Comments on: Pete’s Homemade Air Conditioner

By: Gidon

Gidon — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 14:47:24 +0000

Hey you all!

I am not a DIYer, but I would gladly pay for a contraption like this. Who of you would proudly sell one to me?

If I am not notified of comment answers here, email me at gidon.ariel atgmail.com

By: Change of Address: 10 Ways to a Cooler Home When Your Central AC is Shot

Change of Address: 10 Ways to a Cooler Home When Your Central AC is Shot — Tue, 17 Aug 2010 13:24:22 +0000

[...] Homemade cooling system #2. Here is a vastly improved approach to a homemade AC unit. I think this one is pretty amazing as it uses an aquarium pump to keep the water circulating without you needing to swap buckets. Here is a great article with pictures showing this cool invention: http://www.gmilburn.ca/2005/06/15/petes-homemade-air-conditioner/. [...]

By: Geoff

Geoff — Mon, 19 Jul 2010 15:02:24 +0000

Hi Jonathan – You best approach would likely to be consider some adapters or connectors that will allow you to fit the tubing to the pump, or to size up your tubing to an appropriate level for the pump itself.

By: Jonathan

Jonathan — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 23:23:28 +0000

Hi Geoff,
I recently built a homemade AC unit using your directions and I was wondering if you could refer me to a site where I could buy an aquarium pump to cycle the water through a single cooler. I went to a few pet stores, but wasn’t able to find anything with a nozzle that would fit the 1/4″ inside diameter vinyl tubing I am using. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Wed, 07 Jul 2010 20:50:43 +0000

Hi Dave – In lower humidity environments a cloth or similar might suffice. If your loading is higher, then a solution like this

http://www.gmilburn.ca/2005/06/15/anonymous-homemade-air-conditioner/

may be appropriate.

By: Dave

Dave — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 19:42:47 +0000

What hapens when the copper tube starts to sweat ?

By: Geoff

Geoff — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:48:53 +0000

Hi Matt –

I’m sorry if I wasn’t clear, but the copper tubing was the first prototype of the air conditioner. Any new builds should take an approach similar to the “Black Beauty“. There is a significant improvement in performance using a radiator, heater core, or similar, and the cost is identical to copper tubing.

By: matt

matt — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 17:41:13 +0000

hey I live in alberta canada. I built the fan and I am not feeling a difference at all. The copper will condense but I still dont feel any difference in the temp of the air coming through the fan. Any suggestions? I cant afford to buy anything else. This was my cheap idea. My wife is gonna kill me because I spent close to 75 dollars on this contraption and it doesnt work. Please help

By: Jamal

Jamal — Mon, 21 Jun 2010 02:05:43 +0000

I have a very large water supply, and am using 30 ft of copper tubing. I think one of the biggest problems I’m having is that I live in Texas, and the humidity is so high here. Thanks for the input. I’ll try a few different things and let you know what happens.

By: Geoff

Geoff — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 17:42:45 +0000

Hi Jamal –

The heat exchanger will definitely increase your performance drastically. The only possible problem is if your cooling capacity (ie cold water) can’t keep up. Unless you have a large source of cold water to draw from, it is likely that a heat exchager will just heat up your fluid much quicker and reach a steady state of no cooling. If you have sufficient fluid capacity then it should perform quite well however – I am aware of someone who is pulling cold water from a nearby creek to cool their cabin with great results.

The fan spacing is not critical – just play with it a bit to see what works best for you.