honestly, if i had to choose between doing nothing to my ac system and having my windows stuck in the up position, or moving to canada, i'd choose the former. even if i lived in death valley

Sounds like you would fit right in at the coffee break table where I work.

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/showthread.php?t=805289

http://www.pirate4x4.com/forum/attac...1&d=1248185285

please please please, be sure when you decide to sell your car, let the buyer know you have run water through the evaporator... uh, it's supposed to remain dry. water, (and all the chemicals from the utilities department) will totally contaminate the coil REQUIRING replacement of the coil if anyone ever wants to have stock a/c again... ever changed the evaporator in one of these cars before?
also, aluminum totally corrodes in very short order when in contact with untreated water... your evaporator will be full of holes in very little time...
enjoy your mildly cool air while you can.
and if you pump salt through it it will dissolve/corrode MUCH faster! if you must use salt, put the crushed ice in a sealed bag with the salt to limit the contamination into the coil.

It would probably work if the outside dewpoint of the air is 55 degrees or less. I doubt that would be the case in florida for most of the summer. If the dewpoint is higher you will just get wet not cooler. A/C systems not only remove the heat from the air they also reduce the moisture content. What you are trying to build is an evaporative cooler.

Living in Arizona I have alot of experience with Evap coolers. they work great when the monsoon season is gone. I think florida in the summer is almost always high humidity which nullifies the benefits of evap coolers.

I live in Las Vegas and am very familiar with evaporative aka (swamp) coolers and I am HVAC/R technician by trade for many years. Im not vouching for if the topic system will work or not but i just wanted to correct above statement. Evaporative coolers are directly cooling the air with water causing the humidity rise. The system the OP designed is indirectly cooling the air and not adding any humidity other than if he leaves the ice chest open and it evaporates. The air across the evap coil will not gain humidity at all but unfortunately will not be cold enough to remove it by condensation either. So humidity is not gianed or lost really. On a side note.. Here in vegas we use two stage evap coolers in industrial settings with direct cooling as first stage also cooling the water before it travels thru the inside of a indirect cooling section to cool the air a second time without added humidity. Lots of tricks to removing heat or "cooling" .

P.S. This was just for info only not a attack or "flaming" anybody. Just my contribution to the thread. :)

Arlo

This should work just fine...
 

Howdy!

I have seen this exact type of system used on drag cars to cool the supercharger air-water intercooler. It works really well for two or three passes.

A large Ice chest should last long enough to get you to and from work as long as your commute is not more than an hour or so...

"Goomer," he says... Now that there is just plain funny. ;)

Kevin

the ice chest cooler will indeed work in this situation. 32°F Ice chilled water pumped into the coil will have the heat removal phase change of the ice, and IF there is enough ice and water slurry pushed through the coil, it will actually cool better than freon would, as the evaporator coil is only partially filled with liquid, the entire coil will be full of water in the "cooler" unit. until the ice all melts. in the a/c system low pressure liquid is pushed into approximately 40% of the coil and hot air is pushed across the coil forcing a phase change in the coil from liquid to gas. this phase change pulls 940buth /lb of refrigerant boiled, water will already have this phase change from solid to liquid so you only get the heat transfer of the water intself, no active phase change to absorb additional heat. hard to say if it will absorb as much heat or not.
it's your car, do with it as you will, I just hate to see that coil in a year... or less.

Nothing new,Thermador Car Cooler
http://www.oldeskool.org/wp-content/...120&w=120&zc=1




Thermador Car Cooler

http://www.oldeskool.org/wp-content/...120&w=120&zc=1

AC Problem
 

Actually, rather than going through all of that, why don't you set up a two-battery system, hook up a high-watt inverter and pick up a small-watt AC at BestBuy or like store, and develop a water-sealed rubber support system around the sunroof and run the AC from the top of the car. Since you're not an 18-wheeler, you don't usually have to worry about upper clearances . . . ROFL. If you're gonna jerryrig it, may as well do it right . . . . .ROFL!!!!

Torie

New AC Ideas
 

So . . . what's the rest of the car look like. Saying it has 330K miles on it doesn't necessarily put it in the dying beater category. And 200K more miles, at least, is a long way to drive without a real AC. Would love to see pics of the car.

Torie

Keep it simple.
Place dry ice blocks in a cooler on the floor or seat beside you. Cover the dry ice with aluminum foil to slow the rate of evaporation

Mount a small 12 volt truck window fan on the far edge of the cooler
blowing at the dry ice.

Plug the fan into the cigar lighter.

If you want cool air why mess with water.

Enjoy the cool air.

I have a messed with dry ice in a night club environment and it melts quicker that Shiite. I bought like 250 lbs for a Halloween night in a club and it didn't last 2 hours.... it was a dollar a pound. The effect was cool but it cost more than me... and i was the DJ!! I lasted like 6 hours.... those were the days

I think frozen 2 liter bottles would last longer. About 6 or so for a commute to work. You could keep backup bottles in a spare 5 day cooler stowed in the trunk for the commute home.

Homemade frozen bottles would cost pennies.

Also, the blue frozen ice blocks may last longer. I'm sure it's possible to make your own. They are simply one part alcohol to three parts of water.

I think it would not be good run anything thru the car's A/C system. A cooler with ice blocks and fan would work just as well and would have zero mess. The frozen 2 liters could be use over and over. Boating suppliers sell fan blowers cheaply. The Blowers could be used to draw air into the cooler. You could have one or two cold air exits ports from your cooler.

i haven't read the whole thread here but there is a company in NC, i think, who makes a cooler with a fan in it. you put ice in and it cools for a few hours. it's made for small planes without AC. they only need cooling for a little while until they get high enough where the air is cooler. anyway, this company sells them ready to go. you just put ice in and plug it in. the company name escapes me now but a search should find it.
roberto