Home made a/c

[Buick35]

I was wondering if it could be possible to run cold ice water through an old under dash heater core and use it for air conditioning or if anyone ever tried it. I thought of using a small Ice cooler with an electric pump to circulate the water.Tell me if I'm nuts but in Fl. I could use an a/c rather than a heater.It's in a 35 Buick.Thanks,Greg.

[Guest]

I do not think you are nuts.  It might work to a certain degree.  I don't think it would too hard to build and try one.  I think a window hung "swamp cooler" might be better.

[Ben Bruce aka First Born]

1 hour ago, Buick35 said:

I was wondering if it could be possible to run cold ice water through an old under dash heater core and use it for air conditioning or if anyone ever tried it. I thought of using a small Ice cooler with an electric pump to circulate the water.Tell me if I'm nuts but in Fl. I could use an a/c rather than a heater.It's in a 35 Buick.Thanks,Greg.

 

 Should work great!  Until all the ice melts and the water reaches ambient temp. Probably spend a lot of time and money replenishing the ice.

 

  Ben

[Barney Eaton]

Agree with Ben........should work but automobiles are not built like food coolers,  very poor insulation and you would need lots of ice to make a trip of any distance.

You would get the same effect by putting a cooler in the back seat with no lid.....blow a fan over it to cool the car.

[JohnD1956]

Agree with Ben and Barney.  You may get cooled air from the heater vents but you would not get any dehumidification, so chances are you would not feel much cooler. 

[Dynaflash8]

On 7/14/2020 at 7:18 PM, Buick35 said:

I was wondering if it could be possible to run cold ice water through an old under dash heater core and use it for air conditioning or if anyone ever tried it. I thought of using a small Ice cooler with an electric pump to circulate the water.Tell me if I'm nuts but in Fl. I could use an a/c rather than a heater.It's in a 35 Buick.Thanks,Greg.

Better idea. Get one of these new mini-portable AC units that runs off batteries for up to 12 hours before recharging an sit on the front floorboard.

[NTX5467]

In a later 1960s "Popular Science" magazine, there was an article detailing a freon-less a/c system.  Used a blower to compress the air, then run that air through a heat exchanger to cool it, then put the low-velocity (by comparison) air, which is now much cooler, into the passenger compartment.  Kind of like an a/c system, but using normal air rather than a specialized gas to compress, cool, then un-pressurize, letting the resultant cold air be the "conditioned" air.

 

As far as the "chiller" orientation, probably not able to downsize it enough to not need a goodneck trailer to hold it all.

 

Just some thoughts,

NTX5467

[PONTIAC1953]

if you live where there's a lot of humidity, a water type cooler isn't going to work well at all, water or "swamp" coolers work best in very dry climate. i used to live in fresno calif. very dry there, i would load up the house swamp cooler with a lot of ice to chill the water flowing through the cooler, felt real nice for a while.

[Hans1]

A friend has a 41,  large cooler on rear floor, 12 volt battery in trunk,  pump, and switch .  With only he and wife and  the car loaded for trip to meets,  the cooling does work.

wife like it !

Cost of ice is minimal for the few trips taken.

 

[Frank DuVal]

Remember, thermodynamics.😁

 

The GM A-6 compressor system was good for 5 TONS (of ice) of cooling per hour at 60 MPH. Just how much ice do you plan on carrying?🤔

 

I've had older GM cars that leaked enough air through seals into the interior, even that 5 tons would not cool the interior to a comfortable level here in the very humid and hot east. Flow through ventilation...😡

[Barney Eaton]

I took this picture around 2005.... the BCA had a Board meeting in Kissimmee  Fl.

The wife and I had just had lunch and were walking back to our car when I spotted this Lincoln. 

[old-tank]

54 minutes ago, Frank DuVal said:

Remember, thermodynamics.😁

 

The GM A-6 compressor system was good for 5 TONS (of ice) of cooling per hour at 60 MPH. Just how much ice do you plan on carrying?🤔

 

I've had older GM cars that leaked enough air through seals into the interior, even that 5 tons would not cool the interior to a comfortable level here in the very humid and hot east. Flow through ventilation...😡

A 2 ton Sanden system will cool just as well since it recirculates the air.  The A-6 was cooling outside air.  Some systems had a 'max air' which recirculated, but only had a super high fan speed.