Several people have asked me if I have managed to quantify the performance of this system. I ran a few quick numbers – accuracy is not going to be great due to measurement error. In terms of rough numbers though, I’m pretty happy.
At a flow rate of 2 L/min (taken as the upper range of performance) inlet temperature is 16 degrees Celcius (C), and outlet temperature is 20 deg C. This corresponds roughly to 2000 BTU/h.
At a flow rate of 1 L/min (what I use for a hour before bed to cool the room off) inlet temperature is 16 deg C and outlet temperature is 21 deg C. This corresponds roughly to 1200 BTU/h.
At a flow rate of 0.5 L/min (what I would use for “maintenance” after cooling the room off if it’s a hot night) inlet temperature is 16 deg C and outlet temperature is 23 deg C. This corresponds roughly to 800
BTU/h.
In terms of BTU/$, I can’t complain. If I’ve made any errors in my calculations, feel free to chastise me.
UPDATE: My school requires me to write a “work report” for every term of outside work experience during the coop program. I felt the only logical choice was to do it on the infamous homemade air conditioner. Hopefully referencing yourself in your work report (PDF) is looked upon kindly by admin…
| Homemade Air Conditioning Plans and Pictures | ||
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Original Design Geoff’s Homemade Air Conditioner Heat Exchanger Improvements Water Supply Improvements Technical Notes |
Other Designs Pete’s Homemade Air Conditioner Anonymous’ Homemade Air Conditioner Spencer’s Homemade Air Conditioner |
Final Design The Black Beauty |
is the homemade airconditioner the same as a evaporative air cooler?
Hi Jase – No, it is not. It’s a heat exchanger using water as a medium.
Geoff, I’m working on a version of the “Redneck AC using frozen milk jugs or other containers lying on top of the “cold side” of the loop, all contained in a Styrofoam ice chest. I’ll run a small freeze to freeze the containers. Any thoughts? Thatcher