Small, homemade A/C

[bigalpha]

All of the old farts that work on my floor are religiously anti-A/C. It's 85.6F according to my Kestrel 4500.

I was thinking of getting a styrofoam cooler, putting some frozen bottles of water in a tub of water (or something similar) and running a small fan to pull cold air out. Something basic and cheap.

Does this sound like complete failure?

 

[vigman]

My old roommate did that exact thing, th only problem was after a while the water started seeping through the styrofome so I would go with a cheep plastic one and drill a couple of holes in the lid for the hose and make sure its insulated

 

[kastein]

it'll work but obviously only till the ice all melts and the water warms up. I'd open a window (if you can) and/or turn on a fan.

 

[whycantitbeT/C]

I would tell them they are SOL And that they have to compromise and set it to like 70 or 75...

 

[Mesh]

I don't think you will be able to lower the temperature enough to make it comfortable. If you can't use AC a swamp cooler may work.

 

[westvirginia24976]

http://www.compactappliance.com/Por...le Air (Exact)&utm_term=portable ac&src=yahoo

Not cheap, but they come with a 6" dia. hose to duct the heat out a window or stuff it above a drop ceiling.

 

[87manche]

swamp cooler is what you want to setup, youve already got most of it with a fanand cooler.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler

 

[bigalpha]

Our office isn't very big; maybe 25x20'.

it'll work but obviously only till the ice all melts and the water warms up. I'd open a window (if you can) and/or turn on a fan.

That's OK. I'll just rotate the bottles of ice out between the bucket and the freezer. Opening the window doesn't work during the summer, though, too hot and muggy.

I would tell them they are SOL And that they have to compromise and set it to like 70 or 75...

That doesn't work when you are a contractor and they are gov't employees.

http://www.compactappliance.com/Portable-Air-Conditioners/Air_Quality-Portable_Air_Conditioners,default,sc.html?mtcpromotion=yahoo%3EPortable%20AC&utm_source=yahoo&utm_campaign=Portable%20AC&utm_medium=Portable%20Air%20%28Exact%29&utm_term=portable%20ac&src=yahoo

Not cheap, but they come with a 6" dia. hose to duct the heat out a window or stuff it above a drop ceiling.

These are nice, but too big/expensive and prohibited.

swamp cooler is what you want to setup, youve already got most of it with a fanand cooler.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler

Will a swamp cooler work when it's 90% humidity?

 

[ECKSJAY]

Will a swamp cooler work when it's 90% humidity?

lol NO

 

[hubs97xj]

http://www.amazon.com/Misty-Mate-Deluxe-Personal-Cooler/dp/B00093ONKG/ref=pd_sim_ol_3

 

[BenDiesel]

i work in alot of shops where there is no heating or cooling. i always thought about using a old radiator and using a small electric pump and ice and building one that way

 

[vigman]

http://www.amazon.com/Misty-Mate-Deluxe-Personal-Cooler/dp/B00093ONKG/ref=pd_sim_ol_3

Something tells me that this won't work in 90% humidity either. The original makeshift a/c would work fine my old roommate had made one using a 2ft fan some copper tubing coiled around the front of the fan with some insulated plastic tubing that was connected to a small submerged pump. Just make sure that the pump is strong enough to get the water all the way through the piping (you may need to "prime" the system to get it started. It dropped the temp quite significantly in his room.

 

[Mesh]

Sounds like the parts to watercool a computer on a budget. Aquarium or fountain pump a bucket of ice water and a cheap tube and fin radiator, then stick a fan behind it.

 

[CherBear]

I don't think you could build one of these large enough to be able to absorb enough energy out of the air to really make it any colder...

 

[Darky]

Ask em if they'd be willing to compromise at say 78ish. If its 85 in there and you'd like it to be 70, 78 is a good compromise. If they aren't being reasonable, you may be able to bring it up with a supervisor r someone up the chain from your office.

 

[bigalpha]

There is no compromise, unfortunately. This happened the past two years I was here as well.

There is nobody 'up the chain' to bitch to as that person is about 3 doors down from me and doesn't find it too hot either.

 

[ehall]

Transfer is from hot to cold--you get rid of excess heat by providing something that is cold for the heat to move onto. Air blowing over your skin will work to get rid of body heat but you can't just recirculate warm air and expect that the air will somehow get cooler. A small block of ice with a fan will cool off your skin but it won't drop room temperature much.

 

[old_man]

The problem is that the amount of energy storage (actually negative energy) in the ice is really quite small. An AC in a vehicle puts our cold air to cool the average home. Will a styrofoam cooler full of ice cool your whole home?

 

[souske]

http://www.coolshirt.net/acc-cool-shirt-options.html

 

[SteveT]

Stop wearing pants until they compromise.