Monday, June 13, 2005

Homemade Air Conditioning!

This little site is just one of those where you read it once, read it twice, read it three times, and then it finally hits you just how incredibly cool it is. This poor college student was unable to afford a decent air conditioner, so he took his engineering knowledge and put one together out of common stuff lying around the dorm. It runs on hose water and a common fan, and if it works at all then it is a great idea!

Here's the basic setup. The garbage can is filled with ice water, which is then fed by gravity (a siphon) through the copper tubing coiled along the back of the fan. The hot air passing through the tubing warms the cold water, cooling the air. Waste warm water is then pumped outside.
The system will cool an average room to a comfortable level in approximately 15-20 minutes. Depending on flow rate, a full bucket of water will last approximately 1-3 hours.
It doesn't rip quite as hard as central air, but for less than $30 CAD I'm not complaining.
You have got to love ideas like this on the net. It proves just how powerful it can be to get small but profound ideas out there for the masses.

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