This project goes into the build of a homemade water fueled radiant Air heater / Air Cooler that can blow cold air or hot air into your room or space using a heat exchanger and an old car radiator fan. This system can pump out cold air at 1500 CFM with the temperature reaching 55F and heat output at almost 170 F. The entire system is powered by a 100W Solar Panel and costs around 60 to 70 dollars. The major advantage of using this cooler is that it doesn’t add any humidity to the air.
STEP 1 : THE MATERIALS REQUIRED
The materials you need to build this Cooler/ Heater are as follows. Standard bilge water pump or aquarium pump or 12V DC fan for solar, seven inch 12V 80W car radiator fan, 10 X 12 piece of plywood, a couple of eleven inch 2 x4’s, 8 X 8 heat exchanger, one inch PVC tubing, a couple of hose barbs with coupler, a tub to hold the ice or hot water. A 12V DC heating element can also be used to warm up the water.
STEP 2 : BUILDING THE FRAME
The next step is building a frame to hold the heat exchanger and the car radiator fan together. This is done by a taking couple of 11 inch 2 X4 ‘s and mounting them parallel to each other on a 10 X 12 inch piece of plywood. A hole is cut on the plywood to place the car radiator fan. The heat exchanger is attached on the backside of the fan just between those two eleven-inch 2 X 4’s. The heat exchanger is rated for over 25k BTUs and covers about 1000 sq ft that can heat or cool the entire living space.
STEP 3 : CONNECTING THE WATER SOURCE AND INSTALLING A SMALL WATER PUMP
A tub containing Ice cold water or hot water is used as a source of heat or cold. The Water pump submerged in the water source is connected to the inlet tubing. This pumps the cold or hot water into the input of the heat exchanger. The car radiator fan is powered on using the 100 W solar panel and the hot or cold air radiates into the room or space. The water returns back into the tub through the other tubing.
The solar panel is connected to a speed controller that is further connected to the radiator fan to adjust the airflow.
The 200gph water pump with the half-inch pipe is connected to the inch pipe main tubing using half inch barbed to inch threaded and inch threaded to inch barbed and a threaded PVC coupler.
STEP 4 : ADDING THE HEATING ELEMENT
To make the hot water, we use a 150W DC Water heating element . The heating element is connected at the base of the tub or barrel. This unit is powered by a solar panel . You can use an AC powered immersion water heater if there is no option for solar.
STEP 5 : ADDING THE SOLAR PANEL
A 100W Solar panel is powering the 80W Car radiator fan and 12V 350 GPH Bilge pump that is used to pump the water to the heat exchanger and back. It also powers the Heating element if you plan to heat the water this way. Another way to heat the water is using a 50 ft copper tubing. The water is pumped through the copper tubing using a small pump and a 5W Solar panel and heating it up. The hot water is then passed through to the heat exchanger.
Image Credits : desertsun02
