A few parts and some ingenuity led to a do-it-yourself, cooler cooler – just the thing for spot cooling on a hot day. The home build starts with a 10 gallon ice chest, either plastic or Styrofoam, which will be used to create an air chamber. In the top, two large holes are cut out. The first holds a 4 to 6-inch PVC pipe “elbow.” This will direct out-flowing, cool air toward the user. The second cut-out has a small, personal-sized fan installed.
The design couldn’t be easier to understand. The fan blows warm room air into the cooler and out through the PVC pipe. A chunk of ice placed inside the cooler provides the temperature drop. How cool does it get? The video shows measurements of air coming out at a respectable 42.5 degrees Fahrenheit.
The design shown runs the fan off a solar panel, making this even greener than a normal air conditioner. You still need some ice to make it work, but the cooler doubles as a way to recycle the ice as it melts – the top comes off easily giving access to the ice-cold melt water.
This isn’t going to cool a house, but it is ideal for smaller areas. The fan can run off a car accessory plug or, with the solar panel, you can go off the grid and use it to cool your tent in the woods. What a great demonstration of necessity being the mother of invention.