View Full Version : ice chest air conditioning
Check any of your AC books, etc. A ton of air conditioning is the cooling given off by melting a ton of ice. A ton is also 12,000 btu's. Check your supplier books but from what I have seen it takes a 1 or 1 1/2 ton AC unit to start to cool a boat. This is equal to 2,000 - 3,000 lbs of ice. How much cooling do you think a 20 lb block is going to do?
Jesse
02-11-2003, 05:23 am
Does anyone have any experience with an ice chest (or 12 volt) air conditioning unit? It's for small spaces. See www.kooleraire.com for example.
R.W.Landau
02-11-2003, 05:46 am
Jesse, I don't think these AC units do to good. Test it yourself. Fill a pan with ice and blow on it and see how cold the air is on the other side. I have heard of units that have a coil (like a heater coil of radiator)with a fan. The concept is a cooler filled with ice, add a little water. A pump delivers the water to the coil and the fan blows over the coil. The water returns to the ice chest to get cold again, then back to the coil. I have read that some of these units (they will work in a small area) can go through 10 pounds of ice in 1 hour. That is a lot of ice! r.w.landau
Ben Allen
02-11-2003, 10:14 pm
It's nowhere near what you house AC will do, but it did help a lot here in the South in the month of July. It consist of (2) 4" computer fans from Radio Shack, a heat exchanger from a Chevy Caviler(sp), and a single faucet pump to circulate the water. The cooling water is a closed system, with the tube coiled inside the ice chest, that way it not flow directly on the ice. I would put 3 bags of ice in the ice chest and plug the unit in. It would drop the temperature inside the cabin 10 to 15 degrees in the evening and would continue to put out cool air for about 8 or 9 hours. Battery draw was around 2 amps for the pump and both fans. Ben Allen Montgomery, AL "Latte Dah" O'Day 26