Swamp cooler a/c ? Anyone tried?

[Sporttracguy]

I drive my 1970 911e quite frequently in the summer here in Washington and while most of our weather is mild and pleasant, there are a few months I wish I had a/c. I've been looking into my options and come upon an interesting temporary fix. I've seen people retrofitting a cooler with dry ice and a raditor fan to create a "swamp cooler" and splice into the ventilation system. It seems simple enough for a short term cool down but I was wondering if anyone here has tried it, any info would be great , thanks
Sporttracguy

[DRACO A5OG]

Interesting, I wonder how long that dry ice would last?

[wwest]

Originally Posted by Sporttracguy

I drive my 1970 911e quite frequently in the summer here in Washington and while most of our weather is mild and pleasant, there are a few months I wish I had a/c. I've been looking into my options and come upon an interesting temporary fix. I've seen people retrofitting a cooler with dry ice and a raditor fan to create a "swamp cooler" and splice into the ventilation system. It seems simple enough for a short term cool down but I was wondering if anyone here has tried it, any info would be great , thanks
Sporttracguy

Might make you to dizzy for driving, dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide.

[sc_rufctr]

Yes it would work but it wouldn't be convenient.

If you really want Air maybe you need to consider installing a full system.
The compressors are much smaller and more efficient than they used to be.
If you found a sympathetic shop they may make something up from scratch.

Does anyone sell a full air conditioning system for a 911 in kit form?

[JeremyD]

Arctic Air Portable Air Conditioner (52 qt., dual fan, 12 volt) - Sporty's Pilot Shop

[Danny_Ocean]

Originally Posted by wwest

Might make you to dizzy for driving, dry ice is frozen carbon dioxide.

Like the carbon dioxide we breathe every day?

[Danny_Ocean]

The carbon dioxide emitted from dry ice ain't gonna kill you, nor make you dizzy...

[Mattcamp]

Originally Posted by Danny_Ocean

Like the carbon dioxide we breathe every day?

Yeah...........only not mixed with oxygen. If you tried to vent those cold gasses straight into the cabin; you won't be worried about how hot you were for long. Think about how small the cabin is. Wouldn't take much to run out of breathable air.

[teenerted1]

you really dont need it up here. wear a wet t-shirt and open the windows would do the same thing.

[hookem horns]

Here's a homemade version. Wonder how much cooling you would get if you routed ice water through the existing evaporator in an AC car with the compressor removed?
Portable 12V Air Conditioner --Cheap and easy!

[Sporttracguy]

Think I'm going to give it a try, found a 105 cfm 12volt bilge fan and a cooler, all for less than $100. If nothing else, my drinks will be cold when I get to where I'm going. I think my concern is adding moisture in the cab.

Sporttracguy

[JeremyD]

I am actually thinking of doing something like that - I like the idea of a cool car on the way to and back from Sebring.

[Jay Auskin]

Just go with a window unit.

[JeremyD]

OK - I made my own - AND it worked! No seriously - portable AC - removed for the track - hooked up to my cigarette lighter...

Started off with an old cooler (when you live in Florida - you always have an old cooler)



Then I bought a bilge pump from wet marine. 360 gph rule model

some home depot brass connectors take it from 3/4" to 3/8" hose to the heat exchanger


Then I found a heat exchanger on ebay

and a 12V computer fan.


- made a little holder for the fan/heat exchanger -

I put switches for fan and pump - although probably not necessary



Installed (placed on the back seat) yep, tight fit with race seats!



It worked - on the way down to Sebring - we left at 3:30 in the afternoon - and it was 87 degrees and muggy - filled the cooler with ice - (I was sweating cause I applied another quick layer of wax to the front of my car to ward off the love bugs) and by the time we hit the skyway (15 minutes or so in the car) - I was no longer sweating. We "re-iced" about halfway - and had a nice trip down with the windows up...

On the way back it was 92 degrees - I loaded up with another bag of ice. (sebring is around 1:45 minutes from my house) after about 70-75 minutes - all the ice had melted and we opened the windows for the last 15 minutes of the trip.

[wwest]

That isn't, technically, a "swamp" cooler.

[mack6820]

You would think that in such a small cabin, just an open cooler filled with ice would cool you down considerably.

[hookem horns]

Cool, literally! Windows up for over an hour in FL sounds like a big success. Any condensation or did you have a drain back to the cooler? Adding a little salt might lower temps even more but use up the ice faster. Could also add some dryer vent to direct the cool air right at you. And where's the duct tape - can't have project like that without duct tape.

[JohnJL]

Originally Posted by Mattcamp

Yeah...........only not mixed with oxygen. If you tried to vent those cold gasses straight into the cabin; you won't be worried about how hot you were for long. Think about how small the cabin is. Wouldn't take much to run out of breathable air.

Sounds like a Mythbusters episode waiting to happen!

[DUK]

Well with the gosh dern heat out there, I thought I'd try to build me one...........

[TR6]

I wonder if you could use an actual A/C evaporator coil and pump the cold water through it instead of freon. The reason I ask is because I've thought of doing this in my spec miata race car. The A/C system is gone from under the hood, but I still have all the components in the dash. Simply hook up a pair of tubes from my cool shirt cooler in the passenger footwell to the original A/C evaporator in the dash and then you would have cool air coming from the dash vents. Run cold water through the evaporator tubes instead of freon. Thoughts?