Portable Airplane AC Machine!!!

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EBorraga

EBorraga

Passed Away July 17, 2022
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A few days ago I asked if anybody dealt with water misters, as I needed to make something for my ez-up to keep me cool when I go racing. Andy (Penman1) informed me about this thing called an airplane cooler portable airconditioner. I did some research and decided I was gonna build one. I had everything but the bilge pump and blower motor. Instead of a heater core I used a transmission cooler that I had laying around. Inside my shop it was putting out 58 degree air, it was 95 in the shop. Tomorrow will be the test as I take it racing. Temps are going to be 107. With the heat index it wil 120+. I'll let you guys know how good it works.
 

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So... how's this thing work? You put ice/water in the plastic sump/cooler, turn on the bilge pump and it recirculates the water through the transmission cooler back into the plastic sump/cooler, and the fan pulls air through the whole mess, and in your face?

Do I have that about right?
 
underdog said:
So... how's this thing work? You put ice/water in the plastic sump/cooler, turn on the bilge pump and it recirculates the water through the transmission cooler back into the plastic sump/cooler, and the fan pulls air through the whole mess, and in your face?

Do I have that about right?
Click to expand...

Exactly how it works. The fan i'm using is 300cfm and the bilge is 500gph. It runs off 12 volts, but I have a battery charger hooked to it and run itt off my generator.
 
Ernie, yours looks better than my friends! He told me yesterday that when it gets REALLY hot, he uses more ice than water and then puts rock salt over the ice.

His bilge pump came out of a saltwater boat, but he says he does flush the system with fresh water after using the rock salt on the ice.

Next, you'll be trying to put a "port" in your fire suit so you can "hook up" to the A/C between races.

Be sure to let us know how it works "under racing conditions".
 
PenMan1 said:
The fresh air intake looks a little small, BUT it is a lot easier to make a bigger hole than to patch a cooler:)
Click to expand...

I agree with you on that. I walked through Home Depot and Lowe's looking for a bigger duct. I could only find them in 5 and 6 inch diameter's. The one on it is 3 inches. I may have to bend some sheet metal and make my own. But for the trial run we'll se how she does.
 
EBorraga said:
PenMan1 said:
The fresh air intake looks a little small, BUT it is a lot easier to make a bigger hole than to patch a cooler:)
Click to expand...

I agree with you on that. I walked through Home Depot and Lowe's looking for a bigger duct. I could only find them in 5 and 6 inch diameter's. The one on it is 3 inches. I may have to bend some sheet metal and make my own. But for the trial run we'll se how she does.
Click to expand...

Don't have any spare parts left from a dust collector system?
 
Gary Beasley said:
EBorraga said:
PenMan1 said:
The fresh air intake looks a little small, BUT it is a lot easier to make a bigger hole than to patch a cooler:)
Click to expand...

I agree with you on that. I walked through Home Depot and Lowe's looking for a bigger duct. I could only find them in 5 and 6 inch diameter's. The one on it is 3 inches. I may have to bend some sheet metal and make my own. But for the trial run we'll se how she does.
Click to expand...

Don't have any spare parts left from a dust collector system?
Click to expand...

I don't have a dust collector. But there's a woodcraft close to where i'm racing tomorrow. I may have to stop in.
 
Ernie you need to extend the hose with a long flexible one that you can run up your shirt. You did a heck of a job building that and Andy gets the kudos for suggesting it. That is really neat.
 
IPD_Mr said:
Ernie you need to extend the hose with a long flexible one that you can run up your shirt. You did a heck of a job building that and Andy gets the kudos for suggesting it. That is really neat.
Click to expand...

Thank, Mike! BUT, if you want to run it up your shirt, the turbo fan needs to go on the other end of the black flex pipe:) DAMHIKT!
 
I would think if you were going to be using this to cool a suit you would want to use plastic hose webbed into the suit circulating the cold liquid. That would probably be more efficient at heat transfer.
 
Ok fella's the verdict is in, as I just returned from a very hot day racing rc cars.

1. The blower i used has enough power for this thing. You could stand 4 feet away and still feel it coming out of the pvc elbow.

2. I put 3 sides on my ez-up and left the front open. The temp inside of it after about 30 minutes was 75. The outside temp was 105 at the hottest part of the day. Vent temp coming out of the cooler was 57 degrees farenheit.

3. I used a trickle charger that had 2 settings, 1 and 10 amps. On 1 amp it would shut off every minute as it wasn't powerful enough. On 10 amps it ran all day with no problems.

4. I used 3-20lb bags of ice and 32oz. of water. After 8 hours there was a ton of ice still left in it.

5. The 4 inch intake hose is the perfect size. No need to modify it at all.

6. This thing worked awesome and all the other racer's are envious!!

Overall this is a whole lot better than water misters. I also think you could run this all weekend off of a small tractor battery if you have no elctricity to plug into. Total amp draw was 2.2 amps. If you had to buy all the parts it would cost you around $70.00 and that's including the cooler. I may also install a flexible hose on the end of the elbow so I can direct the coolness into my shirt:biggrin:.

I'd suggest if someone has a little time and likes to experiment, give this baby a shot. It will surprise you. Let me know if you'd like a parts list.

Thanks again Andy!!!
 
Last edited:
Ernie:
In a "perfect" world, a 130 amp hour, deep cycle marine battery should run a 2.2 amp draw for 67.5 hours. In reality, it'll run it about 10 hours.

I'm glad it worked ok, without having to introduce rock salt into the mix.
 
I missed something on calculating battery life. The machine I was basing my estimate on is very nearly the same as this one EXCEPT it has 2 130 cfm bilge blower fans. One for pulling out the chilled air, one for sucking in the fresh air. The amp draw with 2 FANS is probably closer to 4 amps.
 
OOPS said:
I love reading about all the cool stuff you do in your life..... no pun intended!
Click to expand...

Being 35 and not married helps alot with all the crazy stuff i do. I decided in 2010 after having a kidney transplant, i would proceed down a different road with my life. No holds barred and do the stuff i want to do. No rules just fun!!
 
hanau said:
pretty neat, could you post the parts list?
Click to expand...

Coleman 55qt cooler

Torqflo transmission cooler part #911401 Available at any Autozone.

Atwood 3inch turbo inline blower part #1731-4. I got it at Bass Pro

Johnson Bilge pump 500gph Cartridge series. Also from Bass pro.

The pieces of pvc came from lowes. and you'll need some flexible housing to go from the blower to the pvc intake piece.

I also used the crack sealer foam between the pvc pieces and the cooler to make a good seal.

Hope this helps.
 
I have a sneaking suspicion that this could be adapted to plug into a car's cigarette lighter. This intrigues me as I have a minivan with no A/C and custody of the kids. I try not to take them on too many long hauls in it when it's really hot because I remember how miserable it was when I was a kid and had to live through that. I wonder how well this would work not as a permanent fixture, but for a long road trip. This would also apply to old classic cars with no A/C from the factory......
 
No wonder your one of the coolest kids on the block. Liking this air cooler rig. It does help to see it built.

EBorraga said:
OOPS said:
I love reading about all the cool stuff you do in your life..... no pun intended!
Click to expand...

Being 35 and not married helps alot with all the crazy stuff i do. I decided in 2010 after having a kidney transplant, i would proceed down a different road with my life. No holds barred and do the stuff i want to do. No rules just fun!!
Click to expand...
 
EBorraga said:
OOPS said:
I love reading about all the cool stuff you do in your life..... no pun intended!
Click to expand...

Being 35 and not married helps alot with all the crazy stuff i do. I decided in 2010 after having a kidney transplant, i would proceed down a different road with my life. No holds barred and do the stuff i want to do. No rules just fun!!
Click to expand...

And welcome to me trying to get enough of a footing right now to live the same way.
 
Drstrangefart said:
I have a sneaking suspicion that this could be adapted to plug into a car's cigarette lighter. This intrigues me as I have a minivan with no A/C and custody of the kids. I try not to take them on too many long hauls in it when it's really hot because I remember how miserable it was when I was a kid and had to live through that. I wonder how well this would work not as a permanent fixture, but for a long road trip. This would also apply to old classic cars with no A/C from the factory......
Click to expand...

It is made to run on a cigarette lighter (12 volts). Just hook the bilge and blower together, then add a cigarette plug, and Voila! I've converted mine to run off of 110.
 
EBorraga said:
hanau said:
pretty neat, could you post the parts list?
Click to expand...

Coleman 55qt cooler

Torqflo transmission cooler part #911401 Available at any Autozone.

Atwood 3inch turbo inline blower part #1731-4. I got it at Bass Pro

Johnson Bilge pump 500gph Cartridge series. Also from Bass pro.

The pieces of pvc came from lowes. and you'll need some flexible housing to go from the blower to the pvc intake piece.

I also used the crack sealer foam between the pvc pieces and the cooler to make a good seal.

Hope this helps.
Click to expand...
thanks
 
I have been thinking about this "invention" and wondering if the performance would be enhanced if the reuseable "blue ice" was used instead of regular ice. It seems to me that whenever I have used the reuseable ice packs with the plastic shells, they last much longer than ice would. Any thoughts?
 
Pretty cool work there Ernie.

You should have your own TV show about just putting stuff together with household junk. you can call it "MAC-ERNIE".
 
OOPS said:
I have been thinking about this "invention" and wondering if the performance would be enhanced if the reuseable "blue ice" was used instead of regular ice. It seems to me that whenever I have used the reuseable ice packs with the plastic shells, they last much longer than ice would. Any thoughts?
Click to expand...

It would take alot of blue ice packs. The ice in the cooler lasted for 2 days.
 
Could this be used to cool off a small shop?

My garage is getting too d@mn hot. Anyone tried this rig in their shop?
 
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I suppose I could just put it next to the lathe and direct the output towards me. Looks like it would be more effective than a fan.
 
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