Submitted by: Patrice Guillemette via Submit a Kludge!
Favorite Comments: Czernobog says, “I think this is a fantastic idea that practically radiates creativity.”
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Redneck A/C
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I think this is a fantastic idea that practically radiates creativity.
yep, I’m a big fan of this
With all the things hanging in the balance, I’m amazed he had the balls to do this.
This blows.
With the things that could wrong, they could get hosed.
And to run the coolant, he’s got a tractor engine in his living room.
visually pleasing, but can’t see enough to decide if it actually works.
Actually, this is anything but red-neck, because it actually works on the same science as refrigeration, only with a less-efficient coolant. This is a kludging WIN, and environmentally-perfect as it cannot pollute (if they are using water), so not actually a Fail.
A kludge: yes
A fail: no
Engineering WIN: yes….brilliant.
Awesome. This is pretty much how an AC operates.
This is NOT how ACs work, ACs work by running air over a evaporator, the evaporator has cooled refrigerant from the condenser coil pumped through it, when it hits the evaporator it phase changes to a gas and becomes super cooled then air passes over the evaporator and into the car.
This is pretty much how a radiator works though…
Ummm, which is exactly the same principle that refrigeration works on, just with a different coolant?
Not exactly.
An AC unit recirculates the working liquid; and ejects heat by compressing it *outside*; so the excess heat is dumped into the air.
THIS, OTOH, just takes already cool liquid (water; probably from a well) and runs it through what would be the evaporator coils on an AC unit one time. No compressor unit at all to waste energy.
Of course, it’s the coils aren’t near as COLD as you’d get with a regular AC unit; but the effect is nearly the same.
Effect: NOT method-of-operation.
FTW, the condenser-coil is directly after the compressor and directly before the evaporator in the circuit, because it is the expansion of the gas that absorbs the heat, and the compression of the gas that releases it. That is why the condenser-coil and compressor release heat, and the evaporator-coil absorbs it. That is the basis of the theory.
Take my word for it, I know a little something about this, having serviced this in all forms for more than a decade…A/C and a radiator both serve the same purpose in the same way; They are both nothing more than a thermal-exchanger with different coolant…
as all of you can tell ….this site is followed by some half way bright people lol. i actually have a set up like this in my workshop and it works very well. my radiator and fan are larger but it DOES work
The phase change is what makes the AC move a lot more heat.
Yay, free mold!
Ah, I see the liquid-cooled computer kludgers have upped their game.
Air conditioner or clothes dryer?
I thought about doing this once in an apartment that provided water free with rent. This is a homemade swamp cooler.
Exactly this is a swamp cooler.
This is not a swamp cooler. A swamp cooler works by evaporating a mist of water into the air. Thus forcing the moisture to evaporate and drawing heat out of the air stream.
This is how an automotive radiator works.
This is clearly a chiller. It is used to cool down a grow op. Not a kludge but a freakin piece of grow op eqipment used when A/C won’t do because you want the humidity. Look at the poly wall, why is it there?
The background of this area looks awfully modern, are you sure this was made by rednecks?
Used something similar to cool a still, this could be for anything that produces heat and needs a room temperature heat sourse
This is actually how a Swamp Cooler works. They use them everywhere in Utah because the climate is dry enough that putting more humidity in the air is a good thing. It wouldn’t work in someplace like Washington, where it’s already insanely humid.
Respecfully, nope, this isn’t how a swamp cooler works. Swamp coolers depend on the the principle that water cools as it evaporates. The pull air through water-soaked jute pads, or they spray a micro mist into an airstream. There’s no evaporation in this picture; the water is sealed inside the radiator.
Got in trouble with teachers for that. The exact formulation is: Evaporation is endothermic (it absorbs heat from the environment as it happens). Technically, the water itself “warms up”.
Mmmmm, nice. Now the big question is if it is a room temp water system or if there is a reservoir or cool water out back somewere.
Hmmm…. i’d do that, just with the actual car fan itself running as i have 12V access everywhere in my house
Actually, this looks like it could be rather good for cooling a CPU.
few months ago i sent photo of an similar setup, that i used to cool my room some 5 years ago.. i actually had two radiators with closed circulation, other one was in our old well (there was about 1m2 of water in june and it disappears completely during july
) and other pretty much like that in this picture at my room with table-fan tied to it. they never showd my pic..
amazingly, it worked just as i hoped for, even better than my compact and movable a/c-unit wich i bought to replace my redneck-kludge.. but as i said, water did run out in the middle of summer.
Best
Kludge
Ever!
(When the need arises, the brain exercises…)
Infinitely better than the endless stream of “herp derp, fan that blows air from a refrigerator derp what am thermodynamics”
Thought about that one for the last couple of days:
A BOX fan attached directly to the radiator, sucking air *through* the
radiator, and with the effluent sent down the nearest drain, would
work a lot better. Also a pinhole to restrict flow until the bottom is measurably warmer than the top. (OK, a standard water-tap would do) and a thermostatically controlled valve to shut off flow when the
exiting water got too cool … perhaps also when the air temperature
dropped as well, for best overall energy efficiency.
But changing the fan type and direction-of-flow, methinks would give
the best (immediate) results.
Run the water DOWN through the radiator, not up.
You want to go in the *opposite* direction heated water would normally flow.
A cute idea if you cannot afford a real AC; and you have access to
really cheap water from a cool source (like your own well). Pipe the
exiting water back DOWN the well, to keep from wasting resources.
(DON’T use a copper-tubed radiator with lead soldered tubes, if doing this! Find a modern aluminum-finned one, preferably taken from a car AC, like the one in the picture.)
Also, the plastic bucket under the radiator *IS* needed; but not to catch the exiting water. It’s needed to catch the drip of condensing water from the cooler. All Air-Conditioners have tubes or some method to get rid of such condensed water. And yes, as designed, the “cooler” will REDUCE the humidity in the air, NOT increase it like a swamp-cooler would. A definite plus.
OK … I was wrong.
The water-flow should be UP through the coils, not down.
Fluid-flow through a standard radiator goes from top to bottom; but there the entering fluid is HOT and rejecting HEAT. Here, it’s COLD and absorbing heat instead. So, the fluid-flow should be in the opposing direction.
Oops … Sorry about that.
;-{
No one noticed the Countach behind? The creator of this device has to be a real petrolhead!
The purpose of this contraption could be either to cool air, or it could also be used as a dehumidifier. The water vat under the radiator would also support the dehumidifier idea.
HA! my father did this one year with a radiator that was 10′ by 3′ and all the damned fans in our house.
His latest exploit is engineering the JSF engine with pratt.
Somewhat geothermal cooling, because we had groundwater come out the hose at 50-60 F
A Volvo radiator well used. Made in the province of Quebec, Canada.
That’s what you do when you’re done trapping beaver and hunting caribou and you have no beer left. Congratulations Robert
Oh my goodness! Such genius radiates from this a/c invention!
Reminds me of this homemade AC I say on another page http://www.gmilburn.ca/2005/06/14/homebrew-air-conditioning/ Dunno which would be more effective.
I need one of these for the server rack…
i like it
Missed opportunity – he could have been drying his clothes as well…