It May Be Fugly But It Should Keep You Cool

Thank Franco and his wonderful blog for this bizarre, home-made air conditioner (mechanical engineers just make me weak in the knees…)

 

Apparently, the above pictured DIY cooling unit can be made using the following inexpensive items:

• Aluminum repair roll
• Assortment of nuts, bolts, screws and washers that you may or may not use
• Durable waterproof silicone: GE Silicone II for adhesion to steel, aluminum, and wood (it’s the type of high quality silicone used for aquariums)
• 20 litre plastic bucket (pick a color to match your decor)
• A smallish plastic container (about the size of a spraycan lid)
• A small desk/floor fan like this one
• 3 silicone baking mats
• A few cloth strips

The instructions seem easy to follow:

The construction was fairly simple. It only took me a few hours. I used a 20 litre plastic container to house the heat exchanger and also hold the cooling medium which is ice-water in this case. I made the heat exchanger roughly 7 mm (0.7 cm) wide and 20 cm high to promote a high rate of cooling, and also to compensate for a shorter flow length than was used in the previous version. To prevent leakage the gaps were sealed with silicone (which happens to be DAP 100% silicone for this particular project – great stuff and it cures fast!).

For all the details, including a step-by-step (somewhat) illustrated guide, visit Assorted Tips.

If you injure yourself while making this unit, burn something down while running it or cause any other sort of harm to yourself, others or property, I am SOOOOOOOO not liable!