Forum Discussion

gitpicker2009's avatar
May 19, 2015

solar powered home made air conditioner!

I saw this on youtube and had to admire the idea.
I know it will not dehumidify, but it really will cool, AND you can run it off even the small 15watt solar panels.
One of those great "life hacks" that just works.
The guy on the video says that just one frozen 1gal. water jug can go 5 hours. Pretty cool.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HxSLbpAwibg
  • I made one for the boat cabin. It worked great but caused a lot of condensation.
    We built one using a Igloo cooler. Three bags of ice would keep you cold for about 6 hours. Outside temperature was in the 90's.
  • I think the fan blowing "cooler" air on you would have the most value.
    bumpy
  • If I did the math correctly, there are about 1200 BTU absorbed by a gallon of water transitioning from solid to liquid. Not really a lot of cooling power there, considering that would be equivalent to running a 13k BTU air conditioner for less than 10 minutes.

    Swamp cooling works well though in dry environments.
  • SCV, I noticed that too and flashed back to my Boy Scout days warning about never drawing a knife towards you:)
  • I also noticed a box knife, and a bare leg with the lid being carved toward the future emergency room patient.

    I would think the zero humidity in Quartzsite needs no ice at all, only water. But probably allot of it.
  • Notice in the video when he cuts the hole in the lid of the Coleman Polylite 34 qt cooler that there's absolutely no insulation in the lid, just hollow space. The same for the follow-on video made with the Island Breeze cooler. This doesn't matter for the air coolers they're making, but pay attention when buy a cooler to go camping. Let the sun hit the lit and the heat will go right on through to inside.

    Now all you need is an easy/cheap way to make a lot of ice while sitting out in the middle of Quarzsite......

    Other than that, it is pretty neat. You even put A/C under the MH or TT when doing some work on it.

    Bill
  • My GS built one for a school science project last year.
    It actually works pretty good for a small area.

    He used 16 oz. plastic bottles, it gave more surface area to cool the air.

    It's a cool project for kids, regardless of your age. :)