Ok Where I come from it gets hot. So hot that beer evaporates while in the bottle.
Also the fact that my room gets a lot of afternoon sun does not make for a cool night in summer.
Being the person i am, I hacked an old (Newly bought) bucket to create a usb Aircon if you will.
THE SWAMP COOLER OF COLDNESS (Horror of heat)
Step 1: Gather Your Material (and Lose Your Mind)
If this was a video game you’ll have to travel far to get it. This i bought at a dolor store.
- A Bucket 20L
- A lid that fits said bucket
- A USB desktop fan
- Some cleaning cloths or thin porous material (40cm x 30cm)
The tools i used is only a guideline, so feel free to deviate from this list (we always do)
- A rotary tool (Dremel)
- A measuring tape
- A vernier
- Hot glue gun (with glue sticks)
- Your brain (do not use another tool for this, yours will be excellent)
Step 2: Let Us Mutilate
Not mutilate ummm…. cut yes cut.
Take the lid and drill a small pilot hole in the center
Use the vernier to determine the diameter of the fans cage minus the part were the screws go threw.
I got mine at 16mm minus 3.2mm for the rim. Leaving me with 12.8mm
Using the vernier set to 6.4mm (radius of the cage) i scraped a circle on the lid. (with the pilot hole as my anchor point)
Then we cut. Use the rotary tool or a sharp carpet knife cut out the circle you scraped.
it should look like the above picture.
Next use the cage to drill pilot holes for the screws threw the existing holes in the cage.
TO STEP 3 WE GO
Step 3: Drill the Holes (you’ll Not Find Oil Thou)
Drill the holes you piloted in the lid.
Make sure they line up with the cage and is clean for a tight fit with the cage
Step 4: Now Marriage of the Cage.
Split the cage. Save your screws
Place the bottom side under the lid and the top side of the cage on the top, the lid is between the cage now.
Secure the cage with the screws you kept. A dab of hot glue under the screws will stop them from pulling threw. My fan came with nuts so I skipped the glue part, but if you are worried that they may come lose you can dab them with glue to.
Congratulations, the lid is done. To the Bucket we go.
Step 5: Buckets of Yet More Cutting.
The bucket is your water vessel and the channel which controls the air coming in.
On the side cut a notch for the wire to fit. This is where you will put the wire threw.
Next measure the bucket and make a mark at the half point with a felt pen.
Measure the top half and mark the half as well.
This is where your holes will be made so go and trace that halfway point all around the bucket.
Now the fun starts.
Step 6: Captain There Is a Hole in the Bucket
Depending on how many hole you want, mark a few circles around the bucket more or less 13cm.
Use the vernier again to scrape a circle with the halfway mark as the pivot point. Remember to use the radius (6.5cm) I made 4 holes perpendicular to each other.
This is where you can use your own ideas. I used two designs here as examples.
Cut out a circle or drill holes inside the circle.
This is your intake holes so feel free to experiment.
Step 7: Cloths and Holes.
We are at the cloths and why they are in the list.
The dimensions are 40cm x 30cm. If you can’t find them and are using another material.
Fold them length wise and glue the top just above the hole. Making sure it covers the hole and that a large piece of it touches the bottom of the bucket.
Place a bead of glue under the hole and secure the cloth to it.
Almost done
Step 8: Water and Ice
Fill the bucket with water till under the holes.
Add ice for a better effect. Wet the cloth all the way so it can act as a wick that keeps drawing water.
Put on the lid and plug it in to a USB plug and let the magic commence.
It takes a while to cool a whole room, but it lowers my room average from 25C” to 16C’ threw the day.
A great thing is you can run it of as little as 6V so a addition of a small solar panel makes it a camping addition to make your friends jealous.
Enjoy
