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My ice chest AC build
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Cali_Army_Guy
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2015 1:14 pm    Post subject: My ice chest AC build Reply with quote

Was intrigued by the ice chest AC idea. I told my wife about it and she wanted to try it out (she's actually the one that built it) I don't have the receipt in front of me, but I'd say we have about $30 invested in this project.

Only bought three items.
Styrofoam ice chest
PVC pipe elbow
Fan that plugs in to a cigarette lighter

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Silicon around the pipe and fan
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Finished product
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Wife went to go buy a couple bags of ice. I'll report back if it works or not.
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veedubcrazy
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PostPosted: Sat Aug 01, 2015 2:36 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Simple and inexpensive.
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mark tucker
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 02, 2015 2:53 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

wonder how dry ice works.... or possiably a mix Shocked oh no better not try it might explode. Wink
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KTPhil Premium Member
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 02, 2015 11:30 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Not a good idea! The expansion ratio (relative increase in volume when evaporating to gas) for dry ice is 845:1. That means an ice chest holding half a cubic foot of dry ice would create over 400 cubic feet of gas. A level of 0.5% CO2 is toxic, so you would need to mix 80000 cubic feet of air to keep it breathable. Not quite that much air in a Bug... Wink
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iowegian Premium Member
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 02, 2015 2:50 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

KTPhil wrote:
Not a good idea! The expansion ratio (relative increase in volume when evaporating to gas) for dry ice is 845:1. That means an ice chest holding half a cubic foot of dry ice would create over 400 cubic feet of gas. A level of 0.5% CO2 is toxic, so you would need to mix 80000 cubic feet of air to keep it breathable. Not quite that much air in a Bug... Wink

They said there wasn't going to be any math.
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Jacks
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 02, 2015 4:56 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Show your wife this:
http://www.arcticaircooler.com/category-s/1814.htm
Then take her out to her favorite resturaunt. Cool
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Cali_Army_Guy
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 02, 2015 5:42 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Jacks wrote:
Show your wife this:
http://www.arcticaircooler.com/category-s/1814.htm
Then take her out to her favorite resturaunt. Cool


We own firearms. I'm not buying an ice chest that costs more than the car did. I'm liable to get pistol whipped lol.
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photogdave
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PostPosted: Sun Aug 02, 2015 5:45 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

How long does it take to buy ice? I wanna hear the results! Laughing
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gt1953
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PostPosted: Mon Aug 03, 2015 7:02 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

She may be stuck in that California traffic, ice melted, so she had to go get more. This time she may make if back.
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mark tucker
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 11:34 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

so.... a sealed bag of dry ice between the ice to keep the fumes down and the ice cool longer......and an aluminum fined tube running through the middle of the ice.....
or add an ac unit Shocked Ive seen window units in the back seat of bugs. and that was many years before the new style lightweight low draw units for around $100 were on the market.and also the portable units out now too.
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Cali_Army_Guy
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 11:55 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

photogdave wrote:
How long does it take to buy ice? I wanna hear the results! Laughing


Mediocre.

I mean it works. It blows cold air out, just not at the velocity that a car with factory AC would. In its current state I couldn't roll up the windows in 100* heat and be cold like I can in our SUV.
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pb_foots
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 12:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Well, that's better than nothing I suppose. I'm not surprised that it doesn't work as well as a real A/C, but if it keeps the monkey butt down to a level that doesn't make me want to kill myself, it's a winner!

I typically don't drive the bug in the high summer but occasionally it would be nice. For 30 bucks, it's worth a shot. Thanks for the info!
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KTPhil Premium Member
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 1:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

mark tucker wrote:
so.... a sealed bag of dry ice between the ice to keep the fumes down and the ice cool longer...


As the dry ice gives up it's cold (okay, physicists, draws heat from the water ice) it will turn to gas even if in a bag, and the expansion will still blow the bag and the gas will kill you.

On the other hand, a heat exchanger approach with the dry ice in a well-ventilated frunk might work...

But then you may as well put in a regular A/C unit. I guess the original poster's idea is the best non-destructive/non-installed solution.
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Letterman7
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 1:11 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Find a 4" ventilator fan from a boat on CL or somewhere. Install that. Then see what you think of the air flow.
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Cali_Army_Guy
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 1:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Letterman7 wrote:
Find a 4" ventilator fan from a boat on CL or somewhere. Install that. Then see what you think of the air flow.


In another thread I mentioned getting a bigger fan and someone said that while a higher output fan will indeed have more velocity coming out, the air won't be in the cooler as long and therefor won't be as cold coming out.
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KTPhil Premium Member
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 1:24 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

The trick with this is to balance the cooling power of the melting ice and the evaporative cooling of the melted water. Too much or too little airflow will affect this balance, which will also depend on the relative humidity and temperatures at the time. A variable speed fan will let you maximize cooling on the fly for the longer drives. Aiming the flow towards your face and chest also is effective.
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coad Premium Member
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 3:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Your basic 1960's under dash a/c unit was rated at around 15,000 btu's (ballpark numbers) of cooling.

If you convert btu's to refrigeration tons (based on tons of ice), that's approx. equivalent to the cooling power of 1.25 tons of ice. If a ton is 2000 lbs, that means the cooling power of your basic under dash unit equals about 2500 pounds of ice.

Your ice chest probably holds maybe 25 pounds, so you're putting out 1/100th the cooling capacity of an under dash a/c unit.

Of course an a/c unit is taking moisture out of the air in the cabin which makes it feel cooler, and your system is adding moisture so that's working against you.

Better than nothing I guess, but I think you would be cooler if you just ate the ice.
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c21darrel
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 5:55 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

They said there wasnt going to be any math!! Cool Jeez. Wink
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e&m_ghia
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PostPosted: Tue Aug 04, 2015 10:08 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

coad wrote:
Your basic 1960's under dash a/c unit was rated at around 15,000 btu's (ballpark numbers) of cooling.

If you convert btu's to refrigeration tons (based on tons of ice), that's approx. equivalent to the cooling power of 1.25 tons of ice. If a ton is 2000 lbs, that means the cooling power of your basic under dash unit equals about 2500 pounds of ice.

Your ice chest probably holds maybe 25 pounds, so you're putting out 1/100th the cooling capacity of an under dash a/c unit.

Of course an a/c unit is taking moisture out of the air in the cabin which makes it feel cooler, and your system is adding moisture so that's working against you.

Better than nothing I guess, but I think you would be cooler if you just ate the ice.


Well… that's 1.25 tons per day… So if they melted the ice in less time, it would improve things. If you could melt the 25 lb of ice in 1 hour, it would only be about a quarter as effective as a typical car A/C… Now all they need to do is design a heat exchanger that will melt ice at that rate, from the air flow...

Hmmm… Maybe it would be better if they just ate the ice… Can you use swamp coolers & misters in Modesto?
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Malokin Martin
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PostPosted: Wed Aug 05, 2015 9:57 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

e&m_ghia wrote:
Now all they need to do is design a heat exchanger that will melt ice at that rate, from the air flow...


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Laughing Laughing
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