Home Made Air-Conditioner
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Not So Effective
The fan and Water pump draw more than 55 watts and of coerce he it not even counting the cost of freezing the ice, and this homemade cooling device either will remove NO HUMIDITY from the air or it will drip and throw water all over the place, LOL.
This little $200 home made A/C makes a New $200 Samsung 5000 BTU A/C look pretty good and I guarantee that the SS will not only work 5 times better but it will cost less to run. How do I know this, well I tried to air-condition my bedroom this way when I was 12 years old and it did not work well, LOL, this guy is old enough to know better, he certainly provides no proof of the effectiveness of this device.
John L.
The fan and Water pump draw more than 55 watts and of coerce he it not even counting the cost of freezing the ice, and this homemade cooling device either will remove NO HUMIDITY from the air or it will drip and throw water all over the place, LOL.
This little $200 home made A/C makes a New $200 Samsung 5000 BTU A/C look pretty good and I guarantee that the SS will not only work 5 times better but it will cost less to run. How do I know this, well I tried to air-condition my bedroom this way when I was 12 years old and it did not work well, LOL, this guy is old enough to know better, he certainly provides no proof of the effectiveness of this device.
John L.
warmsecondrinse
Well-known member
It sounds cool but... I'd like to know the temp differential between the room air going into the fan and the 'conditioned' air coming out.
1. I'm not clear on what happens with the water in the bucket. Does it just drain into the bucket full of ice and the pump sends the now cold water back to the fan?
2. You could prob keep the water cold longer by putting some frozen blue ice into the bucket or ice chest.
3. I notice the guy didn't factor the cost of initially freezing the water into his costs. The water didn't freeze itself, lol.
4. Wouldn't there be condensate dripping from the fan?
5. Just how many Btu's would a gallon of ice absorb? Would it necessarily be high enough to make a real difference? Yes, I know it'd depend on the temperature of the freezer from which the ice came. 1 lb of ice from 0F to 60F is 60 btu's. Add 144 for the phase change and you have 1701.36 btu's absorbed by one gallon of water (8.34 lbs.) Or is my math way, way off?
if you don't do the math, this seems like it'd work, but wasn't this tried in the late 1800's?
Jim
1. I'm not clear on what happens with the water in the bucket. Does it just drain into the bucket full of ice and the pump sends the now cold water back to the fan?
2. You could prob keep the water cold longer by putting some frozen blue ice into the bucket or ice chest.
3. I notice the guy didn't factor the cost of initially freezing the water into his costs. The water didn't freeze itself, lol.
4. Wouldn't there be condensate dripping from the fan?
5. Just how many Btu's would a gallon of ice absorb? Would it necessarily be high enough to make a real difference? Yes, I know it'd depend on the temperature of the freezer from which the ice came. 1 lb of ice from 0F to 60F is 60 btu's. Add 144 for the phase change and you have 1701.36 btu's absorbed by one gallon of water (8.34 lbs.) Or is my math way, way off?
if you don't do the math, this seems like it'd work, but wasn't this tried in the late 1800's?
Jim
I think a regular air-conditioner would draw more electricity than freezing/chilling some water, then passing this through a fan.
Regular A/C's draw into the kW's of electricity - although smaller systems would be around 500-800w of electricity.
So I fail to see how a regular system would be 'cheaper,' when the fan and compressor will pull easily 10x more power.
Such a system that produce condensate like this would work very well in hotter climates where the heat is DRY not MOIST - due to the evaporative cooling effect. I imagine the air produced would also be several degrees cooler than the room air.
If one had all these accessories sitting around, not doing anything useful, I think this would be a worthwhile project for cooler, dryer weather. Sweltering heat needs refrigeration, not swamp/evaporative cooling anyhow.
(i.e. On a 104° day, an evaporative system can only take it down to about 86° - an improvement, but certainly not when you factor in the "sticky" factor with that. )
Regular A/C's draw into the kW's of electricity - although smaller systems would be around 500-800w of electricity.
So I fail to see how a regular system would be 'cheaper,' when the fan and compressor will pull easily 10x more power.
Such a system that produce condensate like this would work very well in hotter climates where the heat is DRY not MOIST - due to the evaporative cooling effect. I imagine the air produced would also be several degrees cooler than the room air.
If one had all these accessories sitting around, not doing anything useful, I think this would be a worthwhile project for cooler, dryer weather. Sweltering heat needs refrigeration, not swamp/evaporative cooling anyhow.
(i.e. On a 104° day, an evaporative system can only take it down to about 86° - an improvement, but certainly not when you factor in the "sticky" factor with that. )
whirlcool
Well-known member
This is kind of like those water chillers we see in the desert areas of the U.S. if used in a very dry climate the evaporate from this system may not drip, but provide a little bit more cooling. But we are talking Arizona or Nevada dry.
In a place like the midwest or south where it is hot and humid, this would be a mess.
In a place like the midwest or south where it is hot and humid, this would be a mess.
Actually...
Now that I think about it...
I believe they were using something similar to this at Suvarnabhumi (English: Bangkok Intl. Airport) at each gate...
Little towers about the height of a human with something like a louvered survace (That was flat). Standing near you could hear hissing and coolness. Anywhere else was, not cool! Seems they have chilled floors and those "things"
Now that I think about it...
I believe they were using something similar to this at Suvarnabhumi (English: Bangkok Intl. Airport) at each gate...
Little towers about the height of a human with something like a louvered survace (That was flat). Standing near you could hear hissing and coolness. Anywhere else was, not cool! Seems they have chilled floors and those "things"
Well its a clever project but it doesn't do anything useful.
Remember that if you melt a full ton of ice that is basically the equivalent of 12,000BTU in 24 hours, gallon jug weighs a bit over 8 lbs. There isn't much cooling capacity there.
The efficiency of his home brew coil at transferring heat out of the airstream is pretty low too, there just isn't enough surface area. I question if one could even measure any change in the airstream temperature that would happen from simply turning the pump on then off again. Sure it feels cool, moving air does that.
Finally, in the video you see a refrigerator in the background. What is the likely hood that the ice was made in that freezer? If so he is now just removing the heat that making the ice put in the house! He could cool the room just as effectively by just leaving the fridge door open...
I still encourage all forms of experimentation, its the best learning that there is. But you have to learn physics too and be sure to test to validate the experiment in the end.
In a way it reminds me of a project I tried when I was 11. I had learned that by spinning a DC motor it would generate power. So I took two identical motors and coupled them shaft to shaft axially and cross wired the motors. I wound string around the shaft and gave it a good pull. Imagine my surprise when the motor/generator didn't just spin on forever. My first practical example of efficiency
Remember that if you melt a full ton of ice that is basically the equivalent of 12,000BTU in 24 hours, gallon jug weighs a bit over 8 lbs. There isn't much cooling capacity there.
The efficiency of his home brew coil at transferring heat out of the airstream is pretty low too, there just isn't enough surface area. I question if one could even measure any change in the airstream temperature that would happen from simply turning the pump on then off again. Sure it feels cool, moving air does that.
Finally, in the video you see a refrigerator in the background. What is the likely hood that the ice was made in that freezer? If so he is now just removing the heat that making the ice put in the house! He could cool the room just as effectively by just leaving the fridge door open...
I still encourage all forms of experimentation, its the best learning that there is. But you have to learn physics too and be sure to test to validate the experiment in the end.
In a way it reminds me of a project I tried when I was 11. I had learned that by spinning a DC motor it would generate power. So I took two identical motors and coupled them shaft to shaft axially and cross wired the motors. I wound string around the shaft and gave it a good pull. Imagine my surprise when the motor/generator didn't just spin on forever. My first practical example of efficiency
Probably work better if an old radiator was used in place of the coiled tubing in front of the fan-more coil surface area exposed to the fans airflow-like in a regular AC system-wether refrigerant or chilled water.Some have called this sort of thing a "Hilbilly AC"May work-but what about the ice-guess you make frequent visits to the ice machine in the shopping center parking lot?This would only work in a DRY climate-Ie like Southern Calif,New Mexico,Arizona,Nevada-those sort of places with desert like dry heat.
This guy made this like lots of hospitals and larges building have had. A chilled water system. I remember lots of movie theaters had these. Our hospital had the hot water and cold water heat and air. That way the mechanical parts were only in the boiler/chiller room and the rooms had the wall type hanging radiator with the fan for helping cool.
en.wikipedia.org
Chilled water - Wikipedia
twintubdexter
Well-known member
I think this was a lot easier...
A block of ice in a pan with a fan (GE of course) blowing air over it.
From the old "General Electric Carousel of Progress" at Disneyland. An early idea of "air cooling." How well I remember the spiel GE made at end about how the residents of their artifical city loved their "friendly neighborhood General Electric nuclear power plant"...times change. Keep cool, it's 12 noon and already 110 outside.
A block of ice in a pan with a fan (GE of course) blowing air over it.
From the old "General Electric Carousel of Progress" at Disneyland. An early idea of "air cooling." How well I remember the spiel GE made at end about how the residents of their artifical city loved their "friendly neighborhood General Electric nuclear power plant"...times change. Keep cool, it's 12 noon and already 110 outside.
The plant where I work has two 150 ton chillers-two compressors per unit.Right now only one compressor in each unit is going.Light heat load at night.During hot weather-all of the compressors are running.Out units use "Hot Gas" condensors.The heated,compressed gas goes to the condensor units on the building roof.The liquid refregerant returns to the water cooled evaporator-the cooled water goes to the air handlers.In winter both the boilers and chillers run.For humidity control.I have to verify all of this equipment is running OK on my shift-if not report it to the building engineer in the morning.
Bad for adults romping around,too-a condensate pan is needed!And someone to empty it!
