is to direct it with a piece of string. A water droplet will run down a string (like sewing thread) as long as it's at a steep enough angle; almost like a wick. If the condensation is beading up and dripping off of a particular point on the tubing, tie a piece of thread there and run it down to a bucket/pan for collection. Then, at least, it won't be pooling up on your floor.

[UART]

Try using a larger rubber hose, insert the condensated one inside it and gravity-drip it back into the tank for better efficiency (fan must be higher than tank & coil loop must end at bottom of fan or make a drip pan and hook hose to that).

[Justdoofus]

(removed by author or community request)

[Highjumphero]

I think you need to think about your claims. People are using this information for their own projects and false information will give them false hope about there outcomes. Four heater cores brought the temprature down colder than ice? Ice will only bring temp down to 32° in perfect conditions. Also to get any "cooling" from a fridge compressor you would need a condenser coil, evaporator coil and a expansion valve. An air condioner does not create cold, because "cold" is just the something is less hot, All an airconditioner does is move energy (heat) from one place to another (inside to outside), or in the case of a ice water system it takes heat out of the air and puts it into the ice water. So your compressor hooked to a heater core hooked back into the compressor would just circulate the coolant not compress it, and the heat from friction in the compressor woud heat the room up.

[Justdoofus]

(removed by author or community request)

[Highjumphero]

Justdoofus, First of all, I was not trying to undermine you. I was merely questioning the infromation you provided. I did not want it to mislead other instructables readers. For instance, this sentance "I have made one with 4 heater cores and it brought the temprature down into the twentys .." Seems to imply that you cooled the room down to the twentys. Also when you state " I have taken the output of the refriderator's compressor line and connected it into the input of the heater core, and the output into the input of the compressor .. ." It makes it sound like you did just that, hooked a compressor to a heater core and the heater core into the compressor. How am I or anyone else going to draw any other conclusion out of that? Thus the sentance is misleading. Did you read what it says in the little red box below the comment box? Now in your last post you personally attack me

[Justdoofus]

HighJumpHero;

I sincerely apologize for my immature answer to your question, I didn't mean to reply like that, let's just say I wasn't in the best of moods. So I apologize for that.

.. Yeah, I reread what I posted, and I see the confusion here, I hope you forgive me for what I said, and I honestly didn't mean to attack you.

[billw129]

I have the solution to all of the rust and saltwater problems. Just get a pump that does not need to be submerged. Get one that has an intake and output nipple on it for hooking up to tubing then run from your output to a plastic tube that goes to the coil of copper then from the copper output put a plastic tube that goes in to the cooler and forms another coil. then back in to your pump. Fill the system with antifreeze. Now your copper tubing is isolated from the salt water and you actually get some rust prevention from the anti freeze. Oh and BTW fill the cooler with ice, rock salt, and salt water this will super cool it. It will probably form Ice on the coil rather then condensation.

[UART]

For those of you having condensation problems, you'll have to take your condensation hoses (coil supply lines) and put them into a bigger plastic hose. This will insulate the lines AND return cooler water into the ice tank, making it more efficient. The only thing you'll have to do is elevate your fan and build a drip pan out of either cut-ziploc or larger rubber hose cut half way placed at bottom, then feed that to the larger hose to 'steer' condensation into the ice tank. For even best results, use dry ice (if you can) and NOW you can target temps in the twenties!

[PIman]

I am a PI and want to make a rig to cool my van(130 F). I need suggestions (& spelling tips).

[South Texas Connection]

STC here: You want to cool a van, huh... OK, do this -- Get a car or truck heater core from a junk yard, any kind.. Now get a bilge pump (pump for draining water out of a boat). Ice chest & hose to fit. Put the pump in ice chest with hose connected to out put of pump. Run hose to heater core & output of heater core back to ice chest. Now connect a small fan in front of heater core so the fan is pulling air through the heater core, not pushing it. As you know: You can do more work with a vacuum than with pressure. Place crushed ice in chest with one gallon of water. Now as the fan & pump are 12 volt just fix a plug so they can be plugged into the lighter socket. WALA COLD AIR................ If you put the heater core & the fan in a small box it will work much better. I used this setup some time back in my little motorhome when we were camping in the boonies. Had us looking for the covers... Nother though, If you had a solar panel that put out enough current, you could run this thing all day from it and keep that van cool all day, just add some ice as required. will work to keep a tent cool too.. many uses. STC we gone

[Swapnil242khadke]

hey hae u done this project ????
and if yes then does it cools as ac or not

[hshah-1]

yes it cools the as a ac i have tried it......it atleast makes 5-10 degree difference

[divyang6478]

I am living in India and here there is so much hot climate, i have made so much thing from instructables Please tell me what, if i use a radiator of car and fan and make the same as above shown, so it will work or not?? your reply is important for me.

[eskimojo]

(part 2) So we wanted to tap into that potential for quick cooling while mobile and compact(ish). Luckily professional sports already did the foot work. They made a jersey that has tubing attached to it and then the tubing has cooled water run through it. This was our jerry-rigged version plan. 1 Jersey(of no sentimental value) as much clear tubing as needed(the kind you can get at a pet store) a cheapo electric-water pump(12v) or fuel pump(we work at an auto parts store). some wiring + accoutrements. small 12v battery water(as use would be limited) Cold source(ice packs, ice blocks/cubes, frozen water bottles) a water-tight container. sew the tubing to the jersey, concentrate on the upper back, shoulder, neck area, in zig-zag pattern, coil tubing around cold source, clamp all connections, attach pump to power source and you have yourself a quick and dirty cooling jersey! you can wear it and it will bring your core body temperature down.

[eskimojo]

Why try and cool the whole van when you can just gool personell(sp?)? My friend is fabricating a Big Daddy suit(from Bioshock 2) and we have heard horror stories about the heat generated in large suits so we had a brain storming session. Basically your blood along with being the life-essense in your body(providing nutrients and sugar to your body's components and removing toxins, exchanging oxygen/CO2, etc) is essentially the cooling/warming system of your body.

[brianroesch]

I'm interested in cooling down my car too for Private Investigating. I'll just perhaps get a portable a/c unit and small gas powered generator. (silent generator).

[maxpower49]

i'm working on a mini air conditioner that uses a 12 volt boat pump, a mini fan, and a inverter for cars and stuff.

[PIman]

Let us know how it works out.

[maxpower49]

i'll post it soon

[PIman]

How would you not die from the fumes? My small fan makes a loud noise. I have rigged s cooler with a fan that blows in?downward from the top an fore air over ice blocks and then out vent. Melts in the hot van, but i works for a short time. Any info on ac units would be great.

[brianroesch]

Pop the trunk a little and drag an extension cord around to the inside through the window into you a/c unit. Swamp coolers are cheaper than the a/c units. If you have a van you can mount the generator to the roof and cover it with a plastic box to protect it from the rain. The charging power pack inverters are not good because the watts are not enough. Gas powered generators are the best.

[PIman]

Swamp coolers work well in dry areas mine is humid(very). In the PI biz the box on the roof would be noted and then expose me. I like the concept though. Where are you a PI?

[brianroesch]

A CC license is an intern license. Anyway, I hope you find a device to help cool you off. Running the car while parked all day is not good, especially when the companies only reimburse milage. A friend of mine suggested cutting three holes in the top of a large cooler filled with ice. Next, place three battery charged fans (one in each cut-out). One fan blowing down into the cooler and two blowing up.

[brianroesch]

I'm not a PI yet----just training to be one down in Broward county Florida. Still deciding due to wear-and-tare on the car. I may just stick with my night job.
I'm currently working as an intern to get my CC license and in about two years my C and hopefully go on to my Agency license if all goes well. It's fun work, but very HOT!

[bo88y]

Until you find your more permanent cooling solution, it can help to keep a plastic jug of water in the car to sprinkle generously on the roof when it gets heated up by the sun. First you'll get some evaporative cooling, and then some conductive cooling. When the roof's too hot to touch, even water that's warm (from sitting in the car) can take a lot of the heat out of the metal in the roof and keep it from radiating into the interior. When my AC broke, I'd do this before opening all the windows, and it would make the car much cooler to get into on hot days. If you're sitting on hot days, it may well be worth it to close up your windows to wet down the roof once in a while.

[jwhite42]

Hers my idea to fix the condensation, place the fan on top of the cooler and drill a hole through the fan into the top of the cooler and also insulate the lines running from and to the heat exchanger that should reduce if not kill the condensation and keep your water cooler longer

[jwad123]

thank you

[el Pipo]

For better performance, you could divide your 1/4" copper pipe into 3 separate shorter coils, as 1/2" pipe will easily feed 3 x 1/4" pipes at the same volume of water. You'd have to figure out a way to put a couple of T's at the outlet of your pump and reduce them to 1/4".

[ladyharley05]

why can't you substitute copper tubing with the plastic tubing (black/orange) that you use for evaporative cooler?

[Tannius]

Plastic is an insulator. You wouldn't get nearly the cooling effect that the copper pipe allows. Metals, especially copper allow for rapid temperature changes for heat exchange. That's why they don't use plastic tubing for moonshine stills.

[spa31rky]

Hey......how would you know about the moonshine stills???? Hhhmmm???? I didn't find one on here .....yet!.

[exaran]

I had an idea to expand on some of the other comments:  Use the 2-Liter bottles filled with salt water, and put them in the cooler filled with anti-freeze or some other corrosion-resisting liquid to extend the life of your pipes.

Then you don't waste water, and don't have to worry about corroding pipes.

[ozzfreak]

you say it looses the cold, why don't you insulate the tubing up to the fan? that would help a lot i'm sure.

[Thenwcp]

mmmm...asbestos haha

[iwade4fish]

Put a rotary/dimmer switch controlling the fan and you have a crude way of controlling how cool you get... totally impractical but, hey, it works. Nice job, sir!

[incidentals]

There is a mix of salt and ice that will result in freezing mixture the water wats to melt the ice wants to freeze but each cant, the temperature will drop to about -4 centigrade and can be maintained for a considerable amount of time the exact quantities ,but the recipe must be on the web. If I find it I'll report back! An improvement on the pipework might be to wind it as a spiral onto the face or rear or both grills this would allow for easy bends and remove the need to open the fan assembly. You could simply "tiewrap" (plastic ribbon things) the pipework through the plastic guard grill. You could also wind the pipework around the whole fan housing so that the fan both suks and blows through the pipes. if your pump is upto it why not produce a small (short)constriction in the pipe that way you would get the "expanding things cool" effect it might help keep your resevoir colder longer still.. You lot at instructables have got me thinking! Thanks

[Sandisk1duo]

The salt in the water will rust the inside of your pipes! and no-one likes green, rusty, water It will eventually destroy your pump/pipes byt clogging them with rust

[Thenwcp]

That's when you don't use copper and use one of the several metals resistant to Saltwater corrosion, which is pretty much any alloy with a Nickel base or even just plain Nickel. Monel 400 is just copper and nickel

[lksmith]

only problem with that is Monel tubing is very high in cost, at least the monel tubing that we use at the chemical plant that i am located at. You'd be better off changing out the copper tubing periodically vs monel tubing

[Thenwcp]

So true haha, regular nickel is decently priced though

[lksmith]

if you are concerned about corrosion, 316 stainless would offer more bang for your buck compared to nickel and it wouldn't be much stiffer (if at all) than copper tubing

[Sandisk1duo]

but copper it soo flexible!

[Thenwcp]

No worries Nickel is pretty flexible, US currency has quite a bit in it, that and tin.

[Alpha2904]

Copper doesn't rust, it corrodes.

[Sandisk1duo]

good point

[Kray]

DON'T PUT ICE IN YOUR WATER OR ELSE YOU WILL CLOG YOUR PUMP!

[Thenwcp]

Filter/Strainer will solve that

[lukeyj15]

STOP SHOUTING!!!!

[btop]

Hahaa.

[Derin]

no you wont
1 in.³(1 cubic inch) of solid water vs tiny water molecules

[mizzcrowley]

Instead of bending copper tubing, what other metal tube or piping would work? I thought of using 2 copper grills from the back of a refridgerator and linking them up with plastic tubing. Another thought was wondering how a car radiator would work. Put the fan behind the radiator and blow the air through the ice water circulating through the copper coils.

[Gamernotnerd]

They would be filled with freon, not a good idea unless they're already detached.

[john12692]

yeah don't take the coils off the back of a refrigerator or a/c (even if its dead) unless you want to breathe in cfc's and destroy the ozone layer

[Akh_cd101]

first of all you will spend more money on water and ice than if you were using a brand new electric ac unit butt you have a vary nice idea, its one of the better ones i have seen so far

[ki10]

That is very probably true, but s/he mentioned that s/he had free access to the water and ice at work, whereas s/he would be paying for a unit. Also, that would probably not be allowed. I think this solution is better for the poster than most people, but it's really ingenious within the rules!

[lukesaber]

I have some genuine constructive input! when you make the coil for the fan, have the cold feed come in at the top, and zig-zag the pipe from left to right, until you get what looks like an accordion. the exit (warm) should be at the bottom and then come back into your resivoir. the reason behind this is that heat rises, and cold falls. by starting your cold off at the highest point, you gain efficiency instead of trying to draw it up. next point! copper is one of the best materials to use because of its excellent conductivity. if money is no object, buy gold! :P last but not least... if you can, insulate the lines coming to and from your components. any extra heat gathered from the return line will only melt your coolant faster. enjoy!

[lukesaber]

oooh. sorry. i wanted to add some more! you did a great job by the way! PS - if your ice melts too quick, use some 2L pop bottles, and use a saltwater mixture in them. toss them in the freezer and youll have oodles more time. plus, theyre reusable! whee!

[pinkhairkid]

I made this with a pedestal fan It works great I just need to figure out how to get enough ice my entire ice make only supplies enough for two loads of ice

[hleon]

Dude, you need to cut holes near the top for your pipes, and eletrical cord!

[Ev]

Here's a tip.... fill 2 liter pop bottles with drinkable water, leave a few inches of air for expansion. Put in freezer until solid. Put some tap water in cooler, enough to cover the bottle(s) and the pump. You can easily remove them for refreezing, no messy ice to deal with. Keep extra in the freezer for replacement. The large size lasts longer than individual cubes. Another tip... turn the temperature down on the freezer if you can, the colder ice will last longer. Drink the water if you want! If the "working" water gets funky, change it or put in a few drops of bleach.

[DeltaDuc]

have anyone thought of just using the fan and place it behind the ice water and blow the top of the surface for the cool air? it wouldn't last as long but it's more efficient. My friend built this and his didn't work very well, he said.

[moep]

Put a couple cups of salt into the water: the temp will drop a number of degrees and you'll have a more efficient cooler. Make sure you use plastic stuff for submersibles.

[JoshOrama]

Cool tutorial!

I had a similar idea only using well water instead of ice-water and blowing the air throw a tube with a copper pipe spiraling through it. In Florida, we're all relatively close to the water table so it wouldn't be expensive at all to use a small shallow well pump and the water would still be a chilly 75 degrees or so by the time it reached the pipe. Solar-power it and you'd have the ultimate off-the-grid Florida air conditioner.