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Cooler A/C setup


smccray

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If you are using Ice packs you don't need to empty the water...  If I was being fancy, I would tie it into the roof vent drain tubing that runs down the Pilot side of the plane in front of the battery compartment. 

 

https://www.amazon.com/Attwood-Quiet-Blower-White-4-Inch/dp/B003BMATFK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1495974762&sr=8-1&keywords=atwood+4+inch+fan

https://www.amazon.com/Spectra-Premium-94575-Heater-Core/dp/B000C7RZEK/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1495974794&sr=8-2&keywords=heater+core

https://www.amazon.com/Deflecto-Aluminum-Silver-flexible-A048/dp/B00009W3GV/ref=sr_1_8?ie=UTF8&qid=1495974843&sr=8-8&keywords=4+inch+flexible+duct

Bilge pump was from Harbor Freight but they don't sell them anymore. 

SO cord for the wiring

Switch

Cigarette lighter plug

A couple of these if you want to run it self contained.  

https://www.amazon.com/ExpertPower-EXP12120-Volt-Rechargeable-battery/dp/B00A82A2ZS/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1495974978&sr=8-6&keywords=sla+battery

Hint you can pull SLA batteries out of old Computer UPS

Or you can get one of these to run it and have an air compressor for your tires

https://www.amazon.com/STANLEY-J5C09-Jump-Starter-Compressor/dp/B002X6VXL4/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1495975115&sr=8-3&keywords=power+pack+air+compressor

 

 

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I'm working on keeping the J cooler this summer too with a cooler. Testing out a lawn battery on it to isolate it from ships power. I've run it over 2 1/2 hours now and so far it's still running so I think I'm good.  Just bought the Arctic air from a friend to try out. I've frozen some blocks of ice and will try it out on the next hot day. My wife and I put in Gila static cling window film in the rear two windows as well to hopefully reduce some heat. We got the 20% which is pretty dark but I'm thinking it'll be the way to go. We will see.

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2 hours ago, nels said:

Are evaporative coolers out of the question for some reason?

Like a swamp cooler on the roof in Texas?

Requires lots of evaporative cooling. Which needs the moistened air to be blown overboard.  The weight of the water is quite a bit. The change in weight will effect WnB over time...

And.... the reason it gets called a swamp cooler is it has a tendency to grow things.

 

The interesting thing about this suggestion...

As far out as it sounds, the icebox was pretty far out just a few years ago...

All it takes is an energy balance to determine the energy that can be removed and how big the unit needs to be...

An energy balance is similar in complexity as a WnB calculation.  Challenging, but not too challenging.  Helps to have an engineering background, but not a requirement...

Am I even close?

Best regards,

-a-

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11 hours ago, nels said:

Are evaporative coolers out of the question for some reason?

In Texas we roll with 400%  humidity...  not possible you say...  come visit     Several Peltier plates would be rocking also, but the amperage draw for the cooling needed is pretty high.

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There's a lot of energy consumed and air temperature dropped when converting water to vapor. I think maybe more than converting ice to water pound per pound. Someone was concerned with getting rid of the water after it melts in his ice cooler/ac unit. Just dripping water on a screen and blowing air across it will turn water to vapor and reduce the air temperature dramatically. Some places have hot but dry weather and a combination ice melter and water evaporation may work well and extend the flight cooling  capabilities well beyond just melting ice.

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I have lived in San Antonio and Dallas for a few years... worked in Houston visiting one week at a time... Texas got more than a fare share of great cities...

My swamp cooler experience comes from the Dallas area, down the street from Redbird/Dallas Executive... the place that counts the days over 100°F,  and somebody goes out to start the car to run the AC before going to lunch.

Thanks to @kpaul for the photo.  That's a memory warmer...  the aviation version would probably be a bit smaller because the airflow would be much better.  Of course, there would be a challenge of keeping the cooling water from blowing away. :)

@nels has hit an important engineering measurement.  Heat of fusion, and heat of evaporation, are the two physical(?) chemistry measurements that are amazing.  The amount of energy that is given or removed to change the state of the material (solid/liquid, liquid/gas) without changing the temperature at all....

Looking up heat of evaporation and comparing to heat of fusion for water, there is a lot of opportunity, about 7X, if you can harness the heat of evaporation to cool the cabin.  So, if a cooler full of ice works pretty well, a cooler full of evaporating water could work 7X better... combining the two, start with ice and progress past evaporation, could equate to chilliness to last the entire flight.  :)

Best regards,

-a-

Edited by carusoam
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15 minutes ago, carusoam said:

I have lived in San Antonio and Dallas for a few years... worked

@nels has hit an important engineering measurement.  Heat of fusion, and heat of evaporation, are the two physical(?) chemistry measurements that are amazing.  The amount of energy that is given or removed to change the state of the material (solid/liquid, liquid/gas) without changing the temperature at all....

Best regards,

In order for the water to change state either from ice to water or water to vapor requires enormous energy relative to just moving the temperature needle one degree in it present state. The energy comes from the air which is blown across the wet grid in the swamp cooler. The air looses heat to the water which turns to vapor and the temperature of the mix, vapor and air, drop considerably below the original temperature of either.

 

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  • 4 weeks later...

Update-

I bought a new B-Kool cooler and it works great. As it turns out I had one of the first generation units which worked okay, but the improvements to the latest version are head and shoulders above the prior version. There's no question in my mind that I could build a cooler cheaper than I could buy one, but I don't believe it would be as optimized as this product. 

The drain hose is extra long now- easy turn on the cooler on the ground and empty the unit.

The shape of the cooler is perfect- it's small enough that I can load it through the baggage compartment door full of ice.

I'm very happy with my purchase-not to mention that Bob supports his product if you ever have a problem. Thanks Bob!!

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31 minutes ago, smccray said:

Update-

I bought a new B-Kool cooler and it works great. As it turns out I had one of the first generation units which worked okay, but the improvements to the latest version are head and shoulders above the prior version. There's no question in my mind that I could build a cooler cheaper than I could buy one, but I don't believe it would be as optimized as this product. 

The drain hose is extra long now- easy turn on the cooler on the ground and empty the unit.

The shape of the cooler is perfect- it's small enough that I can load it through the baggage compartment door full of ice.

I'm very happy with my purchase-not to mention that Bob supports his product if you ever have a problem. Thanks Bob!!

Bob has donated one to the Mooney Summit V as a raffle prize once again. Thanks for your support of the Mooney Community, Bob! You make a best in class product and are a best in class guy.

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I also just picked up a B-Kool unit.  It looks very well made.  I haven't tested it yet, but probably will today.  I took it down to the field and put it in the baggage compartment the other evening.  Fits very easily into my C.  Sideways, it barely takes up any room.  It's quite compact.  

I've got a thermometer I'm going to set in the plane, fire up the B-Kool, and see what happens!

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On May 28, 2017 at 0:53 AM, FBV said:

I just finished building mine today. 30 degree temp difference but a lot of airflow. Cost me $120 in parts and has a wireless remote fob. Looking forward to trying it out. cc9e04ecbfff856f85739f743a4b96e0.jpgb51b3935c67737a909b3b5d5e5612685.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The fan that you used is there a part number for that? 

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On 6/24/2017 at 10:14 PM, FBV said:

Delta PFB0912UHE

$20 on amazon

Throws off 154 CFM

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

Ok I can't find that small of an oil/heater cooler core.

Can you let me know where yours come from?

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I built my own ice chest a/c unit and knew dewatering would be an issue so, i made the water hose that comes from the heater core and discharges water back to the bottom of cooler extra length. I also put an aluminum 180 deg tube on the end. When in operation the aluminum 180 tube lays in the bottom under the ice, when the ice is gone and im back in front of the hangar i open the baggage door, hang the hook on the baggage opening and turn on the unit for a couple minutes. Water is pumped overboard while i get the tug. All thats left is a bit of water that the pump cant get to. One thing i have yet to do is put a switch on the fan so i can pump water overboard without running the fan so it saves a little drain on the battery.

Anyone building one can get an old heater core from a auto repair shop for next to nothing, mine was free as it was replaced because it had a leak. For our use a tiny leak doesnt really matter. For the pump i used one off of amazon that is for a fountain. We dont need a huge flow of water for our application and the pump i selected will operate on 12 - 36 vdc so it is happy and i have even used the thing in an old dodge powerwagon to stay cool whike driving in a parade in the summertime. My biggest expense was the bilge blower. If the Ovation were a 12vdc system i couldve used a fan from a computer powersupply and built the whole thing for next to nothing really.

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If anybody is interested I have an icebox brand cooler that I'm looking to sell. Not because it doesn't work, it works great, but because I have a second one and don't need 2. The one I'm selling has the wireless controller and you can separately control the fan and pump. If I don't sell it before leaving I'll probably bring it to Oshkosh to sell there, so easy delivery for caravan folks. 

As for draining, I always just pull the return hose out the baggage door and turn on the pump to drain onto the ramp. This is also how I gained my caravan callsign

"Puddles" 

20170618_212429-R.jpg

Edited by StinkBug
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  • 10 months later...

Its that time of year... getting hot. Attached is the Bill of Materials (BOM) of the home made cooler project I made last year. There may be a couple of fluid interconnects missing, but this gives to the list of everything I used. Some extra screws and a tube of RTV are also needed. 

Plane cool BOM.xlsx

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On 5/24/2017 at 7:26 AM, xcrmckenna said:

If you guys want something to cool off your cabin just fly around with my ex... that cold hearted B*#&$ could frost your windows on any Texas summer afternoon.....:)


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If you think that's bad ,try having your ex hookup with an out of work attorney (who can't pass the bar)do the property division!

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