"Green" Air Conditioner (DIY)

[DriftingSand]

We never had a/c in the house in which we were raised. But there was a whole house fan in the second floor ceiling. which really helped. Still, I remember horribly hot days and nights. We'd freeze water in those half-gallon wax milk cartons and place them in front of the basement door, then turn on the big exhaust fan.

I grew up on southern California. All we had my entire childhood was a cheap fan. My dad would place it in the hallway, open all the back windows and face it towards the front room. Later, he splurged and got another fan for the front room. LOL.

 

[Abraham3]

Mamooth is right. The only efficiency in your A/C unit is that it is very localized. The efficiency of freezing a gallon jug of water in your freezer is not horrible, but the heat transfer in your bucket is abominable as is the efficiency of moving air with an open fan. You can get a window shaker AC unit that will provide equivalent cooling for probably less than a fourth the cost of the freezer it took to handle that milk jug and four times the efficiency with your electric bill. And you don't have to wait three hours for the thing to freeze.

But, if I ever find myself in an uncomfortably hot environment and I just happen to have an electric fan, a 5 gallon bucket with an insulating liner (that I will never need again), a drill, some PVC, a hole saw that matches the PVC and a freezer filled with frozen gallon jugs BUT NOT ENOUGH MONEY FOR A CHEAP WINDOW SHAKER, I'll know just what to do.

 

[DriftingSand]

Mamooth is right. The only efficiency in your A/C unit is that it is very localized. The efficiency of freezing a gallon jug of water in your freezer is not horrible, but the heat transfer in your bucket is abominable as is the efficiency of moving air with an open fan. You can get a window shaker AC unit that will provide equivalent cooling for probably less than a fourth the cost of the freezer it took to handle that milk jug and four times the efficiency with your electric bill. And you don't have to wait three hours for the thing to freeze.

But, if I ever find myself in an uncomfortably hot environment and I just happen to have an electric fan, a 5 gallon bucket with an insulating liner (that I will never need again), a drill, some PVC, a hole saw that matches the PVC and a freezer filled with frozen gallon jugs BUT NOT ENOUGH MONEY FOR A CHEAP WINDOW SHAKER, I'll know just what to do.

I have to disagree. I have a full sized, "EngeryStar" freezer full of frozen foods. I actually keep frozen water jugs inside in case the electricity goes out. Those jugs will help keep everything inside cold during that period of electrical down-time. My freezer is set for zero and it's working day and night to keep my food frozen whether I put another jug of water inside or not.

My plan is to add two or three additional 1-gallon jugs of water to the freezer so that there will always be a frozen jug immediately available. I know beyond the shadow of a doubt that my central air conditioner bumps my energy bill up anywhere from $50 to even $100 per month. Compare that to the very short time my freezer takes to freeze a jug of water and my monthly savings will be significant. Toss in the fact that I will use a solar panel to power the small fan ...

I guess the proof will be in the pudding. I'm going to test the system this summer to see for myself. I'll report back as I see the results.

 

[Abraham3]

The evaporation coils in an air conditioner were designed from the ground up to transfer heat as efficiently as possible. The same cannot be said for a one gallon jug full of ice - whether you're talking about the transfer out in your freezer or the transfer in in your chill bucket.

How is it that you can afford a large freezer but cannot afford a small air conditioner? Your bucket is a nifty piece of handiwork, but it will never match the efficiency of a manufactured, freon-based air conditioner. If you use more electricity accomplishing a given task - and you ARE using more electricity - you are NOT being green.

 

[Abraham3]

I don't know where you live, but how about this idea: several colleges and industrial facilities located in temperate areas that get snow in the winter but have to use AC in the summer, have taken to collecting the snow they have to scrape off their parking lots and sidewalks. The snow is piled up in a convenient location and plastic tubing is lain down with the snow as it is accumulated. The snow is covered with reflective tarps. When the weather warms up, water is circulated through the snow and the chilled water is used to produce chilled air for nearby buildings. I thought it sounded a bit cockamamie when I first heard of the idea but it seems to have actually worked, though I'm not sure it was worth the labor of accumulating the snow, stringing the piping and the small loss of real estate. But, it's an idea.

Personally, I've always wanted to build stuff like this: Passive cooling | YourHome or Arizona Solar Center - Your Guide to Solar and Other Renewable Energy Sources in Arizona - 3 - Natural Cooling

 

[DriftingSand]

The evaporation coils in an air conditioner were designed from the ground up to transfer heat as efficiently as possible. The same cannot be said for a one gallon jug full of ice - whether you're talking about the transfer out in your freezer or the transfer in in your chill bucket.

How is it that you can afford a large freezer but cannot afford a small air conditioner? Your bucket is a nifty piece of handiwork, but it will never match the efficiency of a manufactured, freon-based air conditioner. If you use more electricity accomplishing a given task - and you ARE using more electricity - you are NOT being green.

It's not a matter of what I can afford or not afford. It's a matter of efficiently cooling myself during the hot, summer months. I don't need to cool my entire 4 bedroom house and basement while I'm sitting in my recliner playing Skyrim. All I need is some cool air directed at me and me alone. The bottom line is that I know better than anyone on earth what my electric bill looks like during the summer months. The huge price jump comes as a result of using my central air conditioner (even when I use it sparingly and close the unnecessary vents throughout the house). When my wife and stepson were still here then the central air was necessary but since they're gone I no longer need that much cold air flowing throughout the house. As for window units, they're an eyesore (in my opinion) and just another entry point for a would-be burglar.

So ... using the the .5 amp fan with a solar panel and a jug of ice WILL be GREEN (not that the "green" movement means a thing to me) and I'm moving forward with my plan because I will use less electricity when it is all said and done. I guarantee it.

 

[eagle1462010]

It's a cool little swamp cooler project. Don't know how much it will really save, but in the south these swamp coolers put humidity in the house. AC units take the humidity out. These small projects will cause the freezer to be on more to freeze the ice, so I don't know if the actual savings are worth it.

Even given that it's worth the trouble to experiment and see if it makes a difference.

I would suspect that a geo system would do more. While it will not kick out ice cold air it would kick out cooler air as under the frost line the temperatures are constant no matter the temperature in the air. Perhaps a small solar pump, a few small solar panels, a ditch with rolled pvc pipe into a custom radiator would with a solar fan would do the trick.

I've actually thought about trying that myself to see if it makes a difference as it's HOT in the summer down here, but I'm concerned with the back yard mechanic system putting humidity in the house which defeats the purpose of cooling the house and if it put's out too much moisture it could actually cause mold in your house which isn't a good thing. Which means a true system would have to have a dehydrator built in to extract the moisture as it cools the house.

Anyway good luck with the experiment.

 

[Abraham3]

Those systems weren't meant to be alternatives to central air with forced ventilation. They were meant to be alternatives to open windows.