Thinking about A/C, Its getting hot... Options

[drive-ability]

Andrew
The fan that sits next to the gas tank will blow plenty of air. The big squirrel cage ones push a lot of air/pressure when unencumbered by all the rest of the pluming. The intake/exhaust would fit right on top of the cooler. I assume you have a way to get the air to re-enter the cooler? If you had a compact inner-cooler It might work better??? My old Mazda RX7 had a small compact IC which would work well if frozen in a block of Ice, and wouldn't restrict flow at all.
Keep up the R&D (IMG:style_emoticons/default/clap56.gif)

[Andyrew]

Here we go.

[Andyrew]

And last

[Andyrew]

Fan did not do the job.. But when I set it up in the kitchen.. like in the last photo.. I could feel the fan from 5 feet away.. cold..

I think that the lighter was not the best place to wire it in. I will try to hard wire it in now.

Next I might try one of the 8 in home fans, and duct the cold air purely to the fan.

If its not COLD enough, then I will try some of the idea's I heard at the BBQ (Felix? Mike? I was disoriented... I cant remember) Which is simular to Drive Ability's idea, which is to cut a radiator, fill it with water, freeze it, and run air through the radiator like a reverse radiator system. (radiator cools air, not the air cooling the radiator.)

I'd like to get this system to work first, then play around with something else.

[Dr Evil]

If not doing so already, maybe forcing air into the cooler instead of sucking it out may work better?

[anthony]

Anthony, A/C compressors take percentages. like 5-10 percent. On a 350hp engine.. 15-35hp? My race engine will be 500hp.

That's incorrect. I just looked up the performance data on Sanden compressors and they use 2 to 7 hp. And that is when it's running. You can always push the off button and turn the A/C off.

Can you even put all 350 or 500hp that you have to the ground? I really doubt that you are going to miss 7hp.

Anyway, have fun with the ice chest!

[Andyrew]

Anthony, i'll be running 285's on the back (when I get new tires.. currently its 265's on 10's)

I can pretty much put it to the ground.

But the added weight to run the a/c lines and all the accessory's is NOT what my race car needs. This box WILL work, if I can get enough juice to it.

[iamchappy]

Heres my thought, similar in design as i suppose as a cool suit. get a small 12-volt pump, a tiny cooler packed with water and ice, or ice packs. the submerged pump would pump the cold water through an aluminum coil evaporator type unit maybe even a transmission cooler thats in an enclosure with a fan that blows through it, I bet it could be done for less than 50 bucks and made portable and small. Could be entirely fabricated into the cooler. Or mount a tiny fan into the sides of the cooler with a small vent in the lid to expelled the pressurized air.

[Mueller]

I agree with Anthony, the newer modern compressors are much more efficient*...second (don't take this the wrong way (IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif) ) ....you are not building a "race" car....you have a street car that'll be used on track and auto-x...the extra 40 to 50 pounds is not going to make a differance that'll be easily measured...I think a system could be built that can be removed in 20 minutes or so with no need to unhook hoses and such if you get creative...



*Myth Busters did a show in which no measurable MPG loss was seen with the A/C on compared to being turned off

[Andyrew]

alright mike.

But my car is not going to have an a/c compressor with lines and a second radiator thing... Way to complicated for what I want.

Mike... My goal is for 2000lbs with my car (not as of yet, I know.. but within 5 years..) I would figure you would be the one person who would understand, I want something different.

Chappy.. Why not just freeze the oil cooler and blow air through it? Or blow air through the tunnels of the oil cooler, and freeze/submerge around it? I think it would be easyer than just a pump...

andrew

[Mueller]

alright mike.

But my car is not going to have an a/c compressor with lines and a second radiator thing... Way to complicated for what I want.

Mike... My goal is for 2000lbs with my car (not as of yet, I know.. but within 5 years..) I would figure you would be the one person who would understand, I want something different.

Chappy.. Why not just freeze the oil cooler and blow air through it? Or blow air through the tunnels of the oil cooler, and freeze/submerge around it? I think it would be easyer than just a pump...

andrew

i'm all for being lite !!!!

biggest problem I see with the ice chest idea is that you now have a consumable item which needs tending to.....fine for around the house, but what if you want to go for a long drive and stop off for a few hours? you'll have to replenish your ice or cooling media.....

easiest would be to just run good flowing interior fans and choose your paint and interior colors wisely.........even with my 911 being black on black with no A/C, the fans do a decent job in this 100° weather

[iamchappy]

You could fill a small oil cooler or tranny cooler with liquid hydrogen. or an aluminum pipe filled with dry ice placed in the blower hoses.

[SpecialK]

You could fill a small oil cooler or tranny cooler with liquid hydrogen.....

I can see it now....

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/driving.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/blowup.gif)

(IMG:style_emoticons/default/wink.gif)

[Andyrew]

Mike I used ice packs in my cooler for 4 hours, they were nice and cool still. Then I had another cooler full of ice packs, I took the packs out at 8am. At 1030 while me and my friend were waiting for the tow truck, we were heating up.. so we used them to cool down.. Amazingly they were too almost to cold.

These are medical ice blocks though.. for shipping medicine in (my mom gets it for her MS every 2 weeks.. We had 16 of em.. probably 10 now, gave some away at the bbq for the hot drivers)


Chappy, My friend thought about the dry ice as well.. But it evaporates extremely quick.. and its byproduct is co2.... Not to friendly for lungs.

I think my main problem here is not getting enough fan power.. I think my electrical is shot.. I'll hot wire in the system and see if it makes any difference. If so, I'll take a thermostat and record before/after while driving, Noticable differences, Ice vs Ice packs. Total time of usage, Oil cooler with ice (just happen to have an old one..) ect.

Andrew


For anyone looking for an a/c... This DOES work. I had my battery charger hooked up to it, and it blew cold air at me, for however long I had it on. My troubles are just mine... This system CAN work.. It wont be as good as A/C. But if you need something for under 50 bucks... and you have to have some a/c... this is an option.