Anyone using DIY ice chest AC?

[MrWednesday]

Saw this  ice chest ac unit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ITtlxjvLQis and wondered if anyone has experience with these. How well do they cool? Can you cool an entire room this way or is it really only a "personal" type unit?

[dragoncar]

It might work OK in a specific spot, but where are you getting the ice?  Your refrigerator will just make the kitchen hotter generating all your ice.

[MrWednesday]

It might work OK in a specific spot, but where are you getting the ice?  Your refrigerator will just make the kitchen hotter generating all your ice.

You might be right, but I don't sleep in the kitchen. This site has estimates for energy cost for producing the ice as compared to just using a window ac unit. http://usefulstuffonly.blogspot.com/2008/06/cost-to-make-ice-for-homemade-air.html Looks like it might be worth experimenting with.

[El Marinero]

It might work OK in a specific spot, but where are you getting the ice?  Your refrigerator will just make the kitchen hotter generating all your ice.

Too true.  You just don't get something for nothing, energywise.

Window AC units are getting more efficient.  A 5000 BTU Energy Star model uses less than 470 watts when it's running, and it moves the heat outside, not into the kitchen.  Also, it looks a lot less funky.

[DollarBill]

I made something like this when I use to live in the dorms in Korea. I was laughing at everyone complaining it was hot. The Air Force wouldn't turn on the A/C until it hit 85 degrees for a week straight. It missed that goal by one or two day for 3 weeks.

I've been wanting to experiment with making a peltier air conditioner and run it off solar. Wonder it would be worth trying?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F02KKw4uOY

[DollarBill]

Here's another twist on the redneck A/C. This way would keep the humidity down and would keep the ice longer. Just need a cooler, small radiator, cooper tubing, 12v fan, 12v water pump and some wood. Also add some rock salt to the tank.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_NmRaEbB18
I might build one and experiment.

Part 2 with more details
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bQkLLd0uDiI

[OSUBearCub]

I wanted to give this thread some life again after seeing the video below using even cheaper materials/foam cooler:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3YvF4eVQO0#t=146

They're cutting down the awesome, mature, shade trees around my apartment for hurricane safety.  Plus side - I can finally play around with a solar panel kit.  Down side - the Florida sun will be more of a factor in keeping my apartment cool as it beats down on both sides of my apartment now.

Who's put one of these together and how well did it work for you?

[Gone Fishing]

Put the coolth right were you need it.  Freeze a bottle of water and apply as needed. Fast, cheap, and easy.

[naloj]

Wet towel works just as well.

[OSUBearCub]

Wet towel works just as well.

Do you mean a wet towel in the cooler compartment or a wet towel on the neck?  Our heat index is over 100 degrees every day of the summer.  Cool showers and moist towels don't cut it for me. Ha ha.

[MrWednesday]

I used a cooler chest like in the video I posted for about 2 weeks as a supplemental ac unit for my dog while I was at work- It kept the room he was in (bathroom) noticeably cooler so I could leave the house ac higher. However I have gotten lazy and I was driving my my SO nuts with this sort of penny pinching behavior so I stopped. Its good for a few degrees- it definitely works, but does take some effort.

[Runge]

I made something like this when I use to live in the dorms in Korea. I was laughing at everyone complaining it was hot. The Air Force wouldn't turn on the A/C until it hit 85 degrees for a week straight. It missed that goal by one or two day for 3 weeks.

I've been wanting to experiment with making a peltier air conditioner and run it off solar. Wonder it would be worth trying?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F02KKw4uOY

You'd be better off just running your central AC unit off solar than the peltier unit. Peltier's have 1/4 the efficiency of typical compression cycle units, and they're much more expensive per BTU. It's simply not cost effective to cool large spaces with peltiers. They're really only useful in cooling/heating small, localized zones such as computer CPU's, ice chests, car seats, and other gizmos.

Fell free to do the math yourself, it's pretty simple actually.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoelectric_cooling