I just built one of these based on your video, with a few personal touches, I have it in a 24' travel trailer. Its been running for 1 hr now, and the thermometer at the far end of the trailer has gone down 10 Degrees from 95 to 85. It works better than I expected.
without doubt, the VERY BEST DIY portable cooler out there. Of course the efficacy of a swamp cooler depends greatly on the humidity. This will work MUCH better in Phoenix AZ than Miami FL. Good work!
One thing I would change is have an outflow for the submersible pump. You've clamped it off, so the back flow pressure is very high which will wear out the pump. Have the tube go back into the water. If this relieves too much pressure in the line then just make more and bigger holes.
I'm using a smaller fountain pump, but I can't get my water to drip like this one, even though I use the same gauge pin. The water squirts out of the holes, and I think that may be why it's not as effective, as it doesn't give the water a chance to evaporate. Any suggestions on getting the water velocity to slow down?
just wanted to say thank you. I built 2 I place them directly under ceiling fans while rotating jugs of ice water from the chest freezer. yesterday was 99° it stayed very cool in our home. thank you!
Using ice from an in home freezer might actually reduce your cooling efficiency because your freezer generates a lot of heat when chilling the ice. Might be better off not using ice at all and see if you get even better results. Better yet, buy ice from the store and use that. Or run your freezer in a room that is closed off from the rooms you're trying to cool.
I made a large scale model of this and am using it for a humidifier using a return air line to my furnace. Now my home is even warmer than before and has humidity again to breath better without dryness. I may install a humidifier thermostat to control the moister flow. Thanks for the idea bro. You have a thumbs up friend :)
Good idea. I saw a similar set up but it used an aquarium to hold the water and the screen went over the open portion of a window and the homeowner had a fan blowing into his attic which vented through the roof. He did a couple windows in the same manner and he dropped the temp in his house from ninety something down to the high seventies if I remember correctly. A cool setup indeed.
Just got mine done; a few pointers- make sure and bleed the air out, and get the most powerful 6" (maybe 8" fan... it WORKS and is blowing out 67-68 degree air. I put it by the window and the hot air is immediately neutralized and comfy!! Thanks for this plan!
I thought - man I'll bet it takes a year to drill the little holes in the hose; but then you show that a pin prick from a push-pin does the job in one minute! Excellent video
I love watching people's inventions. It would seem to me( and I could be wrong) that a drop or two of clorox per gallon of water would keep mold or mildew from growing overnight. So that you'd only have to dump the water and ring out the pad a couple of times a week. Nice post. You have a great speaking voice too.
This is a very simple type of a Swamp Cooler. This is actually much cheaper than what all those other guys are making and using ice in. This is a much better way to DIY a Air cooling system. Great job!
This is AWESOME !!! I tried and made one of these today and It really, really works. The only thing i did is, I placed a frozen 2 liter soda bottle filled with water; to make the water colder.. I want to give props to " Desertsun02" for this kick-ass idea.
How about a list of the items in the description I'm aware you say what you used to make it but like the kind of pump you used and where you got everything
@@TabooX1984 5 gallon bucket, Home Depot or Lowes - the padding is called Dura-cool, also HD or L - the pump can be picked up in any store's garden department along with the hose so the only real trick is finding the fan but that's just a small, cheap desk fan with the brackets removed so figure you can find it in any department store, possibly a hardware store, meaning that HD or L could be a one stop shopping for this.
In mining country around a century ago, some people would build their houses over old mine tunnel or shaft openings, then put a door over the opening. In the summer they'd open the door, and the 55 degree underground air would cool the houses very well.
I'm always amazed how even during the hottest summer days, my basement in an old house feels like it is air conditioned. I bet that kind of cooling was very efficient and I bet people who had houses situated like that had a lot of friends drop by in the summer to cool off during that era.
@@flickwtchrIt works both ways, too-a basement will be around the same temperature in winter. In a cold climate, that can make a huge difference in heating costs. We live on a big ol’ heat sink. There are geothermal heat pumps that heat or cool whole buildings as well.
You might be able to eliminate the pump. If you had a bucket of water above the level of the cooler, cut a small hole in the bottom of it, and use gravity to flow it to the tubing, then at the bottom of the cooler have a drain that empties into another bucket... sort of a tiered system. It will take up more room, and be a bit of a complex setup, but you eliminate the power the pump uses. But you did a great job on this one as it is. Thanks for sharing it.
@@mitch5077 Could be.. but simple is better. Would depend on how often you needed to manually dump the water back up top. Once per day... Probably fine.. once per hour.. NO.
When the humidity is low,then this method is more benificial than regular a/c ...Say you are in the desert and the humidity is 21% heat 90 Degrees. Raising the humidity along with the fan to circulate actually makes it feel like a 'cool moist air' atmosphere . I am making for Burning Man this year.Thank's
To work properly it need to suck dry air from outside and blow inside of house. Also windows must be crack open so moist air will escape from rooms. Meaning the bucket should be located outdoor and air duct should be edded to unit so it will blow cold air into the house. We had residential swamp coolers installed all over Sacramento city in California. It low humidity here. Works well.
Put this in a car, and you'll save that $1200 to repair your auto a/c. If this works in your house in the HUMID South, think of how it will cool down a car. THANKS for posting!!!!!!!!! You just saved me beaucoup bucks.
I live in central Texas and we have a hobbiest greenhouse where the polycarbonate walls and roof are too efficient (yes, we're also adding shade cloth.) Commercial greenhouses I've been in use swamp coolers to cool them down so I've been especially noting the comments about the efficiency of this device in a humid environment. I've got most of these parts assembled to build this for our greenhouse. I expect to have it completed by next week. We'll have exhaust fans at the top of the greenhouse pulling the hot air from the top and will have this cooler on the ground so it could be the case that the constant exhaust will pull needed moisture out of the greenhouse which the swamp cooler will replace. Fingers crossed that it works in this application. It's an affordable experiment. I'll let everyone know how it turns out.
Great tutorial, thanks for sharing. I'm going to make one of these tomorrow. Three questions: 1) what brand and model of fan are you using? 2) what brand and model of cooling pad are you using? 3) how many gph is your pump? Many thanks
hi there. i noticed you asked a question on another one of my evap. cooler vids. the reply button is not working on that video for some reason. (i tried 3 times). to answer your question, it won't work on the front, but should work on the back. and i'd try a box-fan if you can get one. they always work for me.
You can freeze used water bottles and drop them in the bucket, the air will come out super cold! Keep several in your freezer so when the first ones melt, you can replace them with the other frozen ones and just keep cycling them every 4 hours.
great job, but what size pv did you use 20 watt, 50 watt??? just a suggestion about slowing bacteria growth, add a little dish soap to the water. thank you
Yeah people poo-poo these things far too easily, but my uncle used the big roof mount ones exclusively in Arizona and California to cool the house and my experience was that the air produced by these was nice and cold. If I'm not mistaken, they refereed to them as evaporation cooler and used what are referred to as “hogs hair” pads because they allowed excellent water and air flow. You would probably have to use filtered or distilled water (bottled) in regions with lime\calcium in the water cause that stuff is bad for clogging up the water ports… occasionally I had to climb up on the roof and clean the deposits from the drain holes in the panels. They work great in regions with dry heat, not sure how it would perform in humid climates. This size would probably be nice for a tent. Thanks for the video................
you can either buy a small DC powered pump (many come with their own little solar panel) for complete "off grid" operation (no batteries, inverters, or charge controllers required) or get a small ac powered pump (most are very low power ~ 2 to 5 watts)
Dude that is such a great idea I'm going to make one of those this weekend it'll be perfect for the size that I need plus I'll have some tools leftover it would have cost me about $150 to buy one of those online.
Wanna know why they call em swamp coolers? Because you can’t use a traditional refrigeration powered a/c in a swamp, you need an evaporative cooler, aka a swamp cooler for that specific reason.
I use a bag of ice sold at the gas station and then I put salt with the ice and water. The Styrofoam is sold at Walmart's fishing section, it fits perfectly in the 5 gallon bucket. It lasts for approximately 5-6 hours and is great for one person. I made 2 more just in case the wife or kids want to use one but they never do.
The difference between that and this is you have to buy the ice. The ice ones will work anywhere. But in the Southwest they don't have to buy ice and it works just as well
You could also add an arduino with a fluid level sensor and a lcd display tomonitor the water level. They can be added to the solar setup since it uses very little power.
hi there, i got the fan at walmart. made by a company called auto/expressions or "ae". part #83106. definitely worth getting this fan if you can. seems to put out 2 or 3 times the amount of air as a standard small desk fan.
What if you were to run a ring (coat hanger) around the inside and hung an absorbent cloth from it away from the holes? Fill the bottom with ice (or just cold) water and then let the moisture wick up? I would think bacteria wouldn't be a problem with the cold temperatures, but just throwing the cloth in the wash every few days would solve that. Easy to have more than one cloth to rotate out. This is just awesome! Thanks for taking the time to teach us :o)
I've been looking up growing plants in buckets for about a month now, watching videos and lectures every day for 8 hours a day. I come across this and am like, where do the plants go in the bucket. TH-cam just screwed with my brain. SPEAKING OF WHICH, though, could I put this outside, run some of my water through it, to cool off the water for my plants? How could I do this? I'd have to have a little compartment over the fan to make sure no light got in, to avoid algae growth. I seriously watched this for 6 minutes wondering what this was, and then it hit me, you're making a DIY A/C unit.
A nieteen degree temperatur drop is pretty good actually. It's on par woith most air conditioning units. The only thing it doesn't do is remove moisture from the air. on an unrelated not. "The faster you live your life the sooner you reach the end."
Great video and very helpful. Especially putting a block of ice in the bucket! If you want your ice to last, sprinlike it with salt and it stays solid for a longer period. If you are close to your kitchen sink you might be able to connect your tubing to the faucet and avoid the motor altogether. Where did you find your evaporative blanket? I suppose 1/2 inch foam might also do the job! Thanks again for the video.
@@ftumi salt just causes it to freeze at a lower temperature I believe. So for example water freezes at 32 F but the salt prevents that and makes it freeze at, let’s say, 22 F instead.
Adding salt doesn't seem like a great idea for any part of the system: salt deposits plugging up the weep tube holes, salt deposits in the filter media, and shortened pump life.
Salt does indeed melt the ice. But think about it for a moment by melting the eyes you are releasing more of the colder temperature or technically lack of heat. Have you ever made homemade ice cream? The old way at least before they had ones that went into your freezer was to pack around the bucket ice rock salt ice rock salt ice this caused a quicker release of the cold from the ice into the bucket making the ice cream
FYI. If you add some salt and ice to the water it will lower the water temp below 32 without freezing the water. You should be able to lower the temp to about 27-29 degrees. It's not much but every little bit helps when trying to cool.
Evaporation is what cools, not the temperature of the water. You might get a temporary boost from adding ice, but the machine producing the ice generates heat, a LOT of heat. Also, salt corrodes. The only way to get more cooling is to evaporate more water.
This guy lives out west were it is dry and swamp coolers are popular and actually work, here in Florida were it is dry you would need to add a lot of ice to get a decent cooling effect.
here's a cool idea; Try pumping in the excess water into water filter jugs or water filters and have it then flow into a water tank or silo? that way you'd have cool air AND free cold water
Good work, great tutorial to make one for Burning Man. I used to live in the South and the heat was driving me insane, that's why I moved to San Francisco where you can chose your weather. We dont need air conditioning, the fog takes care of the heat in summer. When it's 50F in San Francisco, it can be 108-110 F inland one hour away, at the same moment!
This is a miniature version of a cooling tower. The exhausted air in such a system would need to be exhausted to the outside. The (much cooler) water in the drip pan would then be circulated through a coil and a fan to distribute the air inside. In this structure the exhausted air is removing heat from the water and should go outside of the area to be cooled. Good work. Just an observation and perhaps some idea thrown out there. Cooling towers are generally ginormous and the cooled water sent through a chiller to bring the water temps down to almost freezing.
Right. That is a miniature cooling tower. The heat that's blown off the water is exhausted as "cooling" when in fact it's waste heat. The water in the bottom is quite chilly. That fan should be blowing the air outside and the water pumped through a coil with fan.
This is a nice idea. I priced single room evap coolers and they run around $100. I'm going to build one of these instead to cool a single room in my house in Arizona. If I drilled the holes further up on the bucket (like between the two ribs) would that cause an issue with performance? I want to maximize water capacity. Thanks!
thanks-- Home Cepot,, ordered one set!!... a cooler using a rectangular trash can would be better since the fan can be installed in the Side of the cooler to set up right next to my chair!!! Thats what I do with my AC SWamp cooler !!!
I wonder if you could build one without the pump requirement, thus less energy required. Using the wicking action of a different cloth material to suck the water up like a sponge instead of having to drip it down? If the material doesn't exist that effectively wicks well as well as allows air flow, wouldn't you still be better off with a gravity fed water system than a pump requirement? I think we can come up with a better design. The fan should be the only thing requiring electricity.
hi there, nope, you don't have to connect it to a water supply. the water is being pumped up from the bottom half of the bucket. it will hold about 2 gallons of water at a time. you just fill it every few hours.
Other uses would be to create a plus pressures in your house, which also pushes dust out and filters your air quality. But the unit needs to be outside and the outlet blowing air in.
How are the temps compared to a 'ice bucket' cooler? I get the evaporation temperature drop thing, but I just wonder how does it compare with the ice system. The evaporation is much easier (especially for those who don't have a big freezer) to maintain but harder to build. So yes, just wondering and curious about the results. I have seen DIY ice bucket coolers reaching a 4 celsius (40 fahrenheit more or less).
Yes pretty sweet set up. (almost said pretty cool then stopped myself-aren't ya glad? Haha). They have another with ice that gets to 44degrees or something. Awesome
could you tell me the specs on your pump? Such as size, power usage, and where you got it? I'm working on my own project and would love to know what type of pump you are using
Hello sir, I admire your very careful work and I am about to do the same. I will have a question: would you have a link to buy the drilling tool (diameter 2 ") of the bucket and especially its name because your holes are very clean. Can I count on an answer. Cordial greetings. P. K. (French)
hi there. it's called a hole saw. i get them at harbor freight tools. i think this is the exact set that i have. www.harborfreight.com/1-in-2-12-in-carbon-steel-hole-saw-set-11-pc-68114.html
Hello sir, Many thanks for this posive response. I ordered the set immediately and could therefore make good holes. Could you tell me the number of holes at 2 1/2 "around the edge of your bucket. Thank you again for your sharing. Sincerely. P. K. (French)
Of course, you should've drilled the holes first, and THEN added the water. I saw the plastic scraps floating around in the bucket. I would like the exact brand and model number of that fan. Seems like a perfect fit.
I just built one of these based on your video, with a few personal touches, I have it in a 24' travel trailer. Its been running for 1 hr now, and the thermometer at the far end of the trailer has gone down 10 Degrees from 95 to 85. It works better than I expected.
Right on
without doubt, the VERY BEST DIY portable cooler out there.
Of course the efficacy of a swamp cooler depends greatly on the humidity.
This will work MUCH better in Phoenix AZ than Miami FL.
Good work!
One thing I would change is have an outflow for the submersible pump. You've clamped it off, so the back flow pressure is very high which will wear out the pump. Have the tube go back into the water. If this relieves too much pressure in the line then just make more and bigger holes.
Wondered the same & also if 1/4” irrigation soaker hose tubing would work with this setup?
I'm using a smaller fountain pump, but I can't get my water to drip like this one, even though I use the same gauge pin. The water squirts out of the holes, and I think that may be why it's not as effective, as it doesn't give the water a chance to evaporate. Any suggestions on getting the water velocity to slow down?
just wanted to say thank you. I built 2 I place them directly under ceiling fans while rotating jugs of ice water from the chest freezer. yesterday was 99° it stayed very cool in our home. thank you!
mistersolarpv would you say one is enough for a 30ft rv?
mistersolarpv also how cool is your house with only the swamp cooler running?
Using ice from an in home freezer might actually reduce your cooling efficiency because your freezer generates a lot of heat when chilling the ice.
Might be better off not using ice at all and see if you get even better results.
Better yet, buy ice from the store and use that.
Or run your freezer in a room that is closed off from the rooms you're trying to cool.
I made a large scale model of this and am using it for a humidifier using a return air line to my furnace. Now my home is even warmer than before and has humidity again to breath better without dryness. I may install a humidifier thermostat to control the moister flow. Thanks for the idea bro. You have a thumbs up friend :)
Good idea. I saw a similar set up but it used an aquarium to hold the water and the screen went over the open portion of a window and the homeowner had a fan blowing into his attic which vented through the roof. He did a couple windows in the same manner and he dropped the temp in his house from ninety something down to the high seventies if I remember correctly. A cool setup indeed.
Just got mine done; a few pointers- make sure and bleed the air out, and get the most powerful 6" (maybe 8" fan... it WORKS and is blowing out 67-68 degree air. I put it by the window and the hot air is immediately neutralized and comfy!! Thanks for this plan!
I thought - man I'll bet it takes a year to drill the little holes in the hose; but then you show that a pin prick from a push-pin does the job in one minute! Excellent video
I love watching people's inventions. It would seem to me( and I could be wrong) that a drop or two of clorox per gallon of water would keep mold or mildew from growing overnight. So that you'd only have to dump the water and ring out the pad a couple of times a week. Nice post. You have a great speaking voice too.
This is a very simple type of a Swamp Cooler. This is actually much cheaper than what all those other guys are making and using ice in.
This is a much better way to DIY a Air cooling system.
Great job!
you can get the pad at home depot or lowes. the pad is an evaporative cooling pad. it is made to be used in evaporative coolers
This is AWESOME !!! I tried and made one of these today and It really, really works.
The only thing i did is, I placed a frozen 2 liter soda bottle filled with water; to make the water colder..
I want to give props to " Desertsun02" for this kick-ass idea.
Frozen 2L bottle water is a great idea
@@happycook6737 For sure and easy to have a few in the freezer to rotate when needed.
The pad is name dura-cool I got it at lowes it's about 5$
Its $12 nowb
@@trippzy8048qhatb?
This comment needs more recognition 😅
I live in Vegas. Use swamp coolers all the time. Good idea on a small area cooler! : ) I will try this in my home shop. Kudos! : )
Great build. Seen much rougher versions of this exact set up, wouldn’t leak but this one gives way more peace of mind.
thanks!
How about a list of the items in the description I'm aware you say what you used to make it but like the kind of pump you used and where you got everything
bruh just buy swamp cooler online it will be way better and they are cheap
@@User-je7gf this is a swamp cooler, just DIY & less expensive.
Wow. Posted 5 years ago and still no reply.
@@TabooX1984 5 gallon bucket, Home Depot or Lowes - the padding is called Dura-cool, also HD or L - the pump can be picked up in any store's garden department along with the hose so the only real trick is finding the fan but that's just a small, cheap desk fan with the brackets removed so figure you can find it in any department store, possibly a hardware store, meaning that HD or L could be a one stop shopping for this.
In mining country around a century ago, some people would build their houses over old mine tunnel or shaft openings, then put a door over the opening. In the summer they'd open the door, and the 55 degree underground air would cool the houses very well.
I'm always amazed how even during the hottest summer days, my basement in an old house feels like it is air conditioned. I bet that kind of cooling was very efficient and I bet people who had houses situated like that had a lot of friends drop by in the summer to cool off during that era.
@@flickwtchrIt works both ways, too-a basement will be around the same temperature in winter. In a cold climate, that can make a huge difference in heating costs. We live on a big ol’ heat sink.
There are geothermal heat pumps that heat or cool whole buildings as well.
You might be able to eliminate the pump. If you had a bucket of water above the level of the cooler, cut a small hole in the bottom of it, and use gravity to flow it to the tubing, then at the bottom of the cooler have a drain that empties into another bucket... sort of a tiered system. It will take up more room, and be a bit of a complex setup, but you eliminate the power the pump uses. But you did a great job on this one as it is. Thanks for sharing it.
But you'd have to empty your basin back into your reservoir... Pump is better
@@mitch5077
Could be.. but simple is better. Would depend on how often you needed to manually dump the water back up top. Once per day... Probably fine.. once per hour.. NO.
@@kens97sto171 I see your point of SHTF or Survival mode for simplicity! 🤟
Use the 5L bags in boxed wines.
When the humidity is low,then this method is more benificial than regular a/c ...Say you are in the desert and the humidity is 21% heat 90 Degrees. Raising the humidity along with the fan to circulate actually makes it feel like a 'cool moist air' atmosphere . I am making for Burning Man this year.Thank's
Mike w how did it do for BM? I’m thinking about the same for this year.
To work properly it need to suck dry air from outside and blow inside of house. Also windows must be crack open so moist air will escape from rooms. Meaning the bucket should be located outdoor and air duct should be edded to unit so it will blow cold air into the house. We had residential swamp coolers installed all over Sacramento city in California. It low humidity here. Works well.
Put this in a car, and you'll save that $1200 to repair your auto a/c. If this works in your house in the HUMID South, think of how it will cool down a car. THANKS for posting!!!!!!!!! You just saved me beaucoup bucks.
I'm going to try this, but I want to use 1/4" soaker hose like I use in my garden drip system.
Wow this is very clever. I never would've imagine coming up with something like this.
I respect that as a chemical engineer who likes street applications !
Tiny Home owners could use one of these in their dream homes
Great idea! With the solar hook up, it may be just right for a small chicken house or rabbit room. Thanks for sharing..
I live in central Texas and we have a hobbiest greenhouse where the polycarbonate walls and roof are too efficient (yes, we're also adding shade cloth.) Commercial greenhouses I've been in use swamp coolers to cool them down so I've been especially noting the comments about the efficiency of this device in a humid environment. I've got most of these parts assembled to build this for our greenhouse. I expect to have it completed by next week. We'll have exhaust fans at the top of the greenhouse pulling the hot air from the top and will have this cooler on the ground so it could be the case that the constant exhaust will pull needed moisture out of the greenhouse which the swamp cooler will replace. Fingers crossed that it works in this application. It's an affordable experiment. I'll let everyone know how it turns out.
Great tutorial, thanks for sharing. I'm going to make one of these tomorrow.
Three questions: 1) what brand and model of fan are you using? 2) what brand and model of cooling pad are you using? 3) how many gph is your pump?
Many thanks
looks like a car fan, it says auto expression on it
I found the fan type, it's an Auto Expressions fan for inside a car/truck.
hi there. i noticed you asked a question on another one of my evap. cooler vids. the reply button is not working on that video for some reason. (i tried 3 times). to answer your question, it won't work on the front, but should work on the back. and i'd try a box-fan if you can get one. they always work for me.
Thanks!
Still made to this day btw lol
Yup this works great. First one i made was back in 1984 in high school. Our scout leader taught us. i was 16.
You can freeze used water bottles and drop them in the bucket, the air will come out super cold! Keep several in your freezer so when the first ones melt, you can replace them with the other frozen ones and just keep cycling them every 4 hours.
I’d also use another lid so I can direct the airflow. Kind of like a vent. Great job!
it's a good idea. one idea is to use a 90 degree elbow duct. an 8" one will fit right over the fan and direct the air sideways.
so a bucket full of hole does have a use!
great job, but what size pv did you use 20 watt, 50 watt??? just a suggestion about slowing bacteria growth, add a little dish soap to the water. thank you
C. T. Murray dish soap will foam up. Use hydrogen peroxide
Definitely cheaper than running an A/C unit all day and much more awesome.
Yeah people poo-poo these things far too easily, but my uncle used the big roof mount ones exclusively in Arizona and California to cool the house and my experience was that the air produced by these was nice and cold. If I'm not mistaken, they refereed to them as evaporation cooler and used what are referred to as “hogs hair” pads because they allowed excellent water and air flow.
You would probably have to use filtered or distilled water (bottled) in regions with lime\calcium in the water cause that stuff is bad for clogging up the water ports… occasionally I had to climb up on the roof and clean the deposits from the drain holes in the panels. They work great in regions with dry heat, not sure how it would perform in humid climates. This size would probably be nice for a tent.
Thanks for the video................
.l
Y.ll😅)) 6:00 😅
now quadruple the size using a 50 gal plastic drum and high velocity fan and u can do a whole house!
Only if you are Tim the Tool Man Taylor. Or you can move to Niagara Falls.
Going from 5 to 50 gallons would be an increase of 10x.
I LIKE! One of the better video's on swamp coolers that I have seen. Thanks for the tip about bacteria.
I need to make a couple of these for California planned power outages. Thank you!
you're welcome!
you can either buy a small DC powered pump (many come with their own little solar panel) for complete "off grid" operation (no batteries, inverters, or charge controllers required) or get a small ac powered pump (most are very low power ~ 2 to 5 watts)
So were you using a 15 watt solar panel to power this whole setup including the water pump?
Hey pal,
Curious what is the pump that you used for this? Thanks!
Dude that is such a great idea I'm going to make one of those this weekend it'll be perfect for the size that I need plus I'll have some tools leftover it would have cost me about $150 to buy one of those online.
This is a great video! Is there any chance we could get a detailed materials list?
That would have been too ideal...
This is known as a "swamp cooler" out west! Works in a dry climate! In the humid south ---- I'm not so sure!
Wanna know why they call em swamp coolers? Because you can’t use a traditional refrigeration powered a/c in a swamp, you need an evaporative cooler, aka a swamp cooler for that specific reason.
They are fairly common in humid Alabama.
It may not be best to add ice , but, ice and a few beers would make it so much cooler!
You sure have a comfy looking work shop..............
Very educational....however.....I think you need a new hole-saw brotherman. LOL.
Thanks for the video.
I use a bag of ice sold at the gas station and then I put salt with the ice and water. The Styrofoam is sold at Walmart's fishing section, it fits perfectly in the 5 gallon bucket. It lasts for approximately 5-6 hours and is great for one person. I made 2 more just in case the wife or kids want to use one but they never do.
The difference between that and this is you have to buy the ice. The ice ones will work anywhere. But in the Southwest they don't have to buy ice and it works just as well
you should add the specs on the type of pump that is ideal for this build in the video even if we only text over the video.
Swamp coolers are great for dry hot western states. Very Nice!
So smart!!!...now just add a tiny solar panel to run that fan.
You could also add an arduino with a fluid level sensor and a lcd display tomonitor the water level. They can be added to the solar setup since it uses very little power.
hi there, i got the fan at walmart. made by a company called auto/expressions or "ae". part #83106. definitely worth getting this fan if you can. seems to put out 2 or 3 times the amount of air as a standard small desk fan.
desertsun02 Thanks for the heads up.
Where did you lace the wires through?
You are a flippin' genius! Keep 'em coming!
What if you were to run a ring (coat hanger) around the inside and hung an absorbent cloth from it away from the holes? Fill the bottom with ice (or just cold) water and then let the moisture wick up?
I would think bacteria wouldn't be a problem with the cold temperatures, but just throwing the cloth in the wash every few days would solve that. Easy to have more than one cloth to rotate out.
This is just awesome! Thanks for taking the time to teach us :o)
I've been looking up growing plants in buckets for about a month now, watching videos and lectures every day for 8 hours a day. I come across this and am like, where do the plants go in the bucket.
TH-cam just screwed with my brain.
SPEAKING OF WHICH, though, could I put this outside, run some of my water through it, to cool off the water for my plants? How could I do this? I'd have to have a little compartment over the fan to make sure no light got in, to avoid algae growth.
I seriously watched this for 6 minutes wondering what this was, and then it hit me, you're making a DIY A/C unit.
Shakaama good luck with your garden ;D
Shakaama could've sworn I was subscribbed to you at some point
U dont want cold water going to plants u shock the roots
Thid gives me a idea for cooling my hydroponic solution, thanks!
Broken Eyes, would this raise the humidity in a grow tent?
A nieteen degree temperatur drop is pretty good actually. It's on par woith most air conditioning units. The only thing it doesn't do is remove moisture from the air. on an unrelated not. "The faster you live your life the sooner you reach the end."
Off topic, I know, but your voice sounds just like the actor Jason Schwartzman. Great tutorial.
Great video and very helpful. Especially putting a block of ice in the bucket! If you want your ice to last, sprinlike it with salt and it stays solid for a longer period. If you are close to your kitchen sink you might be able to connect your tubing to the faucet and avoid the motor altogether.
Where did you find your evaporative blanket? I suppose 1/2 inch foam might also do the job! Thanks again for the video.
Doesn't salt melt ice ? Salting ice on streets etc.. interesting
@@ftumi salt just causes it to freeze at a lower temperature I believe. So for example water freezes at 32 F but the salt prevents that and makes it freeze at, let’s say, 22 F instead.
Adding salt doesn't seem like a great idea for any part of the system: salt deposits plugging up the weep tube holes, salt deposits in the filter media, and shortened pump life.
Salt does indeed melt the ice. But think about it for a moment by melting the eyes you are releasing more of the colder temperature or technically lack of heat.
Have you ever made homemade ice cream? The old way at least before they had ones that went into your freezer was to pack around the bucket ice rock salt ice rock salt ice this caused a quicker release of the cold from the ice into the bucket making the ice cream
FYI. If you add some salt and ice to the water it will lower the water temp below 32 without freezing the water. You should be able to lower the temp to about 27-29 degrees. It's not much but every little bit helps when trying to cool.
Evaporation is what cools, not the temperature of the water. You might get a temporary boost from adding ice, but the machine producing the ice generates heat, a LOT of heat. Also, salt corrodes. The only way to get more cooling is to evaporate more water.
@@TopGunMan Wise man you are. Ice heats up water.
What is your solar panel set up? Voltage? I have built the cooler and it's great but now I need to buy I solar panel!
This guy lives out west were it is dry and swamp coolers are popular and actually work, here in Florida were it is dry you would need to add a lot of ice to get a decent cooling effect.
florida is anything but dry thus why it dont work
here's a cool idea;
Try pumping in the excess water into water filter jugs or water filters and have it then flow into a water tank or silo? that way you'd have cool air AND free cold water
where did you get that fan that was the perfect size for the top of the bucket?
Good work, great tutorial to make one for Burning Man. I used to live in the South and the heat was driving me insane, that's why I moved to San Francisco where you can chose your weather. We dont need air conditioning, the fog takes care of the heat in summer. When it's 50F in San Francisco, it can be 108-110 F inland one hour away, at the same moment!
Do you connect the pump and fan together in one wire circuit and then have one connection to the power source?
Not having money makes people an engineer
hi there, since it relies on evaporation it works best in dry or semi-dry climates.
I make it done from 350 liter of drum & its very nicely working thank you @desertsum02 thanks for the idea...love from India 🇮🇳 🙏
This is going to be awesome in my hunting blind.
This is a miniature version of a cooling tower. The exhausted air in such a system would need to be exhausted to the outside. The (much cooler) water in the drip pan would then be circulated through a coil and a fan to distribute the air inside. In this structure the exhausted air is removing heat from the water and should go outside of the area to be cooled. Good work. Just an observation and perhaps some idea thrown out there. Cooling towers are generally ginormous and the cooled water sent through a chiller to bring the water temps down to almost freezing.
Right. That is a miniature cooling tower. The heat that's blown off the water is exhausted as "cooling" when in fact it's waste heat. The water in the bottom is quite chilly. That fan should be blowing the air outside and the water pumped through a coil with fan.
Does the fan blow into the bucket or is it reversed to pull air through the holes on the bucket?
hi. it pulls the air through the holes.
Any tips on wiring fans and pump to at 15w solar panel?
This is a nice idea. I priced single room evap coolers and they run around $100. I'm going to build one of these instead to cool a single room in my house in Arizona. If I drilled the holes further up on the bucket (like between the two ribs) would that cause an issue with performance? I want to maximize water capacity. Thanks!
Liked...Subbed....Brilliant idea, gonna make myself one!
What type of cooling pad did you use? And where can I get one?
Hey man that was awesome, thanks for sharing!!!
I would like to thank you for sharing your amazing idea great video Definitely I will make one of this units Thank you so much!
thanks-- Home Cepot,, ordered one set!!... a cooler using a rectangular trash can would be better since the fan can be installed in the Side of the cooler to set up right next to my chair!!! Thats what I do with my AC SWamp cooler !!!
does anyone know how much this project costs in total? thanks...
Well done adding troubleshooting. Thx
Pro tip,drill holes first,then add water.
I wonder if you could build one without the pump requirement, thus less energy required. Using the wicking action of a different cloth material to suck the water up like a sponge instead of having to drip it down? If the material doesn't exist that effectively wicks well as well as allows air flow, wouldn't you still be better off with a gravity fed water system than a pump requirement? I think we can come up with a better design. The fan should be the only thing requiring electricity.
Do you think you would be able to feed a ducting tube into a grow tent, so the cool air goes into the tent?
hi there, nope, you don't have to connect it to a water supply. the water is being pumped up from the bottom half of the bucket. it will hold about 2 gallons of water at a time. you just fill it every few hours.
Other uses would be to create a plus pressures in your house, which also pushes dust out and filters your air quality. But the unit needs to be outside and the outlet blowing air in.
How are the temps compared to a 'ice bucket' cooler? I get the evaporation temperature drop thing, but I just wonder how does it compare with the ice system. The evaporation is much easier (especially for those who don't have a big freezer) to maintain but harder to build. So yes, just wondering and curious about the results. I have seen DIY ice bucket coolers reaching a 4 celsius (40 fahrenheit more or less).
Yes pretty sweet set up. (almost said pretty cool then stopped myself-aren't ya glad? Haha). They have another with ice that gets to 44degrees or something. Awesome
What size room can it cool in cubic feet ?
could you tell me the specs on your pump? Such as size, power usage, and where you got it? I'm working on my own project and would love to know what type of pump you are using
Chase Allen in other projects that he's made similar to this he used a 200 gph submersible pump. its about 12 bucks at harbor freight
Interesting. Wonder if it's possible to use a whicking material instead of the fish tank pump. Gonna put this idea on the back burner. :cheers:
If i were to build 1 cooler, would you recommend this one, or the one with ice?
Hello sir,
I admire your very careful work and I am about to do the same.
I will have a question: would you have a link to buy the drilling tool (diameter 2 ") of the bucket and especially its name because your holes are very clean.
Can I count on an answer.
Cordial greetings. P. K. (French)
hi there. it's called a hole saw. i get them at harbor freight tools. i think this is the exact set that i have. www.harborfreight.com/1-in-2-12-in-carbon-steel-hole-saw-set-11-pc-68114.html
Hello sir,
Many thanks for this posive response.
I ordered the set immediately and could therefore make good holes. Could you tell me the number of holes at 2 1/2 "around the edge of your bucket.
Thank you again for your sharing. Sincerely.
P. K. (French)
what did the temp drop to inside the house ? also what is the square footage of the are you trying to cool ?
I think this would be good to put in a tent when camping near a car so you can use a inverter in the cigarette lighter socket.
I'm having fun revisiting your Cooler projects. You think a garden drip hose would work? Or a soaker?
hi. thanks for checking them all out! i've always wondered if a soaker hose would work. i think it would but never tried it.
Of course, you should've drilled the holes first, and THEN added the water. I saw the plastic scraps floating around in the bucket. I would like the exact brand and model number of that fan. Seems like a perfect fit.
+supercyberfunk I think it's easier to clean up later if the bucket has water inside.
I think he put in water first just to know where the water line would be.
And the weight held the bucket in place when he drilled
ya but i would have just added the water and mark it then pour it out and drilled it outside
I agree. Drill and then fill after you clean the bits out. Don’t need them blocking the holes in the line if the pump sucks them up.
Very nice build quality. That's awesome!