DIY "INDIRECT" Evap Air Cooler! (No Humidity!) 2 Projects 1 unit! tons of info! + AC Air Cooler Comp
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 พ.ค. 2022
- DIY Air Cooling! An Evap Air Cooler that produces cool air without adding humidity! it's easy to do! All Evaporative Air Coolers are classified as either "direct" or "indirect". currently, 95%-98% of the ones in use are the DIRECT type. this video shows how to set up an INDIRECT unit! Indirect systems are different in that they don't need any ventilation and, most importantly, don't add ANY Humidity to the inside air! they just pump out cool air! (*in dry or semi dry areas it feels the same as regular air conditioning). the unit itself is actually a two-part system and is made by combining two of my previous project videos (both easy DIY's). note that each project is a fully functioning air cooler on its own *but when combined they make a powerful indirect cooling unit! this video contains lots of info on how and why these systems work (plus how it compares to a "window style" AC unit). full instructions on how to build both parts (both units) are posted in separate (previously posted) videos (links to those videos are posted below).
Power Draw: 97 watts (measured with a 'kill-a-watt' meter). box fan/low speed = 47 watts. black fan/full speed = 35 watts. water pumps combined = 15 watts.
TIP: if you want to go even further you can turn this unit into a Two-Stage 'indirect' evap air cooler! (Two stage means that you're also using the humid 'exhaust air' to increase the units overall performance). one easy way to do this would be to direct the humid air onto the pipes that are entering and exiting your home. doing that adds the 'second stage' and helps increase the units efficiency.
IDEA: want a temporary blast of SUPER COLD air? drop some ice in the water. (that makes it an evap/conduction cooler hybrid for extra cooling.
NOTE: also included in this video is footage of two "solar panel powered" systems i've made. these setups can be run 'off-grid' using only a 12v solar panel (or a 12v battery)!
** THE VIDEO LINKS **
*Here are the youtube video links to each of my 2 projects (w/full builds, parts lists etc...).
they can also be found on the video page or in the playlist section of this channel ✔✔
BLUE CUBE EVAP VIDEO LINKS
the "blue cube" video (main version) • DIY Evap Air Cooler! B...
the "blue cube" video (taller version) • DIY Evap Air Cooler! ...
BOX FAN WITH RADIATOR AIR COOLER VIDEO LINKS
box fan conversion with radiator (main video) • DIY AC Air Cooler! Hom...
box fan conversion with radiator (with extras) • DIY Air Cooler! Homema...
SMALL FANS WITH RADIATORS AIR COOLER VIDEO LINKS
regular units • Homemade AC Air Cooler...
compact units • Homemade AC Air Cooler...
lastly, here's two links to the 12v off-grid (solar powered) indirect unit i made (shown in this video)
• DIY "Indirect" Evap Ai... (the full video with instructions and build)
• DIY Indirect Evap Cool... (same video without build or instructions)
🟢 UPDATE: just posted another video on indirect evap cooling showing how to set up a smaller version of this using one of my smaller evap air coolers and a small radiator. if interested, here's the link • DIY "indirect" Evap Ai... - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
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the cooling master is back, right before summer! I love your videos, thank you very much 🙂
hi there and thanks! yeah, i tried to time it so people could make it before the summer really kicks in. *i'll be posting several new cooling videos throughout the next few weeks 👍
@@desertsun02 Could you share the blueprint of this model?
I like your projects : your always very detail oriented and helpful with viewer questions regarding your projects.
hi and thanks! yes i try to be super detailed, especially with projects like this. my hope is that many people will make the unit or similar units to this. it's a somewhat untapped type of cooling that works awesome. very few DIY's have been posted on this topic so far.
Great Video, great ideas :) One way to make use of the humid air if you're going indirect would be to let it blow on patio doors. Seems like most of the houses out here in the southwest have sliding doors, major area of heat loss in winter and doubtless the inverse in the summer. Blowing the cold, humid air across the glass should result in a bit of thermocycling that will have a similar effect to a cold day without introducing any extra humidity inside. Bonus, if you have a patio, it will probably be more comfortable in that area outside. My idea is a really weak takeoff of one I had about running swamp cooled air between the outer house wall and panels set out that connected to the eaves, with the winds here it would be an engineering feat (concrete base along house, heavy anchors, etc) to keep any panel material from blowing away so I scrapped it.
Im always quick to click when I see a new video drop from you 😉
hi and thank you! hope you enjoy it! (i've actually been working on this one since last august).
The idea I have is have an insulted water container for the blue cube . I also want to make a solar still to produce some water to have for drinking and for emergency preparedness.
Hey brother, you've done a kick ass job on this stuff. I've followed you on and off throughout the years and you're always advancing - great job, and thanks for sharing.
you bet and thanks for watching! it'd be great if we could get these indirect systems to catch on. if you got the right humidity levels they are super.
@@desertsun02Even if these systems don't become primary, they can be used together with air conditioners during different months of year. For example, I live in western India exactly on the tropic of cancer (and I believe almost similar weather conditions will be there on ToC in whole world), and we have low humidity levels of around 20% in feb,march,april and 30% in May, most people in India use ACs at this time and most people have Individual ac's in their rooms as central ACs aren't popular here, so we can use this unit as a central AC if I put it on the third floor of my house the cold air will flow downwards and cool down two floors and even if I use ACs in the living room and stuff they'll still use less power. I'm going to make this system and will update you on it.
Good job and clever use of parts!
I was going to make a whole house indirect cooler by using a swamp cooler to exhaust into the attic space. The gable vent fan was a Buick 12 volt radiator fan that ran from solar panels with no controls. The fan started when enough sun hit the panels and it quit when the sun went down with no thermostat, voltage regulation, no batteries, etc. That ran for 5 years unattended. The attic would be 110F to 123F on summer days.
The project stopped after I had a rigid urethane foam roof sprayed on over existing 3 leaf composition shingles. The foam is about 1-3/4 to 2 inches thick with tab mineral granules mixed in the top coat. Even on very hot days the attic temperature holds in the high 80's. I also had a 120 vac gable fan with 95 degree thermostat that used to run for hours after the solar fan cut off. The foam roof insulates so well that the AC powered gable fan never goes on any more. I removed the Buick fan and solar panels when they sprayed the roof in 2019. For the first time in 30+ years that I lived here in this house, its finally cool in the summer and warm in the winter. The open beam ceilings over 1/3 of the house had zero insulation. The foam roof cut my heating bill down by an average of 44%. Nice considering energy costs have more than doubled here...39 cents a kilowatt hour now for electric, $2.40 per Therm for natural gas. You can walk all over the foam roof without damaging it. Its rigid!
I use the old swamp cooler running on low with a total of 405 watts (pump and fan) if needed, typically 2 hours after sunset when the house starts getting warm. . The temperature/humidity cooling chart is taped inside the cabinet door so I know what cooling will be expected. The swamp cooler runs from 120 vac power that comes from a home built 7200 watt hour solar generator which also powers an isolated kitchen circuit. It's nice to run the cooler, microwave, air fryer, Instapot, and coffee maker off of yesterday's sunlight. Shaving energy here and there has become my passion. I went from 30-36 kilowatt hours a day to 12-15 kilowatt hours per day usage. The writing is on the wall and I expect the utility to charge $1 or more a kilowatt hour soon enough.
I appreciate your projects!
in the 2000s i working in a taiwan factory, we had huge aircons, it was like 3 ton size and was so noisy, well i found out it was water type that cooled us, it had been cycling water to the rooftop with pumps, on the roof the was an apparatus which had the water sprinkling in the air, like a small fountain which drop two layers to a bottom reservoir, which went back to the aircon by gravity, the pump was only used to pump the water up the rooftop sprinkler, i guess the water released heat that way and returned down by gravity.
Best video of a great DIY project I've ever seen on TH-cam !! And it actually works.
hi and thanks! 🙂👍
Your videos are always a treat!
Yeah,glad you're back,nice video!
I got a Hessair evap cooler last summer in a pinch to get my family cooled off, I love your DIY engineering and really appreciate all of the knowledge you share, im going to build this in a few days, thank you!
sounds good! - if you have any questions when you are building it feel free to reach out. also, in interested, i just built my first 2 stage indirect evap air cooler the other day! was testing and filming it today. stay tuned! will have video out in a week or two. 2 stage units take it one step further and are the most advanced type (or 'best of the best') when it comes in indirect evap units.
really appreciate your hard work
you bet. this one is kind of a collection of everything i know about indirect evap units wrapped up in one video.
This just amazing! I always wanted to build an effective air cooler without the use of ice or cold water. Your solution is the answer!
hi there. glad I could help! i love these systems too.
@@desertsun02 When I was working in the Middle East in 1979, we did several jobs at a refinery rebuilding gas turbine compressor drive units. It was hot already at 7AM. My hired crew was from Ireland and was not used to oppressive heat and could barely function on our 12 hour work days. I found a great solution and made gravity air conditioning. The turbine air inlet filter house was on top of a concrete roof 40 feet up. It had an inlet grill about 16 feet wide and 12 feet high. Inside were hundreds of little cyclone type dirt and debris removers plus a set of water spray bars to turn it into an evaporative cooled clean air source for the gas turbine.
I had the boys remove the inlet distance piece right above the gas turbine inlet and had the area unit operator turn on the water spray bars in the inlet filter house. After a few minutes, there would be a gloriously cool flow of air blowing onto us and the work area out of a 3 foot by 6 foot duct. The moist air would chill and fall by gravity then blow all over us. With 2% humidity, we were getting about 70 degree F cool air washing over us on a day where the ambient temperature was over 100F in the shade.
I always wanted to copy this and build a 32 inch round insulated duct to stand maybe 35 feet tall and have a water spray bar at the top. The bottom of the pipe would have a Tee that would serve as a chilled air outlet and a water reservoir. The only energy required would be to pump the water up to the spray bar/distribution arms up on top. The falling water droplets would evaporate, chill the air, and accelerate its downward motion to the cool air outlet. If I ever go to Burning Man, that device would be my gig.
Ya I was thinking about burring some water lines to get cooler water and possibly making a Simi geo thermal buy putting the coils in front of or behind my AC because it' LS central Texas the humidity is way to high and way to hot to not have an ac
good to see you are still inventing
hi. i just realized that today (05/11/2022) makes it exactly 13 years since posted my first video. first one was on 05/11/2009. hopefully 20 more years ✔
These are all amazing and I will be pursuing a similar design
I'm digging the pvc water chiller frame.
i've always liked the dual purpose of it (the frame and the plumbing being 'one in the same')
Such a great idea. I may build one soon, thanks.
awesome!
Now I have a "cool" project to build for my solar panels. This looks like a ton of fun. !:- )
good deal! and when your done you've really built 3 projects because they can be used as separate stand-alone units or combined for the unit shown in this video ✔🙂
Love it! Thumbs up video Brother ~John
Great idea
This video inspired me to make one myself
That is amazing!! Thank you!
you're welcome 👍🙂
cool idea, but you should have a closed loop bringing heat out of the building, that way no bugs/debris, etc. make their way into the house feed lines, etc. Slightly more equipment needed, but much better for long term use.
Good informational video , thanks for sharing ,God bless !
thanks you too!
With the inline fan, you can duct the moist air out the room. Most portable AC have a "dry mode" (less power) which also push warm air out the room.
I just found your channel and subscribed. You're projects are amazing!
thanks very much!
@@desertsun02 Thank you! Do you have cooling projects ideas for areas with high humidity or would this build still work? I live in arkansas and the average humidity is 85% during the summer.
@Wendi Campbell the best DIY air cooler videos i have for humid areas are the non-evaporative cold-water powered ones. those use a heat exchanger along with cool water to make cold air. they don't add any humidity to the air. if you want to take out humidity you'll have to combine those with a de-humidifier. the quickest way to find my heat exchanger videos, is to check under the playlist tab on my channel. i have them grouped into category
@@desertsun02 Ok, great. I'm going to make one. This is exciting lol. Thank you for your help!
@Wendy Campbell you bet! and thanks for watching 👍
This sounds ideal for use at Burning Man. The primary challenge would be filtering the blowing dust of the playa from turning the 'Blue Cube' into a mud puddle. Perhaps some filters mounted an inch or so from the evaporative pads on all sides would do the trick. I would love to hear your thoughts on the topic. Great system.
hi and thanks! yeah, burning man would be excellent place to use it. since it's only a 10 day event, the dust and dirt shouldn't be an issue. the wet pads act as air filters too (so what would probably happen is the pads would capture some of the dust or dirt (but because of all the water running down the pad) it would just run down into the tub along with the water and settle on the bottom). not much would stay on the pads. then you could just dump (or scoop) it out if needed. btw, since the event is outside, you might be able to get away with just using the 'blue cube' part of it. that will give you direct evap cooling and the humidity levels don't build up much when you're using a direct evap unit in the outdoors.
I've been to Burning Man two years in a row. I used two bucket coolers for keep my tent "cool", the dust build up on the pads is not bad, I used the same pads for both of the burns I went to (just have to clean them off when I went home).
Hi. Great idea for cheap cooling!
Can you tell me where you source the radiators/exchangers? I can't seem to find anything like them!
hi. you can find them on amazon. they are 'hayden transmission coolers' you should see lots of them on that site. they sell many different models. if you don't find them let me know.
Great video. I was wondering can you make a video where you use the cool humidit exhaust air and pass it through a air/air heat exchanger and precool the incoming air without adding moisture (by using the air/air heatexchanger) which will go though the blue pads and cool below wetbulb temperature?
hi there. i'll look into it. (i'm currently working on the idea of using a second radiator to cool the 'returning water' (to cool it down before it re-enters the water reservoir). one commenter suggested spraying it on the pad
Awesome build , question could you keep the outdoor unit inside and have it in a large box to keep the humid air recycled but I'm thinking it may get to humid in a incloseure ?
I haven't seen the blue evaporative cooler pads in Australia we only have a paper type what's brand of them please cheers
hi. it's a duracool evap cooling pad. they are made of 'foamed polyester' 🙂✔
Hi, Cool Ideal, Can Confirm these do work with low humidity conditions. Can lower space temperature from 10F to 20F. We used the Evaporative Coolers during deployments to Iraq and Kuwait. Kept the Mechanics Garage tolerable on a Hot 110F Day.
I just love when I see videos from you. It makes me think of how to create things when I dont have money for an ac unit.
But I have an unrelated question....that is that I noticed on your cinder block rocket stove that you have stove top cast iron burner grates. May I ask how you found them and if you have a link, plz provide. Thank you.
hi there. i actually got those stove top grates at a thrift store. (4 for only $2.99). you can absolutely buy them in regular stores too though. even places like home depot and lowes sell them
You’re the expert and I always appreciate your work. I’d like to to suggest the use of an insulated ice chest with a separate internal container of water with water pump and copper tubing or plastic tubing. And then I would place frozen water bottles next to water container in order to keep the ice from melting so quickly from direct contact with water .
It seems to me the unit he designed really does not need ice- just cool water. I can be wrong.
@@livingthebestlife8 I agree with you. My late best friend was an engineer and was extremely intelligent and he said that cool water works great when you pump it through 1/4 inch copper tubing and recirculating it and continue to keep the water as cold as possible given that you have an insulated container to keep the water cooler for longer periods.
@@Mr.Grumbdy
The value of ice, in a cooler, or in our planet, is that when it changes phase it accepts a lot more heat than just water. There is a thing called the latent heat of fusion where you can put in heat to ice for a while before it starts to melt because it takes that heat to do the change of phase. Same thing with your freeze it, it doesn't just change from water to ice, the water stays at freezing temp and gives off heat until it eventually can freeze into ice.
I will make one of those.
So ingenius 👍👍👍👍
Can you use a coller case and put some freeze water and ICE instead of the bucket ???
Would it be possibe to condition the humidified air remove the humidity while keeping it cool?
Nice system that works on dc power and without humidity, one question will there be condensation at radiator.
hi. that will depend on your humidity. (i never get any but some will)
This is great! I'm thinking of making a miniature desktop version! One question, where are you sourcing your rads?
hi and thanks. i'm getting them from amazon. if you search for hayden transmission coolers you should see lots of them. i'm working on another similar unit presently. video on it should be out in about a week. different fan and different radiator but similar in the way it works.
Victor Schauberger had water theories of gravity vortexing the water at some point to make it cool faster and use less energy to move. 39.2F is the anomaly point of water where it is most dense. Even as ice expands and is less dense at sub freezing temps. Spiral bent copper tubes to vortex to the right to match natural water vortex. Could do a similar vortex thing with the air too since it already wants to. Tornado in a box.
Very interesting. I'm trying to develope a wall system that would create heat via passive heating with small fans to bring in cooler indoor air heat it in a mini greenhouse so to speak and then vent it into the house. More of a point source heating. I'm an architectural designer so I don't have the technical knowledge to completely create this system.
What is the function of the filters around the evap air cooler?
Maybe another box fan with some sort of filter with a desiccant? to remove the humidity to let the evaporator do its thing?
Thank you for your knowledge and work on this project. I've already begun to gather the parts needed to build both the direct and indirect systems. I unfortunately live in a high humidity environment and don't have high hopes for a large change (anything helps) in the space I will be making this system for. Question; Have you considered or attempted to incase the direct system using Plexiglas or sheet metal to recapture the air that is used to cool the water initially and contentiously recycling that same air there-in also capturing the evaporated water and returning the bulk of it to the revivor? I wonder if doing so would create a more stable temperature variance without adding more undesired humidity to the space that I'm wanting to cool down.
hi, i haven't done exactly that but i'm working on using the humid exhaust air to pre-cool the water that is re-entering the tub (after it has passed through the radiator - but before it re-enters the tub). doing that adds a second stage, turning it into a 2 stage unit. just need a second radiator to do. btw - since you mention that you have high humidity, here are some extra facts and things to consider: these units (half-work) in high humidity. what i mean by that is that the radiator part works great in any humidity (even 95%) but the tote evap chiller only chills the water well if humidity is 60% or less. if you don't get the desired chilling from the blue cube evap part of this project - your best bet may be to use the radiator/fan part with another cold water source (ice cooled water is one way). i have 4 videos showing how to make lots of these radiator air coolers using cold water (cooled with ice and ice packs etc.) i posted all 4 last summer - the summer of 2021). those work great in any humidity. if interested here are the 4 links (in the order posted them)...
1.) th-cam.com/video/5YVPu9hfhZo/w-d-xo.html (original video on the topic)
2.) th-cam.com/video/DERYsKnlKzA/w-d-xo.html (2nd original video on the topic)
3.) th-cam.com/video/Jfc26AH0jLI/w-d-xo.html (larger box fan version)
4.) th-cam.com/video/oAuL-ScEWfI/w-d-xo.html (extended box version - w/extras)
That you. I will look in to each of your suggestions and let you know what works best for my needs. Thank you again for what you do.
@@desertsun02 Great!
I live in Southern Az . Last year was very hot. Question .
When it's 115 outside will the blue cube cool the water to about 85 degrees ? I want to make the indirect evap. And does the blue cube need to have a water line in to feed the water that has evaporated . I'm not sure about how your design works and wanted to make sure I will get a full understanding of how it works .
hi there. i haven't tested it in 115F weather but based on information from an evap cooling chart, the air (and therefore the water) should be about 80-89F (with humidity from 5 to 20%). i just fill the tub with water as needed. it seems to go through about 1 gallon an hour. at that rate you could run it fpr about 10 hours before you needed to refill it. the tub holds 12 or 13 gallons
Can this system be sized down to cool a van? It doesn't seem like a 20 inch fan would be needed in a van. If it was smaller maybe it could fit between the two front seats if that space was completely free and open. Is it doable?
hi. i think the unit would be great for cooling down a van just as it is. you can use any size fan/radiator combination with the "blue cube cooler".. notice in the video the small and medium sized fans/radiators that i show. you could probably run six of those smaller setups with the blue cube before you'd reach the "tipping point" - meaning before the warm water from the return tube of the radiator started to overpower the blue cubes' water chilling capacity. you could scale down this blue cube but then it's all an experiment. you'd have to guesstimate the size cube that is needed. i wouldn't make the cube too much smaller or it might not have the 'water cooling' effect that is needed.
Thats amazing, can you explain more in depth how the the blue cube water chiiler works? Im in the desert off grid, it gets 105° in the summer, will this chiller still work with high temps, im going to try the gallons of ice to chill my coils, but my 5cf freezer might not keep up thruout the day
hi. yes, these evap coolers are awesome if you live in the desert. they work even if it's 110-115F outside (with proper humidity). i'm not sure how to get even more in-depth about how evap cooling works unless i go into the 'scientific technicals'. if you want that type of info the best place to go (that is easy reading) is wikipedia. basically speaking, when water evaporates it leaves cool air behind. this is because the process of evaporation takes heat. the heat becomes trapped in the air as 'latent heat' - but the lack of heat is felt as coldness. when the water evaporates on the pad both the air that is going through the pad and the water that is running down the pad are cooled. this is because the pad itself becomes cold.
@@desertsun02 you the mann, thanks
How much electricity is used to make the ice water? Is that free electricity to make the ice water if you have the solar power for the ice machine?
Excellent job. Do you have this in some type of printed form?
hi and thanks! i'm predominantly a "DIY video guy" so i focus mainly on showing how to make the projects (through the use of video). everything needed to make these projects (including full instructions) is shown in detail in their respective original 'full length' videos. (links to those videos are listed in the description section below). you can also just browse my channels 'video' or 'playlist' page to find them. there's also lots of written details listed in each description section *located below each video. i've never actually produced written content (like a book or pamphlets) because that's a whole different thing.
Awesome dude
Thanks 😁
@@desertsun02
Thank you for responding. Another question for you.
What’s your opinion on what cools better, the previous system where you’re using a heat exchanger, cooler with ice and water or this system?
I have could heat exchangers, some truck radiators, some ac condensers , and oil coolers I can use so I’m getting ready to build a system now that I will be running off 110v grid power
@John Le the short answer is that sometimes this system cools better and sometimes the ice systems cools better. it depends on a bunch of variables. if you have lots of ice then you could get the water temp lower so that would be colder. but as ice melts temps start going up. this system doesn't need ice at all so you can run it all day. it depends on humidity and temperature so it will fluctuate as those change.
Do you think your invention machine device* would chill the water if temps are like 110degrees like what we see here in the Southwest
hi there. oh yeah, it chills the water fine even at 115F. one awesome thing about evap cooling is that they actually have charts to show you what air temps to expect (if you know the temp of the air and the relative humidity). i've noticed the charts are very accurate. let me check. ok, so if the temp is 110F in low humidity you will have air temps in the upper 70's. (and the water is usually a couple of degrees cooler than the air temp shown - so that helps too). with indirect there is always a slight increase in air temp because of the secondary conversion - so the air out of the fan may be 80F but when it's 110F 80'F feels comfortable. add in the wind chill from the fan and it might feel like 75
this might be the perfect way to cool my gpu's... water cooling loop using plate heat exchangers to dump the heat to the cooling tower thing. i wonder how much heat it can get rid of
Awesome
thanks!
What fan are you using for the blue cube? It looks different from the radiator fan in the original video
hi. yep, it's a different fan. it's an AC infinity axial 2060 muffin fan.
Good job👍 do you have some suggestion in order to find and buy the proper "blue sponge" in europe (in Italy is better)? I just find (but at high) price che cardbord/honeycomb 😥 thanks in advance (Amy suggestion for alternative and low cost alternative are welcome) 👋
hi. the technical term for the blue pad is 'foamed polyester evap cooler pad'. i couldn't tell you where in europe to get them. i'd try searching for foamed polyester evap cooler pad and see what you can find.
If it is that loud outdoors I just can’t imagine having it in the house!
hi. the louder part doesn't go in the house. the blue cube stays outside. the only thing that goes inside is the box fan. (and that just sounds like a box fan). those have a very smooth (almost calming) sound.
Thank you for the interesting video! I have a small room 14 by 7 feet wide and 8 feet heigh. Can I use this system to cool the room to 70 F?
If you use an eletric cool box for the water then you should cool even more and stop the fluctuations.
hi. this system should easily cool a room of that size. i'm not sure of the exact temperature. depends on a few things
I love your swamp cooler video. But I'd like to know the cfm required per sq. ft. of media. You said this was all DC powered, but the Axial 2060 fan is AC powered and just 425 CFM, when you mentioned 1,500 CFM in the video. So I'm a bit confused. I'm wanting to build one these for a van build in the future. Also would like the pump specs. Thanks
hi there. the 1500 cfm is referring to the DC fan that i used. i also used the axial AC powered one. if you use the DC fan and DC water pumps then the whole thing is DC powered. i've used various pumps. sometimes i use a 12v bilge pump other times i've used a standard 200 gph water pump. make sure to watch my various videos (also there is a lot of good info in the description section of each video).
So do I need 425 or 1,500 CFM for the swamp cooler?
How much media area do I need per CFM?
What if you had the the blue pads placed onto the radiators that will absorb the water, face the box fan at the ground so it drips onto the pad
When you have the evap cooler outside (with the heat exchanger inside) would the water stay cooler if you used a large insulated cooler instead of a thin plastic bin? Or is the water being cooled so rapidly that it wouldn't matter at all?
hi there. i don't think it would matter much. the water is being cooled very fast. (but it certainly wouldn't hurt . i may experiment with that just to see)
Desertsun - as I said last summer, you are a huge inspiration! One quick question - where do you buy the ae fans (not radiator) on Amazon? I couldn't find one last summer and I bought a variable speed 8-inch fan for a Tote evap cooler based on your design. I think the fan got too wet because it stopped working. I am trying to build a cooler with a 6 gallon water jug that is similar in design to your Tote design. Again - you are a Rock Star in my book.
hi there and thanks! - it great to hear that the videos inspired you. i get my ae (auto expressions) fans from walmart *sold in their auto dept. amazon or ebay might be a good place to get them too. 6 gallon design sounds super!
@Bernard Douthit hi again, almost all of the 12v fans that they sell (including everyone i've ever bought is an oscillating fan). they all have a switch on them though, so you can turn off the oscillating feature). all of the auto expression fans that i have, have the oscillating feature.
Nice setup. I've wondered for years if something like this would work. I think I'll give it a try, although I'm sure it won't work as well in Virginia with its higher humidity. It's a shame to waste the 60°F air coming out of the evaporator. Do you think a small radiator at the top would make an effective pre-chiller to increase cooling of the water?
hi and thanks! i'll have to give that some thought. i'd be curious to hear what others think.
a faster more powerful fan will help off set the energy neeeded for cooling also simply making it bigger will help get more efficiency.
No way it will reduce only 2 degree without child water😂😂
it will definitely work inside your house because of the lower humidity.
@@babugd1 i prefer the 'adult water' if you know what I mean ;)
Could you use liquid desiccant as a water source?
I was wondering about that too.
thanks for sharing, just have a question, in case I only want to use the indirect cooling fan with the radiator, do we need the fan on top of the blue cube to cool the water or we just need to pump the water through the pads?
hi. yep, you'll need the fan on the top of the blue cube to pull the air through the pads. it's the air rushing through the blue pads that cools down the water in the bottom of the tub.
@@desertsun02 thank you! I got it.
I love the swamp cooler method. In south east with 90% humidity. You could have mold growing not good. Thank you
90% is too high for these to work very well. the lower the humidity the better it is
I was kinda thinking if you could use something like this inside a house that is air conditioned if that would be more efficient or probably not I guess it would be hard to test
that may work. i know that some businesses and many commercial buildings actually use cold-water or ice based air cooling along with standard AC to reduce their cooling bills by up to 35%. they freeze the water in large ice banks at night (when the power is cheaper) and tap into that during the day. i read about one company that makes the units and they say they have ice cooling systems in 4000 businesses. one of the biggest setups is in a high rise building in new york city. i forget the name of the business but i saw a picture of the ice banks. (it was several huge, round refrigerated metal tanks in the basement)
Will this work on the ice maker + fan with water radiator pumping cold water?
sounds like a good idea.
Where did you order the radiators from I'm trying to use a 20"fan.
i get the radiators on amazon. if you search for hayden transmission coolers you'll see them.
Where did you purchase those smaller radiators?
i get those on amazon. if you search for hayden transmission coolers you'll see them.
This is really a fantastic, simple and inexpensive design, and it could actually save a lot of lives in the coming years of massive heatwaves ... at least in areas where there is water and low-humidity. I just have one question ...
When you are measuring the air coming out of the top of the unit, how much do you think the air rushing by the thermometer is contributing towards the low reading, as opposed to being cooled only by the air temperature? That is, if you just put an equivalent amount of ambient temperature air rushing by the thermometer, ( i.e the "fan effect" ) what would be its reading?
hi and thanks! i agree, this is a great, low cost, way to cool air. the speed of the air rushing by the thermometer won't change the air temp reading. (even if you slow the fan down to a trickle the output air temp reading stays the same). it's the same with ambient air. if ambient air flows by the thermometer it will just read whatever the temp of the air is. the thermometer won't pick up the wind chill effect that humans feel. you're probably thinking of the wind chill effect. a thermometer only measures temperature though. (wind chill measures heat loss for a body warmer than the air). a dry thermometer can't read lower than the air temp.
@@desertsun02
Well, I was thinking specifically of the wet-bulb measure of humidity.
But, since we are having a heatwave currently, I am going to do the experiment right now.
I have a mercury thermometer that measures 83 F.
Placing it in front of a fan, and walking away for a while.
OK ... still 82. You're right. Guess I forget my High School Physics.
Do you think it makes any difference where you could apply heat on the outside apparatus?
That is, like keep the water reservoir in the shade and let the sun shine on the pads?
Would that make any difference? I am seriously thinking of building something like this, except this year summer is almost over.
Got any good ideas for heating? I was thinking some of those black garden irrigation hoses lying in the sun as much of it as there is, and pumping that through the heat exchanger?
another great video!
if you look at window ACs "cooling capacity" by square footage, it is entirely based on the limitation of the squirrel cage fan on the evaporator side (and the noise at that RPM).
the BTU rating is meaningless. with proper ventillation, a 6000 BTU unit could cool a whole house.
if by "cool a whole house" you mean by maybe 1 degree then sure, a 6000BTU could do that. In reality, no.
what is the blue matting called, im yet to find a cheap version of it in the uk?
hi there. technically it's called foamed polyester evap cooler pad.
Can you tell me where you got your heat exchangers?
hi. i get them on amazon. they've got lots 🙂
Can you possibly provide link for the fan on the outdoor reservoir and a link to the big radiator? Much thanks.
hi. it's the axial 2060 fan and two model 405 radiators. here are 2 amazon links. first one is the axial 2060 muffin fan www.amazon.com/AC-Infinity-Cooling-Ventilation-Projects/dp/B00I06S792 and here's a radiator link www.amazon.com/Hayden-Automotive-405-Ultra-Cool-Transmission/dp/B000C3F3HK/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=model+405+hayden+cooler&qid=1654796619&sr=8-1
those aren't the lowest price ones i've seen so you might want to search for lowest price (on both items).
@@desertsun02 thanks. I love this channel
@Katie Lin thank you! ✔😎
What is the highest humidity they will wrk in its 19 % and 102 degrees here in west texas water only cools to 76
hi. these types of units can work in humidity up to about 60% (in some cases even up to 70%). these types of units should work well for you if you live in west texas. the temp of your tap water won't matter because these units chill the water for you.
Great , aprox how much $ did You spend ?
Will the indirect coolers work in humid climates?
hi. it depends on how humid it is. they'll basically work anywhere that standard evap coolers work. best way to find out if it will work for you is to search the term evap cooling chart. those charts will show you what temperatures to expect
How much humidity is in the air coming out. How humid does it make the room? What brands are there out there that make an all in one unit of the indirect cooling like your box fan type setup. Have you tried a coolant in the res?
hey there. it doesn't add any humidity to the room air (inside air) at all. all the humid air stays outside. 🙂 👍👍
Ild just like to add some tips to improve maintenance and efficiency to this already great idea instead of just grabbing the cooler box water and pumping that back through to inside wall for instance you need to close the system off by putting that other radiator inside the bottom of the cube and filling with radiator coolant or distilled water then no calcium/lime can form over time also it gives the water in the box more time to stay colder for longer.
is the power usage less than a conversational air-conditioning unit for the same amount of cooling?
oh yeah. the whole unit as shown is only 97 watts. (5 to10 times less power than a comparable small window ac). something interesting to note is that some window ac units say they are 500 watts but actually pull closer to 1000 watts. (measured with a kill-a-watt meter). they start around 500 watts but after a while they are pulling 900+ watts. appliances are supposed to list the wattage as the highest wattage they will ever draw (not including the split second start-up spike that some of them have).
@@desertsun02 thanks for the info and videos, im thinking to build one for my campervan if my pc fan vents fail to get the van down to comfortable ambient temperature
my country is hot and humid. outside is 40C, my room is 32C. anything to help reduce humidity and make cool/cold air using your setup?
hi. those are high temps (F=104/90). reducing the humidity is the hard part. i get temps that hot too but it's pretty dry where i live.
Another really nice DIY off-grid project. I was just trying to hunt down one of those ac infinity fans (like the one on top of the blue box cooler 0:30) and cannot find one on their website near that size. Is it DC or AC? Can you share the model number of it, please? As always, thanks for sharing your ideas/projects.
hi. it's the ac infinity axial 2060 (ac powered). amazons got them ✔😎. i did a quick search of their website - they got em. (but amazons usually cheaper)
@@desertsun02 thanks so much. Easy to find with the model number. I was hoping they were DC powered, but a great and powerful small footprint fan to have just the same...
@Owen Parker for DC the 12v DC fan shown as an option is a great way to go (it's just a car radiator fan) .a 7 or 8 inch one works the best with this. the speed controller shown with it is a 12a one from amazon.
@@desertsun02 Yes, that will definitely do the trick and is surprisingly affordable. Thanks very much AGAIN! :)
@@desertsun02 I'm embarrassed to realize that you literally showed the model number of the fan in your video. I think I must have been searching google for it when that was shown! DOH! LOL
Hi, can you tell me were to get those blue pads please? Thanks
hi. i get them at home depot or lowes. sold for about 10 bucks. amazon sometimes has the pads but they are usually way overpriced on amazon
@@desertsun02 Thanks for that! We don't have those stores were I'm from so I'd have to order from USA and freight.....)-: I was thinking of trying Polyester Dacron Wadding for Upholstery work. I checked it out and it saturates nicely with water. May need two layers. Other than that there is the cardboard At about $350 for a std evap cooler....
Hmmm. Maybe running connecting tubes thru a pool noodle will help with temp change.
sounds like a good idea!
Do you think this will work in conditions like 80-100% humidity and 38-40degree celcious??
hi. 80% is a little high. they usually work good up to about 60%. i've heard some of the bigger units can work up to 75-80% if it's outdoors
No way it will reduce only 2 degree without child water😂😂
I love these projects, but I don't think this will work in Florida. The humidity here is usually much higher than Arizona.
I agree, you can't evaporate water when humidity is high. You can get 50 degree water from deep in the ground though.
Does this still work if it’s insanely humid outside?
hi. they struggle to work if the humidity is too high.
Does this work better than the heat exchanger 8x8 + blue cube cooler design by you?
hi there. it's not better or worse (just a different design). the 8x8 heat exchanger is smaller (in length and height) but wider. it's about 3" thick
@@desertsun02 thank you for your work and designs
@P G you bet! ✔
Can you use a 20 in round metal fan
hi. you might have to make slight adjustment to the build, but it should work 👍
Nice set up of indirect cooler, how much does the water last , for example will it last whole night ? Hello from Mumbai India 🙏🏻
hi. the unit holds 12 or 13 gallons of water (and the unit uses about a gallon of water an hour) so you could run this thing for maybe 10 hours before it needs to be refilled. the reason i say 10 hours (and not 12 or 13) is because you need a couple of gallons at the bottom for the pump to work correctly.
@@desertsun02
I think someone mentioned that hydroponics systems use float pumps to keep the water supplied to the nutrient reservoir. The same thing could work here and you could have it run constantly drawing more water off the tap to keep the water topped off..
Where can I get the small radiators
hi. they sell them on amazon. search for 'hayden transmission coolers'
Better meak bug boxe like AHU. Withe nice why😄
How much does the effect drop off with high ambient humidity? In the NE we get our share of hot 'n humid sunny days. Seems to me that raising the temperature of the outside air on it's way to the blue pads would boost efficiency in humid conditions, which should be easily done on a sunny day. I recall reading a paper years ago related to supplemental winter heating that claimed direct sun, even winter sun could raise incoming air temp by 25°F if it was sucked through a heat exchanger of a simple piece of black sheet metal with a lot of small holes punched in it. In fact, on a rainy or cloudy humid day a dehumidifier feeding it's exhaust into the evaporator may make sense. Iirc this seemed to be more or less how a German company was hoping to deal with humid conditions. Unfortunately I don't recall the name of that company, must've been ten years ago possibly fifteen.
it's a gradual decline as humidity raises. best way to see what temps to expect is to search the term 'evap cooling chart'. those charts will show you the output temp of an evap cooler based on any temperature and humidity combination. you listed some interesting info in your comment. i may have another video idea just from reading what you wrote. (i've got a few large pieces of scrap sheet metal around here). i was going to make a flexible solar water heating panel with some of it (along with flexible copper tubing) but stopped the project because i don't know if there is any real benefit to having a flexible water heating panel. but using it as a heat exchanger may have real possibilities.
@@desertsun02 From what little I recall their prototype essentially blended an indirect evaporative cooler and a window AC so the waste heat off the AC condenser boosted the evap in damp weather resulting in a significantly better COP even in humid conditions and to something like ten to one when the compressor wasn't needed. I'm sure they claimed a 90% power reduction so assuming a base COP of 3 that seems consistent. I think part of that was the counterflow arrangement to the evaporator pads which I'm sure I never understood. With that said it seemed the airflow was across their surface rather than through them. If evaporation mainly occurs on the surface then we might say it's mostly just happening on the inner face of the four pads you're using while four pads hung in the airstream inside might add 8 surfaces tripling the evaporator area. No idea how or if any increase in evaporation might scale to area though.
What size room is it cooling?
lately, i've been using it to cool a 200 sq. ft room
i want to see results at approx 100 degrees, please. if you can maintain a 20 degree drop from ambient, you are doing well.
hi. i'll have to check it later in the summer but i'm sure it can. that blue cube will put out around 72F when it's 100F outside (5 to 10% humidity) so the indirect part (the fan part) should put out just slightly higher than that. (it's always a little higher because of the second conversion)
What would you recommend for a Las Vegas garage? Humidity here is incredibly low (5-15%) right now.
Should I just make the indirect system and keep both parts inside?
Thanks for the awesome work.
hi. if you're making the indirect system then the blue cube part has to be outside or in a very well-ventilated area. if you're making the direct system only it still has to be ventilated but in an open-air garage you could just use it in the garage. since your humidity is so low and you're using it in a ventilated workspace - i would just use the direct system. the slight elevation you feel from the humid air would not be noticed as humidity and may actually make you (and possibly your skin) feel better. i think they say that 30% or 40% feels the best. btw - keep an eye out for my next video - it's my largest DIY evap cooler to date! should work great in a garage. a few stats on it: up to 2000 cfm airflow. has a 20 gallon water reservoir. runs 16 hours straight (before needing the water refilled). video will be out soon. (soon = sometime between tomorrow and next weekend).
@@desertsun02 Awesome! I was actually planning to make an "ultimate" cooler using a drum fan, and your new video should help a lot.
gotta love those drum fans. - i saw one that was 22,000 cfm. tip: use rigid media if the airflow is over 3000 cfm.
@@desertsun02 Ah, so that's why some of these use the paper hexagons.
That would be great - except we're regularly 70% humidity during the summer :(
Excellent.
Ok, so I'm thinking... Electricity free, water hammer pump!!?? ....and the water could power the outside fan?!!
Granted I am assuming less CFM fan but more evaporative cooling material.
I'm imagining the evaporator operating without electricity and fanless if possible, leaving the inside fan as the only electrical consumption (for now).
hi and thanks. you have a lot of interesting ideas!
@@desertsun02 you do, I think, lol
@sovereignDirt i'm hoping to get people interested in the 'indirect' evap cooling topic. it's been very underrepresented online up to now. i think people think they're too hard to make but they're really just 2 easy projects combined ✔
@@desertsun02 I'm all about free and cheap!!😏👍🤙
I can build a smaller one that fit in passenger seat. There's a divider to the rear side of the Ford Transit. This will avoid the $1500 cost and a hole on the roof which means more solar panels.
sounds interesting. i'm trying to picture it. i know that some cars in the past actually used to have evap coolers in them.
@@desertsun02 There's a product call Fresair. The disadvantage is the hole on the roof which takes up solar panels space. It takes about 5A to run the unit. "VANLIFE AIR CONDITIONING | Fresair | Ultra efficient | Full TUTORIAL [NEW]" at 8:44 you can see the internal design of their Duracool pads and function. I am still visualizing an interior install version of your design with an exhaust to outside. With your setup, I can throw in 2 liters of ice every 5 hours. The 64l chest freezer can make 2 litres ice and replenishes it. The DIY unit will be used when the van is parked anyway.
@@desertsun02 "AWD Transit WEBASTO HEATER Install UNDER PASSENGER SEAT! - Part 20" This is the area I was thinking about using since I can exhaust the humid air out through a crack of the front window. The front (driving area) will be blocked off by a wood or cloth divider. Tech Ingredients used a low rpm fan cooling like this 15:27 "Revolutionary Air Conditioner!"
Let me have full details of your project thanks
@Stephen Abiodun the full details and links to the full build videos are located in the description section of this video 👍👍 (you can also find them by just cruising my channel or checking playlist area)
Now make another one to pre-cool the air before the evaporator, and another pre-pre-cooler until you are well below wet-bulb temp.