But does spending twice as much money equate to dramatically better performance?
At least as far as the radiators go, not really. My original design’s lightweight and affordable components cool nearly the same for many hundreds of dollars less.
Nevertheless, this cooler incorporates some significant improvements and my Frankencooler Build Plans have been updated to reflect some of these changes.
To bad it didn’t get better results with the better equipment. I guess its not worth spending the extra money for the radiators. How about run time? Hopefully that increased. Well its still looks better then the last one.
I haven’t seen how long it will run, but it should easily go a minimum of 5 – 5.5 hours on a charge.
Built 1 like it with same cooler and components after just receiving that battery yesterday. I put a liter of water in the bottom and two 10 pound bags of ice. Ran in my garage for an hour and the garage was only 80 inside and the ice only lasted an hour. I even have the foam false lid under the original lid like you do but with a rubber door gasket around the Inside Edge of the cooler sealing false lid even better. I ran the fans on medium. How long does your ice last?
Hi Tim,
1 – 10 lb block lasts me an average of 1 – 1.5 hours in my 102 – 105 degree garage (and this is with my original red cooler – my least efficient one) 2 blocks go 2+. Cubed or crushed ice, while producing a little cooler temps, do not last as long.
It goes without saying to make sure there’s no air leaks and that the insulated divider is truly sealed.
Oh yeah, and one important point – do not pour unrefrigerated tapwater into the cooler to get it started – you’ll melt a quarter of the ice in minutes. I have a couple gallon bottles in my garage fridge just for priming my ac coolers – it makes a big difference.
Bob
I would like to build this to use in my apartment the next time we have a power outage! But first, please, can you tell me how many hours this machine will blow cold air, assuming an inside temp of 85F?
I’m not quite getting this. It appears that the large radiator has no fan. I am wondering then why even put it in there?
My thought was to minimize the heat of the air coming into the cooler, hitting the divider panel. As it turns out, the cooler would work pretty good with either just the big one or just the little ones under the blowers. Together, they work to produce very consistent temps.
Hi John. My other coolers, which are 50 Qt size, will max cool around 2 – 2.5 hrs with 2 blocks of ice in approx 102 – 105 degree temps (less with cubed or crushed ice). The new cooler is 62 QT and will hold 3 blocks placed sideways. Although I’ve not had a chance to benchmark it yet, with 3 blocks and the thicker divider panel I don’t know why it shouldn’t go close to 3 – 4 hours before melt. A side note: Even after melt, the cooler blows cold for at least another half hour before it noticeably drops off.
This new battery is 3 X larger than ones I’ve been using and should run for at least 4.5 hours. Factor in running at 15- 20 fewer degrees and I would estimate 5 hrs at max cooling.
I’ll benchmark this new cooler within the next couple days and will report back.
Bob
Yeah, back again. It finally hit me. The center rad is the intake. Genius. Cool the intake while you’re at it…..
I wouldn’t say genius – it was more like “now that I’ve got a pump for these little radiators, might as well add one in the middle” 🙂
I am based in the UK and have come across your Ice Chest Air Conditioner on the internet, and am very interested in it.
Do you sell the complete built unit?
Miles
Hello Miles,
I’m sorry but I don’t. If I were younger with a better back, I definitely would be.
Bob