Ice Box Air Conditioner

by chr

247K17486

Intro: Ice Box Air Conditioner

This gadget will save your life in the summertime!
Out of desperation, in the summer of 2002, I made this improvised "air condition" unit. 2002 was the warmest summer in years, and i almost melted!

This might sound like a joke, but it truly does work. You don't need to cool down the entire room to feel comfortable. Cooling down the air in your immediate suroundings is sufficent to keep your cool.

Read on to find out how to stay cool using scrap parts you probably have lying around already.

Please rate it, if you like it :)

STEP 1: Cutting Out the Parts

To make my air conditioner, i used:
1 2-liter ice box
2 ice box lids
1 80mm PC fan
1 fan grill
1 12 Volt transformer, or any other power source from 5-12 volts.

STEP 2: Mounting the Nozzle and Fan


STEP 3: Enjoy

Fill the container with ice. Or ice cream, if you like that vanilla aroma in the air :)

The temperature transfer happens at the surface of the ice, so the more surface, the colder the air will get. Ice cubes makes really great cold air, but melt fast. A solid block of ice doesn't get you that cool air, but can last for hours.

Hope this can save your summer too!
Rate it if you like it :-)

89 Comments

ridas 8 years ago

what is the side effects of dry ice on lungs ???

if we are make homemade air conditioner is it safe for us

Partybot 8 years ago

Dry ice is frozen CO2. Releasing a cloud of CO2 in a small enclosed space is dangerous and should not be done as it could cause asphyxiation. Only use normal ice.

NewD 8 years ago

and no one answered....

lmcguire 12 years ago

construction of vent isnt necessary. cut a slit and tilt upward. also instead of ice you must replace use ice packs or capped plastic bottles of ice. modern ice packs stay frozen much longer than water. will work much better than a solid block because more frozen surface is exposed. i knew a guy who would do this and pour rock salt over the ice. i dont know how much cooler that would make the air but i would think it would be a bit cooler.

Mastros 12 years ago

Adding salt to the water will make the ice taking longer to melt. Perhaps it alters the melting point, I guess. And one should try for as larger surface as possible, by putting the ice in smaller bottles rather than in just a big one.
Also, force the air to travel as much over the ice (ice containers, ice cubes) as possible, before letting it come out to the room.
I've just read these in other comments, somewhere here.
-.

SuperTech-IT 10 years ago

I think you meant the salt will make the ice not last as long.
Now if you were to put salt water in the freezer along side your ice tray, putting the ice water (or maybe it actually froze) in the container first and then add the ice to it, and the cubes may actually last longer because it will be colder than the ice. Unfortunately, the salt may cause the ice to still melt faster. Someone would have to try it to find out for sure!

lmcguire 12 years ago

no need to construct the paper vent. just make a slit and tilt it up.

interfazhumana 13 years ago

Wonderful! Now I'm going to make one with a heinekeen keg, let's see what happens :)

JdotN15 13 years ago

us a frozen heatsink lmaooo

jvan0907 13 years ago

Let me guess 5V Hmmm. USB powerd would be usefull

Gonazar 15 years ago

If you used crushed ice or a bunch of ice cubes, supposedly adding table salt will stop it from melting faster... i dunno i think i saw that on popular mechanics when they made ice cream. =P

MrBippers 15 years ago

Adding salt to water lowers the freezing point. It's done with ice cream to allow the water to get colder than zero degrees Celsius. Adding the salt will also lower the specific heat, the amount of heat required to change the temperature, of the water resulting in the ice melting faster.

airsofter1 13 years ago

Yes the ice will melt faster but the air will be cooler coming out. Your choice if you want it to be cooler for a short amount of time or warmer for a long time.

airsofter1 13 years ago

What type of connecter did your fan have?

tiggerbob 13 years ago

One possible way to cool your house is by an evaporative cooler which uses water evaporation to cool the air. This works well in dry climates; however, in more humid climates, one would need to dry out the air before it enters the cooler. One possible way to do this is to make a frame with screen over both of the open areas.The frame is filled with pellets of water softner salt and set over the intake of the evaporative cooler. When the salt gets too moist from removing water, one could set the frame with the salt still in it in bright sunlight. it would be a good idea to build two frames and fill them with salt so while one is in use, the other could be drying.

johnny3h 14 years ago

Your suggestion of trying Pykrete is neat, BUT... even though Pykerete WILL melt slower, that is because the wood fibers act as an INSULATOR, AND thus SLOW the transfer of heat.

That slowing of heat transfer, although extending the "life" of the ice, conversly slows the absortion of heat which is the point of any air conditionsing/cooling device.

Good thought, but bad idea.

nutsandbolts_64 14 years ago

Pykrete, I know its a special kind of ice hmm... isn't it 15% sawdust and 85% water I also know its stronger than average ice and it melts slower But I don't get what you want to do with it, I mean no one nows wat to do wid it
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