$100 Homemade Air Conditioner - DIY

It's ridiculously hot in my workshop, so I built a homemade air conditioner using a cooler, box fan, water pump, and tubing. It circulates cold water through tubes in front of the fan that then blows cold air through the room. Watch to see how I built this machine for only $100.

*requires frequent ice*

All of the ad revenue from this video will be donated to the American Red Cross to help those affected by terrible tragedies such as Hurricane Harvey.

[Jason-wcfh]

Well as an HVAC tech I have to say this would work in theory. Not sure exactly what the delta T would be infront and behind the fan. It would certainly be better with some form of aluminum finned type copper tubing. There's also the law of thermodynamics that energy cannot be created or destroyed... Which means the heat energy that exists within that room is simply being transferred into the cooler. Heat is energy that moves to something cooler... So the real question is how long will it take this contraption to cool the garage before the cooler itself has absorbed too much heat and the water is now just as warm as the room? It realistically cannot change that heat energy into something cooler. it can only be transferred from one place to another.

[banditquest]

A few years ago I built an AC based on the same principle as this one. I uead a 1 sq foot solid block of Ice in my chest then filled it with cool water. It cooled great for about 12 minutes, then the heat was transfered to the water. The Ice block completely melted and the water heated up. In less than 45 minutes, my Ice Chest AC unit was pumping out air that was just as hot as the room air. It is very impracticle. If you can transfer the Heated water away from your room, this would work. For example, get rid of the Ice Chest and Draw your water from a pond or stream that has cool water during hot days. Have the system return the water to the source, then you have successfully removed the heat from your space. This kind of system would work.

[seetheforest]

I used to have a shop next to an ice plant. It had two big ice machines that ran all day long and expelled about 5 gal a minute of very cold water (about 38 to 42 usually) with all the minerals left over that didn't freeze into ice. I ran it into a igloo cooler and pumped it into the building and through a a/c cooling coil with 4 rows of tubes. It got clogged with scale after a few months and started leaking. I built a cage of stainless tube and ran a 4 tube manifold system that worked pretty well. It wasn't like ac but it was cheap and it got the temp down to 76 some mornings in my 2000 sf shop.
As for a cooler full of Ice I don't think it would effectively cool a small closet with a 20 pound bag of ice and a few feet of copper tube. You don't have enough cold (BTUs) and you don't have enough coil to move any cold. The ice will work great for the first few minutes but if you are in a hot place you would do better to put wet rags on your head and arms and keep beer cold as you can in the cooler.
I also used to get hundreds of pounds of ice that I would do into my cooler cage and run the fan with that. I have melted tons of ice with a box fan in my days. A cooler full of ice is a few dozen BTUs an hour.
The cooling is psychological.

[brufadeve]

Good work Ben! These people who are quick to complain should be more supportive and constructive in their comments. Why others feel they have to tear people down is perplexing. So how many of you who made snide comments have a youtube channel? How many videos have you all made? Keep building and keep posting Ben, you always have my support . The way we get better is by sharing ideas and thoughts without the fear of ridicule.

[nmcalmond]

You could also insulate your garage doors with rigid foam sheets. I did this and it brought the garage temp down by about 20 degrees.

[w-]

I once had a similar situation. First and most importantly you must insulate the garage door. In my case, I was able to use 1/2 inch thick Styrofoam sheets that dramatically cut down on the heat transfer. I then utilized a portable air conditioner that only required a small opening to vent out the hot air. My method cost about $300 but on a 100° day I could cool this garage down to 75°.

[goofsaddggkle]

Just for the fact that you put some thought and effort into this build I give you a thumbs up young man!

[JonathanHolt]

I'm curious the temperature difference with this, would have liked to see that digital thermometer do a before and after

[jeannegenevieveconstancewe]

we wanna seethe temperature testing after your homemade ac unit runs in the garage

[dutchboy]

OK, I had HIGH hopes for this cooler. The theory sounds great, and I was hoping it would really cool the air. Nope. It sucks. My apologies to the people I replied to about their comments on here, I tried it and it DOES NOT WORK! I even filled the cooler almost full of ice, and you can't tell a difference in temperature 3 inches away from the fan and coil. Don't waste your time or your money. Go get the portable unit from Lowes or Home Depot.

[timjones]

I did this with a smaller cooler. One thing I will say is that you don't need a lot of water. Just enough for the pump to recycle it through. You have to really pack it with ice. Otherwise it will melt really fast and the water going through the tubing will start to get warm. That's the key. PACK IT with plenty of ice.

[MrDgwphotos]

For pretty close to the cost of that, you could buy a real AC unit.

[davidsirois]

It would have been nice to see the comparison between the before and after on the fan. It will surely be cooler after the fan contraption is built. What I like is you could at the end of the day take the melted water in the cooler and freeze it over night. Moreover, yo might actually be able to bury the cooler somewhere and pump the water from there. The ground typically keeps a natural temp of about 50 degrees. It is a cool project and is meant to keep things cool for a short amoutn of time.. Maybe insulate your garage door as well.

[rrizz]

Recently had some time on my hands, and most of the materials to try this, knowing going in that it was likely a waste of time. I was right. useless.

[dustinnunez]

I'm in the New Orleans. It gets insanely hot here and humid. I made one of these earlier for about $80. I think I got a smaller pump but perfect for this. It's made for 3 foot fountains. It may be from the humidity but my copper line condensates like crazy. I had to make a hole for it to drip into.

[darkodimitrijevic]

Hey, you have forgot to measure the Temp. (for us) after installing this device....! Or could you put at the very end of the video like a subtitle that info. Please. Thnx :)

[dpjbdpjb]

nice rig for sure . but you can drill a round hole, then feed the cable through and install a grommet for a tight seal and complete the electric cable construction

[adamsmith]

I built one for less than $50 basically the same but used items I had on hand. I used a fish tank pump. The pump was about $11. The most expensive item for me was the copper tubing. Worked great.

[RAMtheRAM]

First minute in: oh yeah I got this, that looks easy


Five minutes in: Yeah ok I'm not doing that

[laragreene]

The thing also about a home made A/C is if it stops working you can easily and cheaply fix it. 😃 My window a/c stopped working and I have a wet towel around my neck and sitting in front of a fan....and a fan behind me. Its working good to keep me cool lol. The fans are cooling the towel!!! Its temporary until I decide what I want to do. I really enjoyed your video!!!