Home Made Air Conditioner For Less Than $20

It's not even summer yet and the thermometer is due to hit the mid 90's today. Officially,  the 2021 June solstice happens on Sunday, June 20, at 11:32 pm and even though we have a few cooler days ahead, you know we also have a few, if not several scorchers still on the way.

Last year was a very strange year for all of us and last summer I had an air conditioner unit that is starting to have issues. What to do....well I'll just run to the store and get another one. Hmmm...if the stores had any. Oh there was one, but it was $700, much more than I am going to pay. How about I order it online? Well, if you can find one in stock but then there is also the issue with getting it delivered before October, when I won't need!

Oh what to do...I got it. I remember I read an article or saw a video a few years ago about making your own D.I.Y air conditioner. The nice thing is, it's super cheap, and you may even have most of the stuff already at your house. Even if you don't, there are plenty of places to get the stuff you need, for low cash.

Here is what you are going to need for materials:

• A cheap Styrofoam ice chest
• Two dryer vents or PVC joints
• A small fan
• Ice to fill the ice chest
• Heavy Duty Tim Foil
• Cake cooling rack

Here is how to prep your homemade A/C:

• The two vents will come out on top of the ice chest lid, spaced out so the fan can be attached in the center of the lid. them far enough apart that the fan will be able to fit between.
• You will need to use a cutting tool of some sort to cut out the two holes for the vents. Make sure the holes are sized such that the vents will be able to fit snugly inside them.
• Cut out a hole for the fan, you may have to mark it first, just make sure this hole is a bit smaller than the fan itself. The fan needs to be able to rest on top of the chest but not fall into it.
• Fit the vents snugly in their holes and set the fan on top of its hole face down so it will blow air into the ice chest.

That is it! See, how simple was that? Now just fill the cooler with ice, you could also use frozen bottles of water, that you can also refreeze for later. Finally, just turn on your fan.

So the concept is, the fan forces air into the chest, which cools over the ice and comes out the vents as ice cooled air. It should also be as cold as any other air conditioner and will keep blowing that cold air until the ice melts.

Also since I have created mine, I have modified it to work better by putting a rack in the bottom of the cooler, I modified a cake cooling rack which bought me about two inches of air space on the bottom, then I used heavy duty tin foil to create a funnel for the air in to go under the rack so it rises up through the ice to really cool it down.

If you are having a hard time visualizing the whole thing, here's a video I grabbed off YouTube that walks you through. Now all the parts that i grabbed pushed the cost to about $20 but if you have a fan already then yes you can get away creating this on the super cheap!

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