This project is my dad's $10 solution to a $500 solution to a $25,000 problem. As I have previously mentioned around the site, my Dad owns an electric 1979 Ford Courier pickup, and is cool enough to let me drive it around. We absolutely love it, and wouldn't trade it for a Tesla Roadster, but one of the few problems with electric cars is heating and cooling. In a gas car, heat is provided by the 80% of the gas that is wasted as heat, and air conditioning is provided by a crankshaft-driven compressor system. Many EVs use hair dryer elements and fans for heat, and some, ours included, feature a powerful gasoline-burning heater.
(Update from 4-22-08: I'd forgotten that I mentioned the gas heater on here. Last fall the gas tank and heater were removed, and a ceramic heater was built in. It works great, although not quite as fast, and doesn't use gas.)
However, air conditioning is trickier because the shaft of an electric motor doesn't always spin. Some have used a compressor driven by the motor shaft anyway, while others have turned a compressor using a separate motor. Finally, my dad came up with part of the concept for this system. It pumps ice water through an evaporator core, which has fans that blow air through it. It is very simple, but we found what we were looking for at Sporty's Pilot Shop. They sell air conditioners built into ice chests for prices ranging from $475 for a basic model to $625 for a 24V, dual fan model.There is also an ArcticAir unit for $4750 with a full compressor unit. However, we like our $10 version better. I saw the ArcticAir display at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh this summer, and our unit is more compact and puts out cooler air. All you need is materials, basic construction/assembly and wiring skills, and a bag of ice. Let's go!
Update, 5-12-08: 100,003 views! Yay! I'm no Kipkay, but I'm still proud.
(Update from 4-22-08: I'd forgotten that I mentioned the gas heater on here. Last fall the gas tank and heater were removed, and a ceramic heater was built in. It works great, although not quite as fast, and doesn't use gas.)
However, air conditioning is trickier because the shaft of an electric motor doesn't always spin. Some have used a compressor driven by the motor shaft anyway, while others have turned a compressor using a separate motor. Finally, my dad came up with part of the concept for this system. It pumps ice water through an evaporator core, which has fans that blow air through it. It is very simple, but we found what we were looking for at Sporty's Pilot Shop. They sell air conditioners built into ice chests for prices ranging from $475 for a basic model to $625 for a 24V, dual fan model.There is also an ArcticAir unit for $4750 with a full compressor unit. However, we like our $10 version better. I saw the ArcticAir display at EAA AirVenture Oshkosh this summer, and our unit is more compact and puts out cooler air. All you need is materials, basic construction/assembly and wiring skills, and a bag of ice. Let's go!
Update, 5-12-08: 100,003 views! Yay! I'm no Kipkay, but I'm still proud.
Remove these ads by
Signing UpStep 1: Background and How it Works
This project is very similar to the ArcticAir Package Unit. In fact, I attached two pictures of it I took at AirVenture this past summer. It looks almost identical to ours, and we built this without ever seeing a picture of the inside! The basic concept is to use a boating bilge pump to circulate iced water through a heater core, then use 12V fans to blow air through that core, which cools the air and pulls out water through condensation.
Advantages: Very compact and portable, lightweight without the ice, no environmentally not-so-friendly chlorofluorocarbons, hydrogenated chlorofluorocarbons, or hydrofluorocarbons, very quiet, and operates off 12VDC, AKA a cigarette lighter. The only disadvantage is that it the ice will melt after 30-60 minutes of operation, depending on the size of your cooler. However, it was built for an EV, so we are only ever out for an hour or two maximum, and the ice lasts longer when it's not running. The third image on this step shows the operation. Have I convinced you to build one yet?
Advantages: Very compact and portable, lightweight without the ice, no environmentally not-so-friendly chlorofluorocarbons, hydrogenated chlorofluorocarbons, or hydrofluorocarbons, very quiet, and operates off 12VDC, AKA a cigarette lighter. The only disadvantage is that it the ice will melt after 30-60 minutes of operation, depending on the size of your cooler. However, it was built for an EV, so we are only ever out for an hour or two maximum, and the ice lasts longer when it's not running. The third image on this step shows the operation. Have I convinced you to build one yet?
Visit Our Store »
Go Pro Today »
I'm glad to see that another person built one, and even more so because it's in the application that KoolerAire was trying to gyp $500 for.
My air conditioner is in a helicopter! Yay!
I was wondering if I could pick your brain, get your opinion and what not. I'd like to use this concept, but marry it with the solar ice maker idea. And try to make it into a self-contained air conditioning system that could replace the AC unit for a 28' - 30' class C motorhome. Basically, it seems to me that I would need to scale down the solar ice maker and scale up your design to make it work. Would a 100watt solar panel be enough to run the mechanical parts in your design, do you think?
Could this design work with a larger heat element? Do you think it could cool a motorhome of that size (which is a relatively small space, usually about 95 - 150 sq. ft. of space)? The way I'm thinking is whatever melt ice is coming out of the heat element can be routed back to the ice maker, so it's essentially on this continuous loop with minimal amounts of water lost.
Anyway, sorry for the questions. This is a really exciting tutorial, though. Thanks again for posting it!
The basic design could be scaled to any size. I won't presume to make an estimate on how well it would work to cool a motorhome, but it could at least blow cold air on your comfiest chair.
I'm not familiar with solar ice makers. With the amount of solar panels you're talking total, I wonder how hard it would be to find a high-efficiency traditional air conditioner that you could run off those panels instead.
Super Cooler! Peltier Heat Sink & Fan
http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G19056
It's kind of like knives: what's safer to work with, a dull blade, or a sharp one?
1) Installed cooling fans and connections inside the lid between the heater core and the top of the lid to keep it neat
2) Two large fans blow over the heater core into the ice chest
3) Added a small fan to blow the cold air out
4) Added a 4" corrugated plastic hose to direct air
Used it for the first time today in our 4 seat airplane. It worked pretty well, even in the 90 degree heat. Dropping the humidity in the cockpit made a huge difference!
I only filled the ice chest half way with ice, water, and a couple frozen water bottles. Next time will will fill it up higher...
Don't use your hand as a clamp.
I put this cooler together for a total of less than $150 .
I had the 12V 230 cfm 4â bilge blower fan (~$30 now, Attwood 1741), a junk car 5âX7âX ~ 2â cabin heater core (~$15???), 4â dryer hose/clamps, wire, connectors, misc parts and pieces.
I purchased a 12V 500 gph bilge pump (Wal-Mart Attwood 4606-7, $18.66), some ¾â hose, a few clamps, a 4â dryer adaptor, some fuses, the intake HVAC diffuser with control lever (Home Depot aircraft supply), a 12 V on off switch, & the 48 qt cooler box with drain (Walmart, $25). Total about~$86 incl tax
It took about 5-6 hours to put together. Worse thing was cutting the insulated cooler to fit the parts in. I used construction adhesive and SS wire/screws for most of it. Total cost<$150+ my time as an educational endeavor.
On a 104F TX day (today here), it cooled the air to 65F until the pittance of water/ice from the refrigerator test ran out. (I didnât purchase a couple of ice bags-will test that next-you put about a qt or so of water in to get the pump/exchanger to work).
4â Fan draw at 230 cfm=3.5 A at 13.6 V; 500 gph bilge pump=1.5 A. I used a 7.5 A fuse.
This is a really great Instructable! It really got my creative juices flowing, thank you so much for that!
In the teardrop, if you are camping next to a stream, you can use two long hoses and a funnel to catch the water flow, divert it to the Teardrop where the pump can take over and pump it up into the teardrop. The teardrop is cooled and then the water is returned to the stream! Call it a "Gone Green A/C Cooler!" Hey, come to think of it, that would supply the Teardrop with a source of water that could quickly be purified using a ceramic filter for consumption!
Is there any substitute for heater core?
Doesn't matter.
Coil of copper tube? Anything like that.