Cool Your cabin - and Your Beer!

[BlackJack58]

Just posted this story - based on some cool [no pun intended] information I came across on Lifehacker and Instructables.

The links you'll find in the story include plans for building DIY portable air conditioners, using common stuff like beer coolers, small fans & bilge pumps, etc. I'm sure a lot of you could come up with your own ideas on this, including how to make them look and work better.

http://www.bigbadboat.com/2009/07/cool-your-boat-cabin-with-portable-diy.html


Though the idea was originally proposed for a car with broken air conditioning, it might be just the thing for guys with smaller boats, with no built-it air in the cabin. Plus, you can keep your beer cold as well! :sifone:

 

[insanity]

So its a fan that blows air out of a cooler full of ice?

 

[yesrej]

ive tried it. it doesnt work as well as you think. the bigest problem is the ice melts very fast. i tried freezing 2 litre soda bottles and they wouldnt last.

 

[BlackJack58]

According to the guys who built these - the model that runs water lines through ice and then through a "radiator" with fans blowing through it lasts longer and is more efficient. The simpler "fan in and out of ice chest" is simpler, but doesn't last as long. They also insist loose ice (with salt added to lower melting point - it's physics) works better than large chunks or frozen bottles. I don't know - but I might give it a shot and see what happens.

In either case, they hold beer - and that's always a plus.

 

[TMS1155]

Salt makes ice melt faster. I dont know if it would melt slower if you made the ice with salt water but it takes a lower temp to freeze salt water.

 

[Ratickle]

And even when the salt water freezes, like Polar ice, the ice is still fresh water......

Now, Meijer up here sells dry ice........Hmmmmmmmm

 

[BlackJack58]

Salt makes ice melt faster. I dont know if it would melt slower if you made the ice with salt water but it takes a lower temp to freeze salt water.

Didn't make sense to me at first either. Salt will melt some of the ice, but once added, the ice melts SLOWER than it would if you didn't add salt. Adding salt to the ice/water mix causes a temperature drop that slows the melting rate and increases the freezing rate. The net result is that the ice melts more and more slowly after the initial addition of salt.

http://antoine.frostburg.edu/chem/senese/101/solutions/faq/why-salt-cools-icewater.shtml

 

[clayinaustin]

You can find these "swamp coolers" everywhere. They will use ALOT of ice. Good luck.

www.swampy.net

www.kooleraire.com

 

[insanity]

And even when the salt water freezes, like Polar ice, the ice is still fresh water......

Now, Meijer up here sells dry ice........Hmmmmmmmm

Dry ice is solidifed CO2 :ack2:

 

[pullmytrigger]

one of the biggest things a conventional air conditioner does to keep you comfortable is it dehumidifies in a big way.....there would be no dehumid properties in that system......you would still be sticking to your sheets on the bed when your trying to sleep.....but better than nothing I suppose.....for the effort get one of those hatch mounted portable ones.

 

[yesrej]

Dry ice is solidifed CO2 :ack2:

yea i dont think i would want to use dry ice.

 

[yesrej]

one of the biggest things a conventional air conditioner does to keep you comfortable is it dehumidifies in a big way.....there would be no dehumid properties in that system......you would still be sticking to your sheets on the bed when your trying to sleep.....but better than nothing I suppose.....for the effort get one of those hatch mounted portable ones.

the problem with the ones for the hatch is they fit almost all boats. im in the almost catagory. i have one now that im trying to figure a way to make something work.

 

[clayinaustin]

If you can use Shore Power or a Honda 2000i generator, then you may consider one of these.

http://www.cruisair.com/carry.html

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/boa/1268753276.html

Aquacal Krusin Kool Portable Air Conditioner

 

[blackhawk]

In Michigan we don't need AC, we need heaters!!!

 

[yesrej]

If you can use Shore Power or a Honda 2000i generator, then you may consider one of these.

http://www.cruisair.com/carry.html

http://raleigh.craigslist.org/boa/1268753276.html

Aquacal Krusin Kool Portable Air Conditioner

clay the one you pictured is the one im trying to make fit in a baja hatch.