This is absolute genius, it can be easily solar powered and also turned into a heater. I will make me couple of those and spread them around the house. THANK YOU GENIUS

thats a great idea. another thing to do, instead of having the tubing inside the tub with water and ice packs, you could use another radiator and dump that in the tub with the icy water. the metal will get SO cold and act as a further cooling solution so the water will be colder when it hits the radiator with the fans on :)

Thank you for sharing your time and these encouraging results. I had this same heater core based idea cross my mind over the past couple of years, after watching a video featuring a cold copper coil zip-tied onto a box fan. I knew we could do more efficiently. You have given me confidence now to actually spend money on my own compact design without worry. I propose a version that has the coolant sealed inside a vessel that can fit fountain pump in the opening, like a half gallon mason jar, or something. I also propose using cheap vodka instead of water. The Russians historically used vodka as a superior coolant in some of their older military aircraft. This way you could drop the vessel into the bucket without needing to worry about priming the system before each use. Thanks again

Great build. The 5 gallon bucket with a lid and grummets to keep all cold air tight for as long and possible. Plus rap the bucket in an insulation. Boom a win win cold all day DC 12v air conditioning. Awesome.

Brother DS02, Great movie!! I fwd this to a couple ppl and mentioned that, if using the 5 gallon bucket method, a couple one gallon milk jugs, filled 3/4 of the way, or so, would be cheap and easy to rotate from freezer to bucket. Keep up the good work.

Love the mini heat exchangers - great idea. 2 things that would help the time run longer: 1) put the ice/water in a thermos (something insulated). You could notch 2 holes in the side lip for passing the tubes. 2) insulate the tubes with neoprene like insulation. With these 2 things you'll be better able to control the area cooled.

Thanks for making this video, please make more and keep up the good work 🙌

this dude literally is a genius

Love your experiments. I can tell you are not married, as no wife would allow the pieces of your previous experiments to be set around (like under your table and beside your bed). They typically ruin fun stuff! LOL

One of the best idea so far....

Excellent. Thanks for making and sharing this video.

Great!. Moving out of my home into an RV soon. This will be great. Hate, hate, being hot!

it's a great airconditionner to put in the kitchen !

The paint can is a great idea for the cooling Reservoir. Just needs some way to insulate the paint can and the lines. If you could set the cooler on the top of the can make the hose fitting be all inside the paint can and only have you wires for the fans and pump coming out the lid. Would help make the Ice block last longer inside

Fantastic! Thanks for sharing your invention would like to try to build one of these myself.

I've been watching videos for making these for 2 weeks and this is a great idea using the trans coolers. I am going to use this method and install it into a 50qt. cooler but am researching the best ways to make cold temps that last the longest balancing the radiator size with just the right amount of water flowing through it so my ice/cold water will last longer.

Been following your progressin on these units, like your work, i have most everything i need to build one, but for me its a must instead of a project i have an older peterbilt truck that i have to drive this summer, it has a well insulated cab but never had ac, for $3500 i can put a/c in it but i dont plan on keeping it after this season, so Im gonna build a cooler like yours and hope i can have cold air all day, keep up the good work and i will get back with you on my findings, gonna use as big a cooler as i can and jugs of frozen water, nothing ventured nothing gained. Again Thanx and keep up the good work.

Just an idea. But what if you placed a second radiator submerged in a bucket of salt water with maybe dry ice packs, and the liquid going between the two radiators being a closed system. Then potentially mixing in some antifreeze to the sealed system, depending on how low the temperatures drop.

Take one of these out on the boat for a days fishing and drop the tube right in the water, keep ya cool without bothering the fish or using up the ice in your cooler 😁

Project looks fun👍 You could maximize cooling by a makeshift duct between the fan supply and coil. That way 100% of air the fan is pulling would blow across 100% [entire surface area] of the coil.

I like that concept... you should try to add pool noodle to the inlet and outlet lines for insulation to possibly get even cooler results!

It's an interesting design. Although if you go 9 to 10 feet down in the ground. It's a study 50 to 60° year round. So a simple air pipe technology can augment your heating and cooling greatly.

I am currently making one of these using a 48 quart cooler and the same mid sized radiator you used (mine is about 7.5 X 8.75 inch). I cut holes into the top of the lid for the two tubes, so the radiator sits vertical on top and its tubes go directly in/out of the cooler. Almost no tubing is outside of the cooler. The only holes in my cooler are for the two tubes and the pump power chord. However my fan is also smaller than the radiator like one of your examples (lots of radiator space around the fan not getting airflow). Do you think that is inefficient? Would it be better to enclose the radiator somehow so that it gets a more even air flow through the whole area of the radiator? I am trying to optimize getting the most out of my ice before it melts. Really enjoying these videos. This was the perfect idea to cool down my room as well as my car for road trips (AC is broken) Plus I love DIY projects like this.

Awesome videos my friend! Why not make air conditioning fun! It really is if you like science experiments! Thiers so many ways to design a.c units! And honestly I wouldn't be surprised at all if you stuble across some design that has never been used before! I used a similar setup for my parents green house except for heat! Works really well they said and the heater was a cattle water heater on a thermostat in a large tote! Computer fan lights very neat!!!

You should run the water in the bottom and out the top to avoid bubbles. It seems to work well, anyway. Nicely done!

I’m thinking of trying this in conjunction with a chiller. It’s too bad glycol chillers used in fermentation are so expensive, but hydroponic garden water chillers are a little cheaper. Im trying to build a system to cool three heat sinks and a radiator for air cooling and spot cooling on the heat sinks that get pretty hot.

Same concept on how a chiller works. Air cool chillers cool the water at 55 degrees. Pumps are used to push the chill water into the evaporator coils. Blower motors push air into the the evaporator coils and cools mega buildings. Return water pumps into a water tower. Nice miniature chiller 😎

Great idea ! Thanks, water pump and fan can be 12 volt and solar compatible !

I made one of these a few weeks ago using a transmission oil cooler with a thick walled foam cooler. (Like they ship lobsters in) I mounter the fan with the heat exchanger onto the lid and drilled holes for the input and output lines to go into the cooler. I stuck in 4 large ice blocks (Made from freezing water in qt. size potato salad containers) and had my 4w adjustable output pump set to the lowest setting as was my fan and the air off the fan was 54 F. Nice and cold. My problem was, all the ice was gone and the water was room temperature (85 f) after only 45 minutes. My heat exchanger is too efficient I think so I need to restrict the water flow through it. If I could get 68 f air out of it I am sure it would last much longer. I still have more experimenting to do. I am using this in a small bedroom that does not get much of the ac from the heat pump.

I have even done dry ice and antifreeze on larger scale. Built a unit out of a ice chest….my liquid coolant recipe is still being worked out but it is some ratio of the following: sea salt dissolved in distilled water, antifreeze & vodka. I am still playing with configuration in ice chest but basic premise is a 3 gallon bucket with lid fastened to floor of ice chest with metal mixing bowl filled with either regular ice + rock salt or dry ice depending on the volume of air to be cooled & size of coils. In the lid I have quick release couplers to attach exterior hoses. One of the holes will be for CO2 exhaust from dry ice which absolutely must be vented if camping or in tight space as it could cause loss of consciousness. The other two ports are for the flex hoses that I insulated myself to connect to coil radiators or booster pump station. I also have a power connector on the bucket lid 24V only that way everything can be disconnected and not have to take shit apart. In the bucket I put 2 micro submersible pumps mounted on sides of bucket that turn on automatically if there is liquid even if the main pump isn’t running so that things don’t freeze by chance. Then I have main pump in the ice chest mounted to bottom of chest. Pump is actually very strong and is electronically variable via a couple ways (will go into in a bit). The big pump has a relay lead to manually shut off, automatic emergency shut down and for thermostat. I modified an old ice chest and rebuilt it into a nice looking rugged device that just has ports on outside that are labeled for various hose connections, power, data, etc. so I won’t go into the radiator/fan thing because that depends on your own situation but the idea i had with the main cooling unit is to have all the brains and guts in one place. I am currently working on having battery bank in the unit so that it can run on a charge being I intend it for camping. I am also figuring out what to do about the CO2 exhaust if there should be a pressure sensor inside the unit and a valve to bleed off any gas. So I used a raspberry pi as onboard computer with wifi and Bluetooth. It has a tiny 3.5 in touch screen that I bought as a all in one case but of course the main interface can be accessed on any browser or Remote Desktop service. The Pi monitors everything but the point of it is to maximize efficiency and to act as a smart thermostat by throttling 12v fan speeds (more electricity is wasted when start and stopping vs constant variable) as well as the big daddy variable main pump (boosters if applicable). There are temp sensors on radiator coils, inside of egress/ingress coolant tubes, in front of fan (air temp) as well as inline flow/pressure sensors and coolant liquid level sensors…I also added several sensors that are round discs of absorbent cotton should they get wet it will shut the entire system down and an alarm goes off and if it is connected to wifi it will alert on your phone because it would be horrible if a leak starts and all of coolant pumps out flooding the tent/house or whatever. Anyways I have had many prototypes going back starting 10 years ago so I don’t have a final product. I have some finished ones to get an idea of design. It sounds like this is an expensive habit but as long as you know where to buy stuff used and where to find free stuff and trash to recycle. I am an engineer so the #1 step is to put pencil to paper and just start writing down ideas and sketching out some design ideas! Start very loose then start drawing out designs on some graph paper then go to computer to do some drafting, 3D modeling mock-ups with exact numbers shapes and lines, etc. it is easy to change the design in digital form and you can get exact measurements before building or buying the first thing. You can design anything when you know what you are doing with the right tools and software and computer science/coding/it skills. Learning AutoCAD (free open source alternative is called LibreCAD) & Google Sketchup Make (free) will start you on a journey of making a lot of money and solving tomorrow’s problem’s! I am working on modular design style and way of building underground in-hill tiny home off grid 100% self reliant & sustainable mini homestead with all the technology we are already used to, just more efficiently and healthfully! Stay tuned because you will hear of this project in the next decade. There is a whole team of us all over the world volunteering our time to engineer new technologies and community models that will address the human rights crisis seen all over the world.

love you're vids keep up the great work brother and thank you for doing the hard work for us..

I was thinking about doing this for fun and looked on YT and seen your vid. Was thinking about doing exactly this. Only thing I’d prob add is a shroud to go from coils to single fan so you get all the use of the coils. 2 fans is cool too but in my mind I’m thinking I don’t want too much flow or it would raise temps

I remember these ACs back when the ACs were barely coming out.🤣🤣🤣😂 I'd find them in old shops as a kid.

What are the small fans connected to? Would an AC power supply from an old gadget work as long as it provides enough volts and watts? Thanks for the great work you do! Once again you've given me a simple solution so I don't have to reinvent the wheel. I wanted a simple heat exchanger for solar heating my greenhouse in the winter and this idea will work perfectly!

That’s a very good concept and I commend you you are nothing short of a genius but I see one small problem. Try putting a shroud over that entire heat exchanger with the fenders so this way there’s no wasted energy just try it listen to me and I promise you you’ll get a little bit more colder air channeled through that fan thus wasting no energy and putting out more colder air 😝

So how big of a fan in relation to the radiator? I have a 270 cfm 4 inch inline blower. The radiator is a 7x9 and the water is icy cold but the radiator doesn’t stay cold very long as it heat soaks with the air coming in. I see you have double 120mm fans on one radiator and then 1 fan on another radiator. So my question is if there’s too much airflow would that cause it to heat up the icy air? I might just buy the 2 120mm fans and run that.

I used an ice builder system on my boat cabin. They work great.

There's interest out there for these..I'd stay on it !

I found a 6,000btu window unit in the trash for free, it works fine and I don't need to run a freezer to freeze ice. Yours would be great if you had an ice cold free flowing deep water well.

So amazing!!

I have always thought of doing that for SHTF. I have a small ice cube maker that will crank our ice all day long on 100 watts which will run off my solar. I HATE being hot, even if its the end of the world.

That is cool 🥶

cool idea bro,keepm coming....😃👍

Awesome vids:) happy to subscribe. I see you tried several ways to cool/heat a room:after your experience i would like to know what is the best way to do it:a radiator(heat exchange) or a copper coil method? Thanks for sharing

This is a great idea for a little spot cooler to blow on you for a few hours or maybe cool a bedroom! But it’s not a good solution for cooling a living space if the freezer you’re using to freeze the ice packs is in that same space. You’re just transferring heat from the air into the water, into the ice pack, then your freezer will transfer the heat from the ice pack right back into the air… and generate more heat in the process.

I've been watching what you're doing with your project and out of all the AC system designs yours in my opinion is the best by far. I'll be printimg a housing unit for mine on my 3D printer and installing it in my electric recumbent two seater pedal assist travel van that I'm building. Try putting a lid on your bucket and insulate it all the way around and I would imagine you will get 8 times more performance before you have to change out your ice packs. Job well done desertsun02.👍👍

Holy shit this is perfect for a grow tent

Mennn you are amazing..i have radiator, fans, pertier plates, pump etc etc..all what you have here..still im waiting and thinking HOW TO MAKE IT!? Yess this is The System i like..thank you~♧

Cool Video

How about compressor free absorption type refrigerator and air-conditioning using induction as heat source, they are starting to discontinue 3 way refrigerator in RVs ?

So amazing!! Living in Phoenix I have always wondered if there was a way to use evap cooling without the humidity. Now I know it is possible AND how it is done without making an outrageous electricity bill even worse. Your video is so on point, and the concept and build are understandable to the widest possible audience! Bravo! BTW, how could one make it quieter? Just wondering.....not a deal-breaker; anything that makes the power bill less than the mortgage payment is OK with me. I'm excited to watch your other videos to learn more! Thanks!!!

I'm thinking.use your trans cooler as in this video. If you have a 12vdc travel refrig freezer.put your cooling lines through the horizontal hatch cover with a type heat exchanger in the cooler. How much water do you put in the bucket to supply your chill lines? Any ideas.

What if you had a mini freezer with 3 holes drilled at the top one for the pump power cord and the other two for coolant feed and return. The internal radiator then sits in a shallow or deep bath of chilled anti freeze. The tubes run out and feed the external radiators that have fans attached. This way, the coolant lasts significantly longer would it not?

A good build, though I would insulate the hoses, and bucket, couple towels

ThankYou ❤

Might work Great in DRY CLIMATE..... Humidity requires a tray under the coil if dripping. If air velocity is fast enough though and humidity is reasonable, then there will not be enough Resident Time on the coil for moisture to condense out of airflow. Slow down airflow to Dehumidify. Increase airflow to flat out Cool ... there is a balance required for True Air Conditioning effect involving Dehumidification and Cooling. Same principles apply to full blown Central Air.... if insufficient dehumidification is occuring then you need look at Blower Speed setting. BUT BEWARE of EXCESSIVELY LOW SPEED AIRFLOW or Clogged return air filter resulting in similar low airflow condition which will cause Ice to form on Evaporator Coil and lead to System Damage if liquid refrigerant makes it way back to the compressor outside. YEAH... Went on a bit but point was to make comparisons and Educate.

Desert another great video. Ive made two of your chillers both worked great. Each had its own strong points. I’m going to make this one also for the reasons you pointed out! Keep it up brother, well done sir.

develop it or sell it !! so we can have A/C with out copressor . less hummed air and low power !! good job

Thank you so much! I live in a 200 sq ft studio apartment with my main living space being about 100 sq ft. I'm in Seattle so, for the most part, it's not too bad but it's miserable when it's hot because I live on the side of building where the sun is setting practically outside of my window and my apartment turns into Mordor. Anyway, I took a chance and got the materials for this because it b seemed simple enough and didn't require any major tools. I tried the small cooling fans but the ones I got just weren't powerful enough so I switched out for my Honeywell smallish fan. Though it has a bulbous back, it works and provides so much more relief than using a fan without some sort of cooling element behind it. I got one of those Gatorade insulated drink dispensers and have been able to get about 2-3 hours worth of cooler air. Because the tubes are coming out the top, I'm not able to get the top on so tomorrow I think I might try aluminum foil on the top to see if I can prolong the water staying cold. Also put some small microfiber towels under the cooler to catch the condensation drips. So far, so good. Thank you, again, for sharing!!

good job bro... you great

Would this compact version cool down a small living room a few degrees or is it just for spot cooling? Thanks for the video

I made one of these built a box around the radiator and put the fan on the out side. I built it for our work truck it dose really good but the ice melts fast. Gonna see if I can extend the life of the ice with a big cooler and some Insulating tape on the hose

I noticed you took reading right off the unit! But what was the temp in the room and how much did I cool the room to? Also how long will it room before you need more ice?

Its really beautiful. Its just that we can not make ice during a solar flare direct hit on earth when the power grid is destroyed.

I’ve been thinking of getting a 300-500 gallon heater holding tank. Burry it with a Accessible hatch. Run a inlet hose on the bottom and a outlet hose on top. With a pump to circulate the water throughout the house and use radiators with Fans on them to cool down our home. We also have Solar water heaters for our hot shower water. Install a Bypass to allow the hot water to also run through the same radiators in the winter to heat the house. I’m just a little worried because the hot water gets extremely hot because it’s in stainless tubes covered with glass and it gets extremely hot, maybe a Separate radiator in a isolated area and then ducted into home.

I wonder what would happen if you could leave that DC pump on and try to freeze it in like a bucket like maybe when it gets cold leave it outside when it’s gonna get like 10° or some shit I wonder if they’ll be able to freeze

Nice i like it. Do you have any information on the temperature drop of the cooling water in vs out and lenth of time till needing to change ice? Thank you

Oh hey look, an intercooler for a car in your home!

Have you tried a full 20 inch radiator for the box fan and see if there's enough static pressure to blow through it and if so cool a room?

can this be scaled up, using a used car radiator from a junkyard?

I’m new to this stuff but I get the brilliant idea of how this works. Quick question, so the same water that runs into the bucket is the same one that goes into the cooler? Meaning I wouldn’t have to refill this at all right(only the ice)?

I would like to have one of these to cool while sleeping. For 8 hours of cooling. Was thinking of running the AC a little higher and assist with one of these. Probably would take about 20 gallons of ice water in an ambient temp of 78 to start with. I hate to go thru the trouble to find out. Also, to cool the patio to at least a bearable temp for the dogs outside. Just to humid I'm afraid in Houston. They abandoned swamp coolers back in the early 70's

Place the bucket into a planting bag 2" or 3" larger in diameter than the bucket, then put insulation material between the inside of the bag and the bucket. Top the bucket with a round pillow or foam. That way, the ice will last much longer. I may give this a shot, Thanks!

Cool exprement u inspired me to copy your design but ill upgrade it by putting the water bucket in a mini frige run by a compressor just got to drill two holes for the pipes and thats it hopefully it be as good as any ac

How big of a radiator do you need to cool down a little room?

I was actually on Amazon looking at evaporators, can probably use a Thermose and braided tubing

would a Peltier running on solar work to cool the water enough to make this last longer than 2 hours?

I made one the radiator drips a large amount of condensation. Other than that seems to work well in my 6 x 12 trailer.

get a large terracotta urn, aka "amphora". the seepage through the unglazed ceramic naturally cools the contents to 4C. there are charts around for the actual drop in degrees for every unit of water lost. if you have 200 odd litres of water held at 4C, you arent going to warm it up much with this set up! all about thermal mass too. its not as limited as the swamp cooler is, still works in high humidity. though of course, its better when its dry... and yeah, enclose those coolers, all the air through the fan AND the fins. the slower the air through the cooler, the more heat sucked out...

is there Air Cooler like your made with heatsink pipe & Water, in Market Global ? what brand is it ?, many air cooler today only use filter cardboard

You can put one cell or two cells of the peltier in the aluminum container and it will improve but the heat generated must come out

MY IDEA EXACTLY!!! AMAZING HOW MY IDEAS AREN'T ORIGINAL

You make the ice with Igloo ice ball maker(with R134a refrigerant)? Why don’t you connect the heat exchanger tubes to the Igloo to reduce the energy losses?

So adding a pan with a hose for drainage and insulating the can to extend the coolness of the fluid....Shazam! Also if you have an efficient danfoss-like type rv-equipped fridge (think ICECO, Whynter, Dometic, etc), you can use the freezer section to continually replace the ice packs on your small living space. These fridges use no more than 40 watt/hours, so the whole ACTUAL setup for cooling your small RV/small truck camper/camper topper/minivan/full size van is about 50 watts +/- !!! Use this for your sleeping area at night or during the day your living quarters. Maybe separate the 2 areas using some bubble/foil for maximum cooling effect.

Very interesting, where did you get these radiators from, like what are they for, my guess is pc water-cooling radiators? Thoses are expensive though. Please link

What happenes if you replace the water with liquid nitrogen in an enclosed loop ? Is it possible

Have you run across a concave aluminum radiator (transmission cooler)? Id love placing one in front of a fan that has a convex shape.

what if you try to use a paitel cel ?

The setup looks very simple but is there any guide how to connect the parts up please? I totally dono about electric works but I need a small aircon for my pet that doesn't humidify the air surrounding. To confirm, this does not humidify the air right?

What would be the advantage of having a faster pump?

Awesome. I've got a dead portable AC unit. Might hack the radiators out of that and do something similar to you. ( Yes I will be careful with the r134a!!)

also im considering picking up a square version of the transmission oil cooler for a larger ryobi 18v fan.. ive hacked the fan (originally a mister) to instead use a peristaltic pump and im thinking of instead of pumping mist ill pump into the oil cooler.. any reason why its so compact? have you made a larger build? trying to get a solid 8 hours off of 2 1 gallon frozen watter jugz

Pretty cool..u should enclose it in a box so the air is forced over the entire heat exchanger..

how do we combined the solar ice maker to make this close loop off grid AC!! would be awesome!

what if you could use car a/c recharge for the refrigerant?

Is there a reason that you don't use copper radiator than aluminum. I going to assume pricing? Also, how long will you get cool air before having to replace ice blocks?

Would the fan be better behind it pushing the cold or in front pulling it?

So how much for the whole setup? I have a couple old radiators lying around I may try to retrofit them with something similar. Where do I find a sub pump motor like that one

is car evaporator will work better instead of that?

How long does it stay cool? Before the ambient temperature affects the system?