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Has anyone tryed this "poor mans ac"??

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Has anyone tryed this "poor mans ac"??

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Old 08-01-2011, 05:58 PM
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Default Has anyone tryed this "poor mans ac"??

I know this subject has been beaten like a dead horse, but I have to try to cool my cabin someway. Don't have room for a generator and getting a converter big enough to run an ac unit is too expensive right now, not concidering the cost of the ac unit itself. I have been thinking of making this and see if it cools us down any.. Take a blower motor and a heater core and pipe cool (lake) water through it....Depending on the water temp it should blow out cooler than the amb temp in the cabin. Maybe there is a company that already has this setup you can buy, or maybe its a complete waste of time?? Has anyone tryed this or have heard of it before. Any suggestions on cooling the cabin during overnights?? Im all ears. I do have fans to draw cooler outside air in but still is very hot and stuffy.
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Old 08-01-2011, 06:04 PM
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I think I would be more tempted to just put a bag of ice on top of a grate over the cooler and then blow a fan over top of it.
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Old 08-01-2011, 06:12 PM
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To feel cool, the lake water would have to be well below 70 degrees. Not likely at this time of year. On the other hand, if you've got the parts lying around -why not try it?
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Old 08-01-2011, 07:14 PM
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If your boat has a deck hatch in the bow, you can get air conditioners that basically sit on top of the hatch and blow air into the cabin. I think you need to plug into shorepower, but I'm not positive.
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Old 08-01-2011, 07:31 PM
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I have seen a a/c advertised that is a simple add on to a igloo type cooler.......just fill the cooler with ice and turn on the battery powered fans and it blows cold air.......that's at least what the add said......I will post a link if I can find it........
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Old 08-01-2011, 07:32 PM
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Found it......

http://www.kooleraire.com/index.htm
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Old 08-01-2011, 07:44 PM
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Looks like a great idea, now who is gonna be the first to try one out?
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Old 08-01-2011, 08:23 PM
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Me, just ordered one!
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Old 08-01-2011, 08:28 PM
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Originally Posted by Ike
Me, just ordered one!
I just ordered one too. Be here Wed. I am going to run it in the boat on the trailer while in the yard to see what it will do to cool the cabin down. I am going to take before and after temp readings so I will have some data I can post. Worst case if it does not work, I am out 30 bucks but saved alot of others some money.
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Old 08-01-2011, 08:51 PM
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Those cooler air conditioners do not work. I made one out of two 12 brushless motors and created a new lid for the cooler. Filled the cooler full of ice and put it in the interior of my project truck (in my garage). The interior before turning on the cooler AC was 81.4. After 1 hour the ice was 1/2 melted and the aire tmep was still 81.4...... All I can see it does is pulles hot air into the cooler and melts the ice....

Plus I had read bad reviews all over the internet on how they don't work, so I decided to make one to test the theory. It seemed the faster I moved the air, the fast it melted the ice, but the warmer the air coming out was. I tried configuring the fans as a push/pull, both pushing air and both pulling air. Pretty much same result.....

I had figured if my trial showed any reduction in air temp, I would buy the professionally made unit, but since I so now difference after an hour figured I would save my money..... Definately post your results. Because if they do actually work it is a cheap alternative.

Last edited by low_psi; 08-01-2011 at 08:53 PM.
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