DIY summer cooling for your critter room...

[SludgeMunkey]

DISCLAIMER:

DO not do this. This is unsafe in ways I cannot even begin to describe...

This set up is unsafe as the fan is not rated for a wet environment. The cooling coil condensate could contaminate the motor causing a fire or electrocute someone.

Desperate times make for desperate measures. Dangerous, but it made me think of all you Ozzies and the annual rash of cooling posts.

 

[Mac Myers]

That is bizarre. I don't care about the possibility of the guy getting electrocuted so much as I do the copper coils and the danger they present to the animals.

 

[SludgeMunkey]

This is an air conditioner rather than a chiller. No copper contact with a tank. Still a great idea done all wrong.

 

[tmarmoratus]

The question is, unsafe or not, was it effective?

 

[SludgeMunkey]

I doubt it. While the theory is sound, the surface area of the water and ice heat exchanger is far too small. Well that and you would need to add ice frequently...

 

[Mac Myers]

Heh... I didn't even get that the tiny copper tubing was supposed to cool the air! I assumed that it was the other way around. Duh. :lame:

I thought about using a sump of this type but decided I could neither make, nor afford to buy, enough Ice to keep it up and running.

 

[John]

Put it on a GFCI socket and it'll be fine.

 

[SludgeMunkey]

Found this on the web as I was surfing around. It made me laugh aloud for quite a while. I priced out the cost of the materials used in this based on local prices and discovered it is about the same amount of money to buy a window mount air conditioner off the floor model self at Menards. (roughly 60 dollars)

While a GFCI would help, they cost 20-35 dollars each and most homes only have them installed near sinks (as required by electrical code). I still think the two main fallacies here are the insubstantial cooling surface (not enough copper) and the need to re-ice it often make it a poor long term solution.

 

[Mac Myers]

Heh... plus that cooler doesn't look like it would last too long being emptied and refilled with ice.