Chris as a retired HVAC engineer your going in the right direction. You need to install inside baffles with foam around the coil and sealed to the underside of the lid to aid in directing the cold air towards the outlet. The salt is a beneficial aid. The design choices are sound. It's more about differential temp as far as performance of your design. If you can maintain around 45 - 50°F discharge air temp you should be able to cool the van comfortably. Remember you have to cool the contents of the van before you can lower the relative inside air temp. You'll instantly feel the evaporative cooling effects on uncovered skin. Leave the vents and windows closed, it will aid in your cooling performance as you'll be minimizing hot air infiltration. I'll bet on a 95° night you can keep the van below 75°. FYI put up a floor to ceiling to wall insulated privacy curtain behind your fronts seats for both cooling loss to window glass and privacy. This will also create a smaller space to cool.
Yeah, lots of good points about the contents of the van being pre-cooled by the vehicle Air conditioner and maintaining a cool temp will be a lot easier than trying to bring down the temp of a van that's been sitting in the sun cooking all day. I also strongly agree with the "partition" between the cockpit and the cabin, if you will. Even just a moving blanket will help a lot.
Can you explain the inside baffle? What is the point of it, how would it look, and how does it work? I'm curious because I'm about to make one of my own with my personal improvements, and I'm always interested in ways to improve the design.
Thank you so much! I'm trying to make a portable AC for my little garage to keep cool when I'm in there. This is simple and easy to follow. I love this! Thank you
Bro I must thank you!! This thing works!! Kept me comfortably asleep in my rig during the summer until I could afford an apu. Literally felt as if the ac was on I had the luxury of a freezer to freeze gallons of water
I love the design, using a radiator and two section cooler is just genius. The only change I would make is hard pipe the radiator and use pipe insulation that will keep your inlet water even colder because it will not be exposed to the air flow. Overall I love this set better than anything I’ve seen. Thanks for sharing.
This design should be out in the market soon and I will surely buy this one! Coz using my car aircon consumes a lot of gas and petrol price is pretty much higher now than before.
Just for anyone else who was searching for this information...it was mentioned at the end of the video, the bags of ice were 16 pound bags. So it was 48 pounds of ice for this to run for a night.
Salt can damage your water pump. I've found that adding rubbing alcohol to the water helps lower the temperature without corroding your parts. Nice job on this!
Chris as a fire fighter, your doing a dang good job. I would grab the squishy doofer, and run it around the flux capacitor to generator air from the ice age. If that doesn’t work we are all going to melt down like frosty the snow man.
Great project! Thumbs up! The only concern I would have is that the salt may compromise the pump mechanism. Salt crystals may build up inside the pump when it's not running which could lead to some problems. You may want to travel with a spare pump.
Great job, kid. Trial and error. That's exactly how I work. I agree turning the radiator 180° and running the hoses on the radiator side. Also be nice to secure that fan so you can lift that lid. I enjoyed ur build
Update to my previous comment - I built my own incorporating many of the principles that you have here, but a little different for my needs.I have a 48qt cooler with aquarium pump. It is connected to two 3/8" hoses coming out of the extra insulated top of that cooler. Those hoses are connected to a smaller extra insulated external 12qt cooler with a heater core, and a 4" 270cfm Seaflow fan that sucks the cold air out. The pump and blower are 12V DC connected to basic dimmer style switches on top of each cooler to control water and air flow and power comes from a 12V cig lighter style prong. I used this set up placing it in the back seat of my old Mustang with a 4" hose and 4" PVC T adapter to direct the cold air from blower box cooler to the front seats. It worked very well on two 150 mile trips in 104F temps. I am adding 6 feet of 3/8" copper coil, and make it into a closed loop system to see if that can improve this system and prolong the cooling duration. I made my own ice the night before the trips filling plastic containers and only had to add one 8 lb bag of ice on the return portion of one of my trips. Thank you for sharing your video and showing all the details, it was a big help in building my own version.
Yel. Your cooler is fine. It is that your cool air is heating up too quickly. People use these in a whole room & even outside with it right next to them. You will be using it at night to sleep. Not in the sun. Just reduce the size of exit pipe. So simple a remedy. You will see. Let me know how it turns out.
I like your design. It deals with some common problems other designs have by having a coil around a fan on the outside. specifically condensation. Your system deals with condensation by having it drip into the cooler instead of leaking down off copper coils on an exterior ran. One idea: Having the inlet to the pump directly under the radiator would eliminate the need to unhook the lines and make filling easier. It'll also shorten the run of tubing ever so slightly making it a bit more efficient. I wonder if slowing down the air flow by putting the fan on medium or low setting might yield good results too as the air spends more time passing by the radiator. Could be something to toy with.
Looks great, but I do have some suggestions. First, if you still have the circle you cut from the lid for the fan, cut a slice off each side big enough to cover any space on either side of the radiator where airflow can bypass the coils. Second, I would operate on 12V so I could either run off the Sprinter’s electrical system with a cigarette lighter plug or a separate automotive battery. You could recharge the separate battery from the lighter plug. To make it portable, use a jump starter, motorcycle, or lawnmower battery. Third, make a small table to elevate the unit off the floor. Put a lip around the top so the cooler can’t slide off. Then make your discharge air tube as short as possible. If you check the temperature from the vents in a car, the vent closest to the evaporator always has the coldest air. This was quite interesting. You have a new subscriber!
Great idea. Thanks for the information. In the winter months you can reverse that by using hot water to go through those fins and keeping the water hot or warm by adding a 12v immersion heater. That's what I plan to do this winter on my camping trips. Ive already ordered the parts to make a heater using the transmission radiator which I bought from e bay.
Chris, excellent design process, and final product! A co-worker of mine made one of these for a demo unit and shared it with the drivers at our truck terminal, your radiator and plenum blow his design away though! Two suggestions: adding a couple of bungee cords to secure the fan, and building a cradle to hold the usb power brick. That way neither will get separated from the cooler. I’m building a teardrop camper, and I can see a version of this as a way to cool my rig .👍🏻
Speaking as an HVAC guy I can say that the general design is pretty solid and based upon a simple chiller system. By not just passing air over ice you're not introducing a ton of moisture into the conditioned space which is good. The only real problem I see is how you are pulling air into the cooler. You essentially have to pressurize that space to get your supply air to exit where you want. This can cause turbulence in the air flow and reduce the efficiency of the system. If you where to say, mount your heat exchange onto the lid flip that fan over and draw air through then there is a pretty good chance that your system will work even better. You could probably even slow your flow rate down and reduce power consumption by adding a coil of copper tubing to act as kind of a pre-chiller on the inlet side of your heat exchanger like in a jockey box.
Speaking as a physics/fluid dynamics guy I completely agree. This is a great Mk.1 design but pulling the air through rather than pushing it would be a lot better. I'm sure he could tear that fan apart, flip, and fabricate a custom baffle and grill for it and seal everything up real well with silicone or epoxy putty for the big gaps. He could probably also just wire it all up (with a cheap buck converter) so the pump and the fan ran off the same battery mounted to the side. The pre chiller coil would be icing on the cake.
@@Strongwolf14 Using a "fart fan" at your discharge side would do the trick....instead of blowing air by fan across the coil you would be sucking it thru.
Very impressive. I had to watch your progress with this project and learned so much from it. Thank you for sharing all your work with us, you went through all the work for everyone watching, now it up to them to make it correctly. Win, win. 👍🏼😉
I made one of these 35 years ago for a hunting lease with 110 volts of Janky electrical circuits. I called it " Chilly Willey '. You don't need the coil in the Ice Chest, You can just drill two holes in the lid for the chill water lines. I used an actual chill water coil. But you can just mount the fan and coil out side. B.K.
You know Robert K: I thought so too. mount the Radiator to the Fan, like it's done under the HUD of a car instead of the cooler, it will do the same way just the opposite pushing out cold air. Great idea.
@@DJRobbie54 Thanks, another is an Absorption sys. pulling heat off the exhaust manifold to chill a water resevoir. DFW airport does this on a Huge scale.
Screw the radiator on the lid Then make a fiberglass bazooka style flow only air. Allow only the Tubes throught. Then then use like a rubber style gasket to keep the ice colder. Cause that cooler should be able to keep cold like days. So eliminate the airflow to the ice. I'm doing this project but that will be my upgrade. Good luck on this DIY
good job! but if i may make a suggestion, next time remove the cooler's cover instead of ruining the original one. you could construct a cover of your own and not destroy anything. also, another idea would be to pick up a camping freezer/fridge and do the same build. they freeze water and you wouldn't have to be concerned with keeping the ice cubes refreshed every so often. food for thought.
Genious I tell ya, I built one yesterday and used it last night in the cabin of my boat, had frost on the windows at the lake last night, needed a blanket and it was mid 90s yesterday and 80s last night here in north GA 40 miles north of Atlanta , Thanks dude for the great idea, now the wife will spend the night on the lake.
No doubt!!!! I've been looking at 25-35 ft boats that have a small onboard generator with a small galley, wet head and a v-berth setup but almost all have NO A/C!!!!! I have the same response from the Wife about not having an A/C...It's too hot...WAA WAA WAA.....LOL.... This set up is PERFECT for a nice weekend fishing trip and keeping the peace....just a quick run to the marina store for more ice if your extra coolers run out. Necessity is the mother of invention!!!!
Good Afternoon Sir! I JUST discovered this concept 1 hour ago. I really must be living under a rock. Anyways, this was way cool sir, and thank you for sharing this!!! Since being diagnosed with Pugalustica Dementia, my priorities with my kids immediately changed. Instead of giving a material world to them, I became 100% about creating experiences and memories. Example: I wonder how many kiddoes get to say they built their own portable air cooler; while at the same time learned some cool skills. Sorry for writing a book, my meds kicked in, and I'm feeling pretty chatty! LoL Stay Well Sir & Thank You Sir!!!
AS an HVAC business owner..... I have to give you props of this one buddy.... You nailed it!!!! The only thing that i think you could do better is run a condensate pump for your water source.... but again... killed it bro!!!! Also the ideal "Delta T" (Fancy way of saying "Difference of Temperature") is 18-20 degrees, From your return(fan) to supply(PVC).... Ex. 75 degrees return temp - 57/55 degrees supply temp..... the cooler the return gets, the cooler the supply will be!!
Long time commercial refrigeration tech here....I see one rather huge issue with this an dthat being the amount of turbulence imparted on the air flow based on the way it is drawn into the vessel. You essentially have to pressurize the space to get the air to exit where you want it. If he were to draw the air through the cooler I do believe the efficiency, and possibly the air flow, would increase.
I'm making something similar. Only I'm using 2 radiators with 2 computer fans. I'm making a closed loop system. One radiator will be submerged in a layer of water and I'm using large ice blocks. The other radiator will be top mounted and I'll tin knock a shroud over it . This will prevent any added air introduced into the cooler to maintain ice longer.
Great project and presentation. If the salt is in your circulation water it will probably shorten the life of your A/T cooler if that matters to you. You could also "T" in to your supply line with a ball valve for emptying your warm water without having to bail by hand.
Nice video, you did a pretty good job designing and implementing this. As far as the suggestion for salt is concerned they had the idea partially correct. You may know this already but rock salt is used in making homemade ice cream. Using salt directly on the ice and in the compartment where it will melt into the water will allow salt contamination to get into your pump and your radiator so that it will sooner or later get buildup. I would suggest to use one or two separate containers to place the ice in to separate it directly from the water and pour the rock salt directly on top of the ice in those containers and therefore you will greatly lower the temperature of the ice and it will make it last longer, but you can keep the salt out of the water and therefore not allowing the salt to come in contact with the aluminum. You would have to play with how much rocksalt you want to use for however much ice you're using.
I have done the exact same thing with a styrofoam cooler. It works insanely well. I couldnt find an oil radiator so i used a pc radiator. This invention is amazing and cools a small room well.
Using the radiator was an awesome idea, and actually helps solve another problem I had with ice chest A/C builds....humidity. Any DIY A/C unit I build needs to be safe for running (relatively) long-term near electronics. I would imagine that blowing out the condensation produced by the radiator is a LOT less than just blowing across ice/water.
I would have never thought to do this, like this, but based on this I already have some thoughts for improvements. Overall great idea. My improvements will raise the cost a little.
Very interesting concept. I would probably have reversed the radiator so that the hoses were on the same end of the cooler so you did not have to unhook them to fill it.
I made the other type for tent camping, that melts the ice too quick. I made my own ice blocks but you also get super humid air which is not desirable. This is the way to go.
I too travel and work and sleep in a Sprinter 144, since 2014. This will save my a$$ during the next project, usually in southern states for months at a time.
JC Whitney, or any local auto parts store. You can get a larger one and dual fan for off grid home. This appears to be sized for a van or camper. Walmart has 12 volt fans in their auto section, plug into cigarette lighter. They're like $12.00. Adding Rock salt will lower the freezing point of the water. Like making ice cream.
It's always s good practice to use the pump to pull suction thru the heat exchanger rather than push it thru. The pump creates heat and this could be transferred thru slightly heating the water.
to cut the hole for the fan, i'd adjust my saber saw for ~15 degrees so the fan could snuggle into the hole a little deeper. also, why not leave the ice in the bag (to try to achieve the block of ice effect) with maybe a couple of quarts of "loose" water for the pump to recirculate.
Great Idea. That came to my mind as well. Leave the Ice in the bag, Just cut a slit in the bag face down into the water. That would create that block effect. I bought a igloo 70 quart ice chest it has a drain plug on it. I intend to drain that water out into a pan refreeze it, and use some of it again with a little bit of fresh water. I think you will also get better results with Distilled Water. I found out that when you use an Evaporative cooler with regular tap water, you get A build-up residue of calcium in the water itself on the filters. Over time you may have to flush out your radiators, to keep the tubes cleared out.
Thanks so much for this! Its a clever design and saving my life this summer (van man) I don't see much feedback on here from people that finished the project so here are some points that may be helpful: - The aluminum frame he fashions at the beginning for the radiator is not ultimately use used or doesn't appear to be so factor that in - The scrap stick he uses to measure the inside rails is 9" tall (he does say this quickly but you may miss it and its tricky to calculate w/ the curved sides) - BEWARE OF THE LINKED STYROFOAM! It is NOT the dimensions advertised.(or at least what I received wasn't), all sides were 1/2" short - The radiator needs a 5/8" ID (inner diameter) tube and the pump is 5/16" ID - since the tube sizes are different you need a 5/8" collar to connect them together...that's what I came up with at least. There maybe other ways to do this but I couldn't find an adapter at home depot or autozone for the dimensions. - The ryobi fan works decently if you're sitting right in front of it but it is pretty weak. If you have access to an outlet I HIGHLY recommend this 8" Blower from Harbor Freight (www.harborfreight.com/8-inch-portable-ventilator-97762.html), much stronger and despite being heavy duty doesn't drain very much power (its like 80 bucks). Also the fan is nearly the same dimensions as the ryobi fan so the radiator linked is good to go. - Buying all this stuff was around ~$350-400 depending if you use the blower 👍
Nice design. The only issue I see is the salt water destroying your heat exchanger pretty quickly. You might get away with just using a bunch of runs of plastic tubing in the ice/salt water area and fill them with pure water, or maybe even oil, and the ice and water will cool the fluid in the tubing and it can circulate though the heat exchanger without doing any damage. Aluminum or copper tubing would have higher thermal conductivity but then they would also be corroded by the salt water as well so a lot of very small diameter plastic tubing laid in the bottom of the cooler might work ok. Racing car driver's cool suits use small plastic tubing in this manner.
Made mine this Way used it this weekend and found out that at the end of the tube or the cold air comes out you should have a little fan inserted in there it worked perfect even better after that.
This is a great project! I love your ingenuity. I recommend that for version 2.0 avoid cutting the big hole in the top: instead, just cut small holes for the infeed and outfeed of the radiator, strap the radiator to the front of the fan and blow air through the radiator. I bet that'll seal off your source of cold better even if your insulation is tight to the edge of the cooler. You could probably make it air tight if you seal the holes around the tube.
This is exactly what i was going to say. Obviously this evolved as it was built, but at this point there is no need for the air to go in and out of the cooler, and the whole PVC pipe thing. But yeah, if you put the coolant lines together in pipe insulation that will keep the hoses from sweating, not sure how far a USB power pump can push but if you went with a stronger pump you could probably get a good distance away from the cooler with the fan.
I don’t believe what you are saying will work as good as this one. You don’t have enough air pressure to force the air through small holes. The back pressure would be to much and not enough air would be going through. No stick to this design. But put the hose in from the other end that way you don’t have to move them around. Leave one bag of ice unbroken, it should last longer. Well done cobber.👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
@@Watson1 you're not understanding what @jaymop is saying. instead of cutting any big holes (for fan and pvc tube) just drill 2 holes big enough to feed the radiator (in) and return to the pump (out) The radiator and fan would be outside the cooler mounted together (fan blowing air through radiator onto you) That way you minimize cutting the cooler a bunch
I knew there had to be a way to do this! Thank you. Looking for a low-draw, inexpensive way to cool a cargo trailer. I had been trying to figure out how to circulate water & draw air through that (like the cooling system on a car) & there you were! But, I think I’m going to use bottles of frozen water (or ice packs) instead of cubes in the water.
Try adding a 'duct' to the lid on the inside, right on top of the radiator and same size of the radiator. That should increase the efficiency. Can be made of the stock angled aluminum. Also, the water pickup and return could be located on opposite sides of the cooler
would be interested in hearing the results with one or two people sleeping thru the night ...just to see how much body heat will affect the longevity of the ice and cool air output. I like your work.
If I may spitball a few ideas for this to you. Flowing current will make your ice melt faster, so create a closed loop on the cooling circuit- I think that maybe installing another radiator down in the bottom with just and inline pump would cool the radiator fluid best. You could then also move the pump to the top side/plenum area so any heat that it creates will not be introduced directly into your ice. Well, you covered my second idea after I wrote it. Ever made homemade ice cream? What do you put on the ice to "make it colder"? Salt. Perhaps experimenting with using salt in an ice brine will make it stay colder for longer. Salt lowers the temperature at which the ice will melt, which should for a time make the a/c run even colder. But I am out on how well this will work because it may just make it run colder for a shorter length of time. It looks like you have room to put another radiator in the top, the larger the surface area then the greater the rate of exchange will be. It might be possible that you could do of those radiators in the top and two in the bottom for the greatest amount of cooling. Also, you can probably mount the radiator against the lid with a few spacers on the Styrofoam so that it will support it once the lid is closed. I imagine constant bouncing and jouncing of a moving vehicle will make it break free of the lid eventually if supported solely by the lid.
I also mentioned the closed circuit idea I was also thinking antifreeze would be good instead if water I believe it can hold cooler temperature it's also coolant cold without freezing but not 100 % on the antifreeze
So, what I'd really like to see is a graph of temperature hour by hour overnight of both exterior and interior temperature inside the van (not just the output temperature of the fan). It would also be interesting to see the output temp along with those 2 other graphs. I think another benefit of the radiator system is that you're not introducing additional moisture into the air by blowing over the ice. Yes, the radiator will condensate, but that moisture is already in the air.
3 bags of ice lasted 8 hours. Duh, like the guy asked what are the hard numbers. Outside temp at night vs inside van temp. He avoided showing the efficiency or lack of efficiency. Showing the inside temp of the van with the door open????? You tube?? Cool idea, just give people real world numbers.😊
I think my dometic 60 quart fridge / freezer will run for 4-5 days on my 1000w power station. If that cooling unit could be used to keep the ice frozen or nearly frozen you’d be golden. My cooler is not designed to hold ice but could be modded. I’m not sold on blowing warm air in as opposed to just blowing the cold air out from behind the condenser. I’d seal that condenser to the lid . That’s how the retail versions are made. 20lb bags of ice are $6 in my area. Blocks are hard to get. Nice effort and valuable info.
I think using the Ryobi fan (or any 18 or 24V battery powered fan) is a good idea. A lot of designs I've seen utilize a 12V cigarette adapter, which is fine, but that also means that your vehicle basically needs to run for at most, you can only run your cooler for a few hours before starting your vehicle or your battery will go dead. Buy a few Ryobi batteries and you coulid be set for a few days and not have to worry about recharging them all the time, providing you limit your use of the cooler to perhaps 6-8 hours a day and not run it all the time (unless you have batteries). Plus using an external fan like that versus something like a marine blower, if the fan does burn out, it's easy to find those types of fans anywhere at a home improvement store. The marine air blowers would almost have to be ordered or you have to go to a marine store that sells marine equipment which may be harder to find. I think I might try a design like this even though it's a bit more elaborate than the other designs I've seen. It seems like (in theory at at least) it would work better. One thing I was thinking about is maybe if I did this, keeping the two pieces that are cut out from the cooler and using them as "plugs" for times when I'm not using it to cool anything, in hopes that maybe it will further help keep the ice cold, in addition to the extra layer of foam you put in.
Best design so far! I'm wondering if the pump water flow is slower, whether or not it would help the cooling system last longer or not. Thanks for excellent quality of video,. I'm a Ryobi fan too.
A foam weather strip where the fan sits will insure full flow is being directed toward the radiator. Silicone caulk should seal the exhaust! You might want to see how an unopened bag of ice works,as it’s still sitting surrounded by water. Making a few loops for the pump hose to put the bag on will increase direct contact and maintain thermal mass of the ice. Great off grid hack!
This is an awesome project and I am about to order everything to make this. My only suggestion would be to not use salt water inside the aluminum radiator as the salt will react with the aluminum. When salt water comes into contact with aluminum it can cause both the chalky, white coating of aluminum oxide and pitting that could shorten the life of the radiator and/or clog the small chambers around the fins. Might be able to created a copper tube coil at the bottom of the cooler submerged in the salt water, and make the system a closed loop of coolant inside the pump/radiator. This way the efficiency of salted ice water (my favorite way to keep stuff cool in my coolers), and maintain longevity inside the cooling system.
Kind of like a jockey box for beer kegs. They use a surprising amount of copper or a heat sink plate to transfer the cold to the beer (which in this case would be your coolant)
Im sure you got about a million " you should haves " but , heres one more . Look for the aluminum bar ice plate that sits in the bottom of the ice sink in , of course , a bar. Have your small pump run through the bar plate first then up and through the radiator . Salting the ice is good too . I made one like this on vacation without all the bells and whistles , a cooler some ice a fan and I only drilled holes on the outlet side and screwed the flange onto the top . We were in a cabin in Tennessee and it was miserable , twenty minutes later it was survivable ...great video though ..keep them up.
What an articulate, well presented and easy to understand video ! I bought a tee shirt. I will figure out the rest later. One question maybe Chris, any advantage to other, perhaps bigger coolers ?
your idea of putting foam to separate the ice is genius, I bought one already made worth $500.00 and 2 bags of ice only last Two hours, I returned the product, maybe I will make my own using your idea
Like the use of the toilet flange however instead of bolting it on top I would fit it up thru the coolers lid without bolting it down where you could glue a coupling on flush on top and snug allowing you the ability swivel the vents direction 360 degrees
Another thing. This will also act as a dehumidifier, especially since you have the separation between the coil and the water. Make sure you allow for condensed humidity to drain from the coil to the bottom tank. Having a vent open allows for more humidity to enter the sprinter though, so I would not leave the top vent open.
I like it. definitely gonna try but since I want it for my van build, I think im gonna use the fan/radiator outside of the cooler. this way I still have a cooler I can use and just plug it all back in when I want it. might even keep the ice cooler longer since it won't let warm air in and it gives me maximum capacity for ice.
I wonder if you used a closed loop system by add adding an additional oil cooler submerged in the ice water acting as a heat exchanger would it result in the ice meeting at a slower rate.
Im in the process of building a small unit like that, mine will draw air through the radiator instead of pushing it, a tip I got from cool school channel
You should try 2 radiators one on the bottom of the tank with the pump running water through the two radiators . So water goes through the bottom radiator under the ice into the upper radiator then back into the bottom radiator.
that would only melt the ice faster.... the problem im finding with a design like this, is that the more efficient at cooling your system is, the faster the ice melts and thus doesnt last long. remember with this we are transfering heat from the air to the water and vice versa.... so the more efficient your system is, the faster your ice loses its cold temp.
I made one a while back, probably a few years ago, it worked great! It was almost just as much as same as yours, however I noticed one flaw about yours, your fan is a bit bulky and too big. They have some smaller USB fans out there, you can find them on Amazon. And also get a Anker battery pack that you can mount onto the side of the cooler and drill a hole at the top side for the wires to come out of and plug the usb to that battery pack. Silicone the hole after you get the wires to where you want it. Then it will be good! Reason for the smaller fan size is so you can fit that radiator nicely onto the fan hole. Flex hose from the fan to the bottom as permanent so you don't have to remove all that stuff every time you put ice in it. I wish I had a picture of it or a video to show for it but it's been long ago. Oh well... I gave it away to someone who needed it more than me.
Just my 2 cents, but thinking back to my thermodynamics class this system basically transfers the heat from the air to the ice, which is why the ice melts. Isolating the air from the ice definitely did work to extend run time, but should also increase the output temperate while running since the moving air is exposed to less "coldness." If you needed to cool a room faster, you'd likely need to remove the layer of foam to expose the moving air to more of the cold ice (it just won't last as long). Your design seems to give you two options: no additional foam to cool faster for a short period of time or keep the foam in to cool for a longer time, but with slightly warmer exit air temp. Have you seen this play out in your use of the cooler, or does it seem capable of producing the same air temps in both versions?
I understand the reason for your design is due to your application requirements. But if someone just wanted the unit to cool a bedroom, the design could be simplified by mounting the radiator and fan together on top of the cooler. Then the only holes needed through the cooler would be 2 small holes for the water lines and 1 hole for the power cord of the water pump. You might have to build a casing/airflow pipe for the radiator and fan assembly, but this would still be a much easier design (for those of us who aren't as mechanically inclined.) Is there anything that would be "broken" by doing it this way? You do fantastic work and thanks for sharing it with us.
You could Actually Double up and Put Two of the Radiators one in front of the other. This would Increase the Surface area that the air passes over and Increase the Cooling. But also Sacrifice how long the Ice lasts. You'd need to build an Insulated Shroud around the Radiators and the Fan. So the sides of the radiators aren't exposed to the warm Ambient air.
If the "pump" could sit up top and have a pull of a couple of feet, then one only has to have two holes period. Perhaps use a check type foot valve on the suction side, the pump should have no trouble staying prime as long as there is water in the basin.
Drill 2 holes for the water lines attach radiator to of fan to increase capacity, directionality, and mobility. Also reduces complexity. Salt will ruin radiator quickly.
Great video!! All your videos have lots of tips and tricks that are very beneficial even if I don’t plan on doing the project now. One of the best teachers on YT 👍🏼
Air is a basic inefficient heat transfer medium. Increase the volume of your heat sink and pump the cooled liquid directly to a thin pad on top of the mattress.
Chris , Great job .. Question : Do you still have the large cut out from the top , If so you should put a handle on it and when you not using the air cooler remove the fan and plug the hole with it . Because your radiator is still conducting the water temperature and melting your ice . Hope that helps . I hope to see you soon . One more thing does Milk Run sell ice . hahaha
You can cut the top holes with a taper and put the plugs back in when not in use to stop warm air intrusion. Use velcro strap or tape across the top to hold plugs in when re-inserted. (kind of like the top cut on a halloween pumpkin")
Very innovative. But dude, whattaya think about rotating the radiator 180 degrees and use 90 degree elbows to put the water lines down on the fan end. This way your removable piece of insulation won't be obstructed by the tubing. You could also use some compressible foam above the radiator to tighten up against the inlet hole. Also, Don't use salt. Salt water will eat the ass out anything metal. I doubt your body will be able to tell the difference, salt vs no salt. And who really sleeps a full 8 hours in a van anyway. Great job.
... what if you put 2 radiators in there? One under the fan and then another one under the out. Like put a hose from the out of the first radiator to the in of the second, would that make any difference?
Try puting the ice in 1 gallon size zip lock bags. That will keep the water from splashi g around. Or using zip lock containers. The bags and containers will cause the ice to act as blocks.
I was damned impressed by your thought process as you put this unit together. Has it become a camping staple...or just a fabulous idea? Thanks for the video!
gary geller we used it on a van trip in July and it was a dream! Kept the inside of the sprinter in the low 60s all night even on hot evenings! I’ll definitely be bringing it on every trip I go on!
@@MakeEverything Fabulous! I was looking for something a little ways back that wld cool down my car using ice but was unsuccessful. While this is way too large for that purpose....I know now that's possible 😉
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Chris as a retired HVAC engineer your going in the right direction. You need to install inside baffles with foam around the coil and sealed to the underside of the lid to aid in directing the cold air towards the outlet. The salt is a beneficial aid. The design choices are sound. It's more about differential temp as far as performance of your design. If you can maintain around 45 - 50°F discharge air temp you should be able to cool the van comfortably. Remember you have to cool the contents of the van before you can lower the relative inside air temp. You'll instantly feel the evaporative cooling effects on uncovered skin. Leave the vents and windows closed, it will aid in your cooling performance as you'll be minimizing hot air infiltration. I'll bet on a 95° night you can keep the van below 75°. FYI put up a floor to ceiling to wall insulated privacy curtain behind your fronts seats for both cooling loss to window glass and privacy. This will also create a smaller space to cool.
Yeah, lots of good points about the contents of the van being pre-cooled by the vehicle Air conditioner and maintaining a cool temp will be a lot easier than trying to bring down the temp of a van that's been sitting in the sun cooking all day. I also strongly agree with the "partition" between the cockpit and the cabin, if you will. Even just a moving blanket will help a lot.
What about two radiators? Would that be more effective?
Can you explain the inside baffle? What is the point of it, how would it look, and how does it work? I'm curious because I'm about to make one of my own with my personal improvements, and I'm always interested in ways to improve the design.
Would adding salt damage or shorten the life of the heat exchanger?
@@mog4788 did you end up making one of these? I'm ordering parts right now to put one together. thanks
Sing a lot of these over the years I'm watching this now it is 3 years old and still one of the best 👍👍👍
Thank you so much! I'm trying to make a portable AC for my little garage to keep cool when I'm in there. This is simple and easy to follow. I love this! Thank you
Great! Finally one for us in humid climates! Well done!
Bro I must thank you!! This thing works!!
Kept me comfortably asleep in my rig during the summer until I could afford an apu. Literally felt as if the ac was on
I had the luxury of a freezer to freeze gallons of water
That’s awesome! Love to hear about a simple build like this helping someone out!! Thanks for watching!
I love the design, using a radiator and two section cooler is just genius. The only change I would make is hard pipe the radiator and use pipe insulation that will keep your inlet water even colder because it will not be exposed to the air flow. Overall I love this set better than anything I’ve seen. Thanks for sharing.
This design should be out in the market soon and I will surely buy this one! Coz using my car aircon consumes a lot of gas and petrol price is pretty much higher now than before.
Great job!! A+. Best homemade AC I've seen so far.
Just for anyone else who was searching for this information...it was mentioned at the end of the video, the bags of ice were 16 pound bags. So it was 48 pounds of ice for this to run for a night.
Salt can damage your water pump. I've found that adding rubbing alcohol to the water helps lower the temperature without corroding your parts. Nice job on this!
I can see how salt would damage a water pump. Salt is abrasive.
@@RichardJohnson-mc5nr alcohol will degrade pump and hoses too.
Good to know, I was wondering if rock salt could be used, thanks about the alcohol
Aren't there pumps designed for saltwater aquariums?
Salt will eat away your radiator
Chris as a fire fighter, your doing a dang good job. I would grab the squishy doofer, and run it around the flux capacitor to generator air from the ice age. If that doesn’t work we are all going to melt down like frosty the snow man.
Great project! Thumbs up! The only concern I would have is that the salt may compromise the pump mechanism. Salt crystals may build up inside the pump when it's not running which could lead to some problems. You may want to travel with a spare pump.
Great job, kid. Trial and error. That's exactly how I work. I agree turning the radiator 180° and running the hoses on the radiator side. Also be nice to secure that fan so you can lift that lid. I enjoyed ur build
Update to my previous comment - I built my own incorporating many of the principles that you have here, but a little different for my needs.I have a 48qt cooler with aquarium pump. It is connected to two 3/8" hoses coming out of the extra insulated top of that cooler. Those hoses are connected to a smaller extra insulated external 12qt cooler with a heater core, and a 4" 270cfm Seaflow fan that sucks the cold air out. The pump and blower are 12V DC connected to basic dimmer style switches on top of each cooler to control water and air flow and power comes from a 12V cig lighter style prong. I used this set up placing it in the back seat of my old Mustang with a 4" hose and 4" PVC T adapter to direct the cold air from blower box cooler to the front seats. It worked very well on two 150 mile trips in 104F temps. I am adding 6 feet of 3/8" copper coil, and make it into a closed loop system to see if that can improve this system and prolong the cooling duration. I made my own ice the night before the trips filling plastic containers and only had to add one 8 lb bag of ice on the return portion of one of my trips. Thank you for sharing your video and showing all the details, it was a big help in building my own version.
Could you share your improve version, I’m interesting!
Yel. Your cooler is fine. It is that your cool air is heating up too quickly. People use these in a whole room & even outside with it right next to them. You will be using it at night to sleep. Not in the sun. Just reduce the size of exit pipe. So simple a remedy. You will see. Let me know how it turns out.
I like your design. It deals with some common problems other designs have by having a coil around a fan on the outside. specifically condensation. Your system deals with condensation by having it drip into the cooler instead of leaking down off copper coils on an exterior ran. One idea: Having the inlet to the pump directly under the radiator would eliminate the need to unhook the lines and make filling easier. It'll also shorten the run of tubing ever so slightly making it a bit more efficient. I wonder if slowing down the air flow by putting the fan on medium or low setting might yield good results too as the air spends more time passing by the radiator. Could be something to toy with.
Looks great, but I do have some suggestions. First, if you still have the circle you cut from the lid for the fan, cut a slice off each side big enough to cover any space on either side of the radiator where airflow can bypass the coils. Second, I would operate on 12V so I could either run off the Sprinter’s electrical system with a cigarette lighter plug or a separate automotive battery. You could recharge the separate battery from the lighter plug. To make it portable, use a jump starter, motorcycle, or lawnmower battery. Third, make a small table to elevate the unit off the floor. Put a lip around the top so the cooler can’t slide off. Then make your discharge air tube as short as possible. If you check the temperature from the vents in a car, the vent closest to the evaporator always has the coldest air. This was quite interesting. You have a new subscriber!
Great idea. Thanks for the information. In the winter months you can reverse that by using hot water to go through those fins and keeping the water hot or warm by adding a 12v immersion heater. That's what I plan to do this winter on my camping trips. Ive already ordered the parts to make a heater using the transmission radiator which I bought from e bay.
How did it work in the winter months?
I’m curious as well.
guys, i think at this point we can safely assume op has probably froze to death during his winter camping trip..
Chris, excellent design process, and final product! A co-worker of mine made one of these for a demo unit and shared it with the drivers at our truck terminal, your radiator and plenum blow his design away though!
Two suggestions: adding a couple of bungee cords to secure the fan, and building a cradle to hold the usb power brick. That way neither will get separated from the cooler.
I’m building a teardrop camper, and I can see a version of this as a way to cool my rig .👍🏻
Speaking as an HVAC guy I can say that the general design is pretty solid and based upon a simple chiller system. By not just passing air over ice you're not introducing a ton of moisture into the conditioned space which is good. The only real problem I see is how you are pulling air into the cooler. You essentially have to pressurize that space to get your supply air to exit where you want. This can cause turbulence in the air flow and reduce the efficiency of the system. If you where to say, mount your heat exchange onto the lid flip that fan over and draw air through then there is a pretty good chance that your system will work even better. You could probably even slow your flow rate down and reduce power consumption by adding a coil of copper tubing to act as kind of a pre-chiller on the inlet side of your heat exchanger like in a jockey box.
Speaking as a physics/fluid dynamics guy I completely agree. This is a great Mk.1 design but pulling the air through rather than pushing it would be a lot better. I'm sure he could tear that fan apart, flip, and fabricate a custom baffle and grill for it and seal everything up real well with silicone or epoxy putty for the big gaps. He could probably also just wire it all up (with a cheap buck converter) so the pump and the fan ran off the same battery mounted to the side. The pre chiller coil would be icing on the cake.
@@Strongwolf14 Using a "fart fan" at your discharge side would do the trick....instead of blowing air by fan across the coil you would be sucking it thru.
Very impressive. I had to watch your progress with this project and learned so much from it. Thank you for sharing all your work with us, you went through all the work for everyone watching, now it up to them to make it correctly. Win, win. 👍🏼😉
I made one of these 35 years ago for a hunting lease with 110 volts of Janky electrical circuits. I called it " Chilly Willey '. You don't need the coil in the Ice Chest, You can just drill two holes in the lid for the chill water lines. I used an actual chill water coil. But you can just mount the fan and coil out side. B.K.
You know Robert K: I thought so too. mount the Radiator to the Fan, like it's done under the HUD of a car instead of the cooler, it will do the same way just the opposite pushing out cold air. Great idea.
@@DJRobbie54 Thanks, another is an Absorption sys. pulling heat off the exhaust manifold to chill a water resevoir. DFW airport does this on a Huge scale.
@@DJRobbie54I wanna try that version
Screw the radiator on the lid
Then make a fiberglass bazooka style flow only air. Allow only the Tubes throught.
Then then use like a rubber style gasket to keep the ice colder. Cause that cooler should be able to keep cold like days.
So eliminate the airflow to the ice.
I'm doing this project but that will be my upgrade.
Good luck on this DIY
PS, Aviation engineer.
good job! but if i may make a suggestion, next time remove the cooler's cover instead of ruining the original one. you could construct a cover of your own and not destroy anything. also, another idea would be to pick up a camping freezer/fridge and do the same build. they freeze water and you wouldn't have to be concerned with keeping the ice cubes refreshed every so often. food for thought.
I was thinking this same thing, turn a mini freezer into a swamp cooler
Genious I tell ya, I built one yesterday and used it last night in the cabin of my boat, had frost on the windows at the lake last night, needed a blanket and it was mid 90s yesterday and 80s last night here in north GA 40 miles north of Atlanta , Thanks dude for the great idea, now the wife will spend the night on the lake.
No doubt!!!!
I've been looking at 25-35 ft boats that have a small onboard generator with a small galley, wet head and a v-berth setup but almost all have NO A/C!!!!! I have the same response from the Wife about not having an A/C...It's too hot...WAA WAA WAA.....LOL.... This set up is PERFECT for a nice weekend fishing trip and keeping the peace....just a quick run to the marina store for more ice if your extra coolers run out.
Necessity is the mother of invention!!!!
@@rickhaigwood1079and the wife never slept so good !!! ❄️🧊🧭
Circulate your water through tubing placed in the ice. That slows down the melting of the ice and solves salt damage to the radiator and pump.
use coper coiled tubing in the ice to keep it a closed system and use either car coolant or coolant used for custom water-cooled pc's
Thx Chris, I doubled the fans. Insulated the cooler by drilling holes on the edges and sprayed insulation inside of it. But didn't put any baffling
thanks!! shared with my homeless friends and hobos and travelers.
Good Afternoon Sir!
I JUST discovered this concept 1 hour ago. I really must be living under a rock.
Anyways, this was way cool sir, and thank you for sharing this!!! Since being diagnosed with Pugalustica Dementia, my priorities with my kids immediately changed. Instead of giving a material world to them, I became 100% about creating experiences and memories.
Example:
I wonder how many kiddoes get to say they built their own portable air cooler; while at the same time learned some cool skills.
Sorry for writing a book, my meds kicked in, and I'm feeling pretty chatty! LoL
Stay Well Sir & Thank You Sir!!!
AS an HVAC business owner..... I have to give you props of this one buddy.... You nailed it!!!! The only thing that i think you could do better is run a condensate pump for your water source.... but again... killed it bro!!!! Also the ideal "Delta T" (Fancy way of saying "Difference of Temperature") is 18-20 degrees, From your return(fan) to supply(PVC).... Ex. 75 degrees return temp - 57/55 degrees supply temp..... the cooler the return gets, the cooler the supply will be!!
Long time commercial refrigeration tech here....I see one rather huge issue with this an dthat being the amount of turbulence imparted on the air flow based on the way it is drawn into the vessel. You essentially have to pressurize the space to get the air to exit where you want it. If he were to draw the air through the cooler I do believe the efficiency, and possibly the air flow, would increase.
I'm making something similar. Only I'm using 2 radiators with 2 computer fans. I'm making a closed loop system. One radiator will be submerged in a layer of water and I'm using large ice blocks. The other radiator will be top mounted and I'll tin knock a shroud over it . This will prevent any added air introduced into the cooler to maintain ice longer.
Great project and presentation. If the salt is in your circulation water it will probably shorten the life of your A/T cooler if that matters to you. You could also "T" in to your supply line with a ball valve for emptying your warm water without having to bail by hand.
I don't know why, but when you shop vacced the cooler at high speed I laughed uncontrollably.
Great video sir.
Nice video, you did a pretty good job designing and implementing this. As far as the suggestion for salt is concerned they had the idea partially correct. You may know this already but rock salt is used in making homemade ice cream. Using salt directly on the ice and in the compartment where it will melt into the water will allow salt contamination to get into your pump and your radiator so that it will sooner or later get buildup. I would suggest to use one or two separate containers to place the ice in to separate it directly from the water and pour the rock salt directly on top of the ice in those containers and therefore you will greatly lower the temperature of the ice and it will make it last longer, but you can keep the salt out of the water and therefore not allowing the salt to come in contact with the aluminum. You would have to play with how much rocksalt you want to use for however much ice you're using.
I have done the exact same thing with a styrofoam cooler. It works insanely well. I couldnt find an oil radiator so i used a pc radiator. This invention is amazing and cools a small room well.
Using the radiator was an awesome idea, and actually helps solve another problem I had with ice chest A/C builds....humidity. Any DIY A/C unit I build needs to be safe for running (relatively) long-term near electronics. I would imagine that blowing out the condensation produced by the radiator is a LOT less than just blowing across ice/water.
I would have never thought to do this, like this, but based on this I already have some thoughts for improvements. Overall great idea. My improvements will raise the cost a little.
Very interesting concept. I would probably have reversed the radiator so that the hoses were on the same end of the cooler so you did not have to unhook them to fill it.
yes, great idea, I am going to build one and reverse it as you say. thx.
Thx, I'm going to do it that way.
I'd put another radiator UNDER the ice as well!! Decent hack, I like it, and already have the Ryobi kit gear. Thanks.
I made the other type for tent camping, that melts the ice too quick. I made my own ice blocks but you also get super humid air which is not desirable. This is the way to go.
I too travel and work and sleep in a Sprinter 144, since 2014. This will save my a$$ during the next project, usually in southern states for months at a time.
JC Whitney, or any local auto parts store. You can get a larger one and dual fan for off grid home. This appears to be sized for a van or camper. Walmart has 12 volt fans in their auto section, plug into cigarette lighter. They're like $12.00.
Adding Rock salt will lower the freezing point of the water. Like making ice cream.
Thanks for creating this video.
I built one using similar design for camping. What a lifesaver! Got cold at night in South Florida!
It's always s good practice to use the pump to pull suction thru the heat exchanger rather than push it thru. The pump creates heat and this could be transferred thru slightly heating the water.
Brilliant, it’s great you can Fabricate what you need. I love your ideas. I make custom things all the time. This Cooler is amazing. 🙏
to cut the hole for the fan, i'd adjust my saber saw for ~15 degrees so the fan could snuggle into the hole a little deeper. also, why not leave the ice in the bag (to try to achieve the block of ice effect) with maybe a couple of quarts of "loose" water for the pump to recirculate.
Great Idea. That came to my mind as well. Leave the Ice in the bag, Just cut a slit in the bag face down into the water. That would create that block effect. I bought a igloo 70 quart ice chest it has a drain plug on it. I intend to drain that water out into a pan refreeze it, and use some of it again with a little bit of fresh water. I think you will also get better results with Distilled Water. I found out that when you use an Evaporative cooler with regular tap water, you get A build-up residue of calcium in the water itself on the filters. Over time you may have to flush out your radiators, to keep the tubes cleared out.
Thanks so much for this! Its a clever design and saving my life this summer (van man)
I don't see much feedback on here from people that finished the project so here are some points that may be helpful:
- The aluminum frame he fashions at the beginning for the radiator is not ultimately use used or doesn't appear to be so factor that in
- The scrap stick he uses to measure the inside rails is 9" tall (he does say this quickly but you may miss it and its tricky to calculate w/ the curved sides)
- BEWARE OF THE LINKED STYROFOAM! It is NOT the dimensions advertised.(or at least what I received wasn't), all sides were 1/2" short
- The radiator needs a 5/8" ID (inner diameter) tube and the pump is 5/16" ID
- since the tube sizes are different you need a 5/8" collar to connect them together...that's what I came up with at least. There maybe other ways to do this but I couldn't find an adapter at home depot or autozone for the dimensions.
- The ryobi fan works decently if you're sitting right in front of it but it is pretty weak. If you have access to an outlet I HIGHLY recommend this 8" Blower from Harbor Freight (www.harborfreight.com/8-inch-portable-ventilator-97762.html), much stronger and despite being heavy duty doesn't drain very much power (its like 80 bucks). Also the fan is nearly the same dimensions as the ryobi fan so the radiator linked is good to go.
- Buying all this stuff was around ~$350-400 depending if you use the blower
👍
Nice design. The only issue I see is the salt water destroying your heat exchanger pretty quickly. You might get away with just using a bunch of runs of plastic tubing in the ice/salt water area and fill them with pure water, or maybe even oil, and the ice and water will cool the fluid in the tubing and it can circulate though the heat exchanger without doing any damage. Aluminum or copper tubing would have higher thermal conductivity but then they would also be corroded by the salt water as well so a lot of very small diameter plastic tubing laid in the bottom of the cooler might work ok. Racing car driver's cool suits use small plastic tubing in this manner.
Made mine this Way used it this weekend and found out that at the end of the tube or the cold air comes out you should have a little fan inserted in there it worked perfect even better after that.
This is a great project! I love your ingenuity. I recommend that for version 2.0 avoid cutting the big hole in the top: instead, just cut small holes for the infeed and outfeed of the radiator, strap the radiator to the front of the fan and blow air through the radiator. I bet that'll seal off your source of cold better even if your insulation is tight to the edge of the cooler. You could probably make it air tight if you seal the holes around the tube.
This is exactly what i was going to say. Obviously this evolved as it was built, but at this point there is no need for the air to go in and out of the cooler, and the whole PVC pipe thing. But yeah, if you put the coolant lines together in pipe insulation that will keep the hoses from sweating, not sure how far a USB power pump can push but if you went with a stronger pump you could probably get a good distance away from the cooler with the fan.
I don’t believe what you are saying will work as good as this one. You don’t have enough air pressure to force the air through small holes. The back pressure would be to much and not enough air would be going through. No stick to this design. But put the hose in from the other end that way you don’t have to move them around. Leave one bag of ice unbroken, it should last longer. Well done cobber.👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻👍🏻
@@Watson1 you're not understanding what @jaymop is saying.
instead of cutting any big holes (for fan and pvc tube) just drill 2 holes big enough to feed the radiator (in) and return to the pump (out)
The radiator and fan would be outside the cooler mounted together (fan blowing air through radiator onto you) That way you minimize cutting the cooler a bunch
@@joncrall4628 the down fall to having the radiator outside the cooler would be condensation build up and it dripping all over the top of the cooler.
@@howardchancey5580 you're right. Tried both
I knew there had to be a way to do this! Thank you.
Looking for a low-draw, inexpensive way to cool a cargo trailer. I had been trying to figure out how to circulate water & draw air through that (like the cooling system on a car) & there you were! But, I think I’m going to use bottles of frozen water (or ice packs) instead of cubes in the water.
Try adding a 'duct' to the lid on the inside, right on top of the radiator and same size of the radiator. That should increase the efficiency. Can be made of the stock angled aluminum. Also, the water pickup and return could be located on opposite sides of the cooler
That's a good point to separate the pickup and return.
would be interested in hearing the results with one or two people sleeping thru the night ...just to see how much body heat will affect the longevity of the ice and cool air output. I like your work.
If I may spitball a few ideas for this to you.
Flowing current will make your ice melt faster, so create a closed loop on the cooling circuit- I think that maybe installing another radiator down in the bottom with just and inline pump would cool the radiator fluid best. You could then also move the pump to the top side/plenum area so any heat that it creates will not be introduced directly into your ice.
Well, you covered my second idea after I wrote it.
Ever made homemade ice cream? What do you put on the ice to "make it colder"? Salt. Perhaps experimenting with using salt in an ice brine will make it stay colder for longer. Salt lowers the temperature at which the ice will melt, which should for a time make the a/c run even colder. But I am out on how well this will work because it may just make it run colder for a shorter length of time.
It looks like you have room to put another radiator in the top, the larger the surface area then the greater the rate of exchange will be. It might be possible that you could do of those radiators in the top and two in the bottom for the greatest amount of cooling.
Also, you can probably mount the radiator against the lid with a few spacers on the Styrofoam so that it will support it once the lid is closed. I imagine constant bouncing and jouncing of a moving vehicle will make it break free of the lid eventually if supported solely by the lid.
I also mentioned the closed circuit idea I was also thinking antifreeze would be good instead if water I believe it can hold cooler temperature it's also coolant cold without freezing but not 100 % on the antifreeze
Great design. If you would run two of those oil coolers connected together you'll get twice the cooling potential 🙂👍
So, what I'd really like to see is a graph of temperature hour by hour overnight of both exterior and interior temperature inside the van (not just the output temperature of the fan). It would also be interesting to see the output temp along with those 2 other graphs.
I think another benefit of the radiator system is that you're not introducing additional moisture into the air by blowing over the ice. Yes, the radiator will condensate, but that moisture is already in the air.
did you not read the description on the thumbnail 3 bags of ice last 8 hours.
LMFAO
3 bags of ice lasted 8 hours. Duh, like the guy asked what are the hard numbers. Outside temp at night vs inside van temp. He avoided showing the efficiency or lack of efficiency. Showing the inside temp of the van with the door open????? You tube?? Cool idea, just give people real world numbers.😊
I think my dometic 60 quart fridge / freezer will run for 4-5 days on my 1000w power station. If that cooling unit could be used to keep the ice frozen or nearly frozen you’d be golden. My cooler is not designed to hold ice but could be modded. I’m not sold on blowing warm air in as opposed to just blowing the cold air out from behind the condenser. I’d seal that condenser to the lid . That’s how the retail versions are made. 20lb bags of ice are $6 in my area. Blocks are hard to get. Nice effort and valuable info.
I think using the Ryobi fan (or any 18 or 24V battery powered fan) is a good idea. A lot of designs I've seen utilize a 12V cigarette adapter, which is fine, but that also means that your vehicle basically needs to run for at most, you can only run your cooler for a few hours before starting your vehicle or your battery will go dead. Buy a few Ryobi batteries and you coulid be set for a few days and not have to worry about recharging them all the time, providing you limit your use of the cooler to perhaps 6-8 hours a day and not run it all the time (unless you have batteries). Plus using an external fan like that versus something like a marine blower, if the fan does burn out, it's easy to find those types of fans anywhere at a home improvement store. The marine air blowers would almost have to be ordered or you have to go to a marine store that sells marine equipment which may be harder to find. I think I might try a design like this even though it's a bit more elaborate than the other designs I've seen. It seems like (in theory at at least) it would work better.
One thing I was thinking about is maybe if I did this, keeping the two pieces that are cut out from the cooler and using them as "plugs" for times when I'm not using it to cool anything, in hopes that maybe it will further help keep the ice cold, in addition to the extra layer of foam you put in.
Another side benefit is that the air will be less humid! Nice Job!
Best design so far! I'm wondering if the pump water flow is slower, whether or not it would help the cooling system last longer or not. Thanks for excellent quality of video,. I'm a Ryobi fan too.
You did a really great job on that!!! That was impressive!
I've randomly come across this video and I'm seriously impressed with this person's ingenuity.
This is brilliant. You’ve really got me thinking. I’ll do something similar but with a computer fan and a small pond pump. Thanks heaps for posting!
Awesome video. Darken up all windows letting in sunlight as well. You will notice a HUGE difference,
A foam weather strip where the fan sits will insure full flow is being directed toward the radiator. Silicone caulk should seal the exhaust! You might want to see how an unopened bag of ice works,as it’s still sitting surrounded by water. Making a few loops for the pump hose to put the bag on will increase direct contact and maintain thermal mass of the ice. Great off grid hack!
@@tonispellmeyer1704 no
Yoooooooooo I love you dm man
@@spikedeggnog1843 Back at you my friend :)
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING YOUR WONDERFUL INVENTION.
I feel like if the rad was mounted direct to the lid, it may increase efficiency in cold air transfer
Good one! Also if you reduce the size of the outlet gradually past the oil cooler, it condenses the cold, making the output colder.
This is an awesome project and I am about to order everything to make this. My only suggestion would be to not use salt water inside the aluminum radiator as the salt will react with the aluminum. When salt water comes into contact with aluminum it can cause both the chalky, white coating of aluminum oxide and pitting that could shorten the life of the radiator and/or clog the small chambers around the fins. Might be able to created a copper tube coil at the bottom of the cooler submerged in the salt water, and make the system a closed loop of coolant inside the pump/radiator. This way the efficiency of salted ice water (my favorite way to keep stuff cool in my coolers), and maintain longevity inside the cooling system.
Kind of like a jockey box for beer kegs. They use a surprising amount of copper or a heat sink plate to transfer the cold to the beer (which in this case would be your coolant)
Did it turn out well? I'm looking to pay someone to build something similar!
Im sure you got about a million " you should haves " but , heres one more . Look for the aluminum bar ice plate that sits in the bottom of the ice sink in , of course , a bar. Have your small pump run through the bar plate first then up and through the radiator . Salting the ice is good too .
I made one like this on vacation without all the bells and whistles , a cooler some ice a fan and I only drilled holes on the outlet side and screwed the flange onto the top . We were in a cabin in Tennessee and it was miserable , twenty minutes later it was survivable ...great video though ..keep them up.
you are illiterate.
What an articulate, well presented and easy to understand video ! I bought a tee shirt. I will figure out the rest later. One question maybe Chris, any advantage to other, perhaps bigger coolers ?
your idea of putting foam to separate the ice is genius, I bought one already made worth $500.00 and 2 bags of ice only last Two hours, I returned the product, maybe I will make my own using your idea
Nice one bud. Be safe on your travels, we are living in strange times.
Like the use of the toilet flange however instead of bolting it on top I would fit it up thru the coolers lid without bolting it down where you could glue a coupling on flush on top and snug allowing you the ability swivel the vents direction 360 degrees
Another thing. This will also act as a dehumidifier, especially since you have the separation between the coil and the water. Make sure you allow for condensed humidity to drain from the coil to the bottom tank. Having a vent open allows for more humidity to enter the sprinter though, so I would not leave the top vent open.
I like it. definitely gonna try but since I want it for my van build, I think im gonna use the fan/radiator outside of the cooler. this way I still have a cooler I can use and just plug it all back in when I want it. might even keep the ice cooler longer since it won't let warm air in and it gives me maximum capacity for ice.
I wonder if you used a closed loop system by add adding an additional oil cooler submerged in the ice water acting as a heat exchanger would it result in the ice meeting at a slower rate.
Im in the process of building a small unit like that, mine will draw air through the radiator instead of pushing it, a tip I got from cool school channel
@@docink6175 how do you plan to get enough air flow when the pipes on the radiators are so small? Use multiple radiators?
This would make a great science project for a kid.✌🏽👌🏽
The salt helps with the temp but it will clog your little fins on the radiator and your pump will stop working eventually.
Corrosion too.
You should try 2 radiators one on the bottom of the tank with the pump running water through the two radiators . So water goes through the bottom radiator under the ice into the upper radiator then back into the bottom radiator.
that would only melt the ice faster.... the problem im finding with a design like this, is that the more efficient at cooling your system is, the faster the ice melts and thus doesnt last long. remember with this we are transfering heat from the air to the water and vice versa.... so the more efficient your system is, the faster your ice loses its cold temp.
I made one a while back, probably a few years ago, it worked great! It was almost just as much as same as yours, however I noticed one flaw about yours, your fan is a bit bulky and too big. They have some smaller USB fans out there, you can find them on Amazon. And also get a Anker battery pack that you can mount onto the side of the cooler and drill a hole at the top side for the wires to come out of and plug the usb to that battery pack. Silicone the hole after you get the wires to where you want it. Then it will be good! Reason for the smaller fan size is so you can fit that radiator nicely onto the fan hole. Flex hose from the fan to the bottom as permanent so you don't have to remove all that stuff every time you put ice in it. I wish I had a picture of it or a video to show for it but it's been long ago. Oh well... I gave it away to someone who needed it more than me.
I usually steal ice from dive hotels. Also pop in and grab some free breakfast. Waffles ect
Just my 2 cents, but thinking back to my thermodynamics class this system basically transfers the heat from the air to the ice, which is why the ice melts. Isolating the air from the ice definitely did work to extend run time, but should also increase the output temperate while running since the moving air is exposed to less "coldness." If you needed to cool a room faster, you'd likely need to remove the layer of foam to expose the moving air to more of the cold ice (it just won't last as long). Your design seems to give you two options: no additional foam to cool faster for a short period of time or keep the foam in to cool for a longer time, but with slightly warmer exit air temp. Have you seen this play out in your use of the cooler, or does it seem capable of producing the same air temps in both versions?
Good points! I guess he must have wanted the lower cooling power in exchange for the longer cooling period.
Well, everybody has suggestions for you. Not me. I think this thing is awesome and I am gonna make one soon !!! Thanks for a great video
Nice project Chris! I could of used this when I was in the Army lol.
Amazing !!!this can reduce considerably the electronic account. My congratulations sir.
I understand the reason for your design is due to your application requirements. But if someone just wanted the unit to cool a bedroom, the design could be simplified by mounting the radiator and fan together on top of the cooler. Then the only holes needed through the cooler would be 2 small holes for the water lines and 1 hole for the power cord of the water pump. You might have to build a casing/airflow pipe for the radiator and fan assembly, but this would still be a much easier design (for those of us who aren't as mechanically inclined.)
Is there anything that would be "broken" by doing it this way?
You do fantastic work and thanks for sharing it with us.
You could Actually Double up and Put Two of the Radiators one in front of the other.
This would Increase the Surface area that the air passes over and Increase the Cooling.
But also Sacrifice how long the Ice lasts.
You'd need to build an Insulated Shroud around the Radiators and the Fan.
So the sides of the radiators aren't exposed to the warm Ambient air.
If the "pump" could sit up top and have a pull of a couple of feet, then one only has to have two holes period. Perhaps use a check type foot valve on the suction side, the pump should have no trouble staying prime as long as there is water in the basin.
Drill 2 holes for the water lines attach radiator to of fan to increase capacity, directionality, and mobility. Also reduces complexity. Salt will ruin radiator quickly.
Great video!! All your videos have lots of tips and tricks that are very beneficial even if I don’t plan on doing the project now. One of the best teachers on YT 👍🏼
Very clever, I love it when someone finds solutions!
Air is a basic inefficient heat transfer medium. Increase the volume of your heat sink and pump the cooled liquid directly to a thin pad on top of the mattress.
jesus, you just took this to a whole nother level lol
@@williamriley3125 That's why we call these backyard hacks amateurs!!!
They're definitely heading in the right direction
Chris , Great job .. Question : Do you still have the large cut out from the top , If so you should put a handle on it and when you not using the air cooler remove the fan and plug the hole with it . Because your radiator is still conducting the water temperature and melting your ice . Hope that helps . I hope to see you soon . One more thing does Milk Run sell ice . hahaha
You can cut the top holes with a taper and put the plugs back in when not in use to stop warm air intrusion. Use velcro strap or tape across the top to hold plugs in when re-inserted. (kind of like the top cut on a halloween pumpkin")
Very innovative. But dude, whattaya think about rotating the radiator 180 degrees and use 90 degree elbows to put the water lines down on the fan end. This way your removable piece of insulation won't be obstructed by the tubing. You could also use some compressible foam above the radiator to tighten up against the inlet hole. Also, Don't use salt. Salt water will eat the ass out anything metal. I doubt your body will be able to tell the difference, salt vs no salt. And who really sleeps a full 8 hours in a van anyway. Great job.
... what if you put 2 radiators in there? One under the fan and then another one under the out. Like put a hose from the out of the first radiator to the in of the second, would that make any difference?
gotta be carefull about air pressure, more work for the fan.
Try puting the ice in 1 gallon size zip lock bags. That will keep the water from splashi g around. Or using zip lock containers. The bags and containers will cause the ice to act as blocks.
Great project!!! Do you have a link for the oil cooler?
Rock salt is best, the same thing used in an ice cream maker to keep it cold. Great Work.
I was damned impressed by your thought process as you put this unit together. Has it become a camping staple...or just a fabulous idea? Thanks for the video!
gary geller we used it on a van trip in July and it was a dream! Kept the inside of the sprinter in the low 60s all night even on hot evenings! I’ll definitely be bringing it on every trip I go on!
@@MakeEverything Fabulous! I was looking for something a little ways back that wld cool down my car using ice but was unsuccessful. While this is way too large for that purpose....I know now that's possible 😉
I really liked this project. Good job. Maybe by raising cooler a few inches off floor it might help lasting time for ice. Just an idea.
Wonder if there someway to run a 12 oz can of Freon through that radiator.
you'd need to be able to cycle the freon and convert it from high pressure/low pressure and liquid to gas to get the cooling affect of freon.
This is the best idea I've seen. An i will be building one. Thanks for putting this together