How to Build a DIY Portable AC (Swamp Cooler)

Cool down with this DIY portable AC made out of parts you might have sitting around the house. Here's how to do it.

Read the CNET Article for more info:

0:00 Intro
0:06 What you'll need
0:32 Drilling the holes
1:08 Inserting the Liner and the PVC Pipes
1:35 Cutting a hole in the lid
2:20 Adding Ice
2:30 Final Result

#diy #airconditioner #diyprojects

[Eric]

Having just made my own DIY cooler / AC, I can tell you this won't do much. You might get a trickle of cool air out of the three tubes for maybe an hour or two before your ice turns into a bucket of warm water. I did something similar using a 50 qt cooler, except I added a small pump and ran the ice water through a transmission cooler (radiator). I set a fan behind the radiator to blow air through it. I load it up with 20-30 pounds of ice and it'll last 3-4 hours tops (it's more like 2.5 hours of cold air plus 1-1.5 hours of cool air).

If you want the math...melting one pound of ice takes 144 BTU's of energy. Once the ice is melted, it takes 1 BTU to increase the temperature of water by 1 degree (F). So if you've got 20 pounds of ice in that bucket you'll get 2, 880 BTU's of cooling power from melting the ice, plus another 800 BTU's to warm the water up from 32F to 72F. About 3, 700 BTU's of cooling power if you load that bucket up. It's certainly better than nothing, but it's not going to be anything close to a real AC.

You get some nice cool / cold air blowing over you for an hour, maybe 3 if you use a really big cooler. It's been a nice stop gap for us since our upstairs HVAC went out. My DIY solution is enough to help my daughter fall asleep, and by the time my ice runs out the ambient temperature has come down. I'm not kidding myself though...I ordered a real portable AC to get us through the rest of this year. Next year the federal government will literally be dropping money out of helicopters for anyone wanting to upgrade their HVAC...so I'm waiting for that.

[Lines]

Your air conditioner is a fan and ice. I think I invented that first. I've found that getting cotton shirts wet and hanging them up to dry in a room will chill the room considerably. Really works.

[witness]

Air conditioners don't use water.. you've made a swamp cooler..

[aull]

Crazy how upset people are getting as if this ISNT a DIY video, that costs less than $10 and good for camping/portability.

[Aragorn]

For the 6 people who actually do this...I hope you enjoy it 🤷

[michaeld]

My only advice would be to put some type of grating inside the bucket to hold the ice and make your four pipes lower than the ice level.

[Whowhatwherewhy]

Actually use similar in my grow tent. Works really well bringing temps down 3-5 degrees. When it’s hot, a little makes a big difference. Condensation cooled air in a bucket. You complain, I’m chilled.

[mrdonetx]

I love how people call this air conditioning. This relies on water's heat capacity and evaporation to cool. Adding ice just gives you cool air until it melts. If you live in a very humid area your ice will melt much faster because the circulating water is pulling heat from the air and the water (humidity) in the air out. Humidity is just water which has the same heat capacity as all water melting the ice which is frozen water. You will have condensation build up reducing the available surface area of the circulating water to cool air, etc. If you live in a dry climate go for it. Living in a humid climate you will waste more energy trying to keep ice in there than if you just bought a small a/c and plugged it in.

[sqttube]

Get a window A/C, even an old, used one. It would be many times more effective and it would cost less to operate. And please don't call this "contraption" an air conditioner.

[jessicachavez]

I was wondering if you put ice and dry ice dry ice will make the ice last longer and colder? Please let me know what you think ?

[zero]

The term for this is “swamp cooler” yeah? It’s an older concept.

If you google “DIY swamp cooler” it’s full of this.

[GopherM]

Why not use a Styrofoam cooler instead of the bucket? That way it is already insulated and the ice would probably last longer even though you are blowing the fan on it.

[dpharr]

In another 10 years that will be the only way to get AC in California

[jezza]

Great way to introduce mold into your home in some climates!

[reldahr]

You'll need to get the ice from someone else's house for this to work indoors

[Mb-vzze]

Nonsense! This will make your already humid room much, much more humid!

[jeffbaker]

I would freeze 3 gallon jugs of water. When one gallon is melted put it back into the freezer and grab a frozen one.

[artjom]

Your fridge will produce more heat inside when you freeze the water that this bowl might cool

[frinkfronk]

or buy a second hand box air con for $50 and put it in your window. thank you for the video though it was fun.

[toptens]

Wouldnt it be better if you pressurized the water to be frozen at said room temperature