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Free Air Conditioning

by Vyger on August 16, 2007 Table of Contents License: Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike (by-nc-sa) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Intro: Free Air Conditioning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . step 1: check your water temp . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . step 2: materials . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . step 3: Tools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . step 4: reinforce it (tie it together) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . step 5: Connect to the water supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . step 6: Turn on the water . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . step 7: Answers to questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Related Instructables . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Advertisements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Comments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2 2 2 3 3 4 4 5 5 6 6 6

http://www.instructables.com/id/Free-Air-Conditioning/

License: Attribution Non-commercial Share Alike (by-nc-sa) Intro: Free Air Conditioning
Technically it should be called a heat exchanger, we lovingly call it the water cooler, but it has been providing us with free cold air for more than 20 years now so it definitely does work. Shortly after moving here (Montana) I noticed that the water from our well is really cold, under 50 degrees. I built this heat exchanger to take advantage of that cold source for use in the house in the summer and as a byproduct it heats up the water going to the garden a bit before it goes on the plants since the plants didn't seem to care to much for the super cold water. Good benefits all the way around and since I would be pumping the water to water outside anyway the only actual cost is the power to run the box fan that moves the air through the copper piping. How well does it work? We hit a high temperature in July of 112F, hottest that I can remember. The temperature inside was 76F with the cooler running all the time. I almost didn't want to go out to move the sprinkler. The disadvantages? Well, you have to move the sprinkler a lot, but it does keep the grass green. Also if the humidity gets high, water will condense on the exchanger the same as on a glass of cold water. So I keep towels underneath it to soak up the moisture. If it gets really muggy I have to change the towels several times a day. I just hang the wet set outside in the heat to dry and rotate the dry ones back under the cooler. It will take some skill to put it together but once done it is maintenance free, except for the time I left it outside before putting it away for the winter and it froze some leftover water in a pipe and broke it. Make sure to get the water out of it and store it where its above freezing. Another disadvantage, it isn't pretty, but it is unique and truly "green".

step 1: check your water temp

For this to work at all you need to have cold incoming water. The colder the better. Get a standard waterproof thermometer and run your outside water for a while and find out what temp it is. This probably will not work in places where you have a municipal water supply unless its from a cold source. Also you need to have enough ground to water so you don't water log your garden and lawn. It will probably work best in rural areas. With the fan turned off and the water running outside the temp of my copper pipe is 48F (Infrared non contact thermometer reading)

http://www.instructables.com/id/Free-Air-Conditioning/

step 2: materials
For my heat exchanger I used copper pipe with aluminum fins. This is the same stuff that is used for hot water baseboard heating systems. I got mine a long time ago so I don't know if the same stuff is still around but there should be something similar on the market. In addition I got mine for free. I found it in a pile at the local landfill apparently discarded by a contractor as scraps from a heating job. (I used to get all my firewood at the landfill from trees people in town cut down, that has all since changed with all the new laws. Now I am not allowed to remove wood from the landfill, instead they bury it, go figure.) I doubt that they throw anything like this away today with recycle prices so high but you should check with a local contractor to see if he has anything. He probably would rather sell it to you cheap instead of hassling with recycling it. If you can't get scraps then you will need to by new. To fit a standard box fan the sections need to be about 21 inches long. Stacked one on top of the other it took 7 pieces to reach the top of the fan. This will vary if your fins are smaller. You will also need elbows to connect the sections together and lots of little pipe pieces. Scrap works great here too rather than cutting up a full length of pipe. Originally I started with one layer of pipe but after seeing how good it worked I added 2 more so mine has 3 layers of heat fins. This seams to be a good number. Anymore and it would get difficult to move around and would take up to much room. Any less and the air doesn't get enough contact to cool down enough. Finish the ends with fittings that can connect to a hose. You can use the special connecting hoses for washing machines but I just cut up sections from a regular garden hose. The bigger the diameter of the hose the better, you will restrict the water flow to the outside if you use small hoses and pipes. All of this hardware is available at any local hardware store. Shop around for the best prices. I used 42 elbows to put mine together.

step 3: Tools
Not much is need in the way of tools. A pipe cutter is essential, Measuring tape and marker, Flux and solid core solder and rags to wipe off the pipes. The pliers are for holding the pipe as you solder, the sections are short so the whole thing gets really hot. You should also have some fine sandpaper or emery cloth to sand the fittings. It helps the solder to hold better. If you haven't done soldering before this will be great practice. Remember, do it outside or in a garage with lots of ventilation. Give yourself lots of space and watch for anything combustible. If you drop the torch make sure its not going to set anything on fire. Simple things for sure but people actually do manage to set things on fire a lot. Make sure the solder fills the joints completely. If you take your time and do it right you will have no leaks when you finish. Remember, hot liquid metal runs downhill and does drip. Don't hold it in your lap. Assemble the sections separately then solder then sections together after they are finished. Make sure that the connectors for the hose are on the bottom, if you use 3 layers you will have to run a pipe from top to bottom to get both connectors on the bottom. You can see it in the picture of mine. One nice thing about using copper, if it doesn't fit right you can take apart the joints and do them over again.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Free-Air-Conditioning/

step 4: reinforce it (tie it together)

The soldered joints are not strong enough by themselves to hold this all together, especially after it is filled with water. I used plastic twine to tie mine all together because at the time that is what I had and it worked good. Today I would probably use nylon wire ties along with the twine. Just zip it all together. Whatever you use make sure that its tightly pulled together so the joints aren't stressed. It helps too to add some kind of handle so you can pick it up easily. Notice in the picture the hose connector on the bottom and the long pipe to change from the top to the bottom. One step I forgot to mention, PRESSURE TEST IT for leaks outside before you bring it into the house. Run water through it until all the air is out and then leave it sit under pressure and check for any wet spots.

step 5: Connect to the water supply

I added a feeder pipe coming off my pressure tank and piped it under the house directly to a connecting box in the floor. I added valves, one on the incoming and one on the outgoing and a bypass valve. Then continued the feed pipe to the outside. Yes, if someone were to turn the valve on without the cooler attached it would spray water all over. But nobody ever has so far. The only time I ever had a leak was when I tried using snap on hose connectors. They are convenient but they leak. So they work great outside but don't use them for this application. I should have used ball valves for the connectors, they restrict the water flow less and are faster to turn on and off. I may swap out the ones I have now to ball valves in the future.

http://www.instructables.com/id/Free-Air-Conditioning/

step 6: Turn on the water

Place towels under the exchanger, check the hoses, turn on the water. You can hear the gurgling as the air moves through the pipes. Turn the sprinkler on outside. Turn the fan on behind the exchanger and thats pretty much it. Free Cold air. Depending on what you can find, the initial parts could cost you a bit, especially since copper has gone up in price. And it is a bit labor intensive to put it all together. But once done its maintenance free unless it springs a leak. And its totally green, using cold that would normally just go to wast. Ours works so good that it sometimes gets too cold and we have to open a window. Other times when I need to water but don't need the cooling I have to put it on bypass. I have to admit that I did get an air conditioner though. Its at the opposite end of the house and I run it when the humidity gets really high. Its mostly just for dehumidifying. The water cooler does most of the cooling.

step 7: Answers to questions

Due to the number of comments I thought it best to add an extra page to address some of them and to answer some of the questions and clarify a few things. In regards to using car radiators - although at first this appears to be a good idea I would not recommend it for many reasons, some are as follows: First - you would find it very difficult to connect up the water lines in a way that would hold the pressure. You would need to find adapters to somehow go from radiator size hoses down to regular water pipes. Even though it might be possible to do so, it is highly likely that you would end up with leaks. Second - High water pressure would probably cause leaks. Car cooling systems are designed for relatively low PSI. Radiator caps are designed to open and vent at about 12 to 15 PSI if I remember correctly. Your normal house water supply runs between 30 and 70 PSI. My pump is set to cycle between 30 and 50 PSI (30 on, 50 off). This kind of pressure would likely rupture a radiator or cause the cap to pop open and vent. So, while you are outside moving the sprinkler and you turn off the water, inside a fountain erupts in the living room. Not so fun. That's why I used standard water pipes - they are designed specifically to hold the higher pressure. Third - Many older radiators leak to begin with. In order to keep them in service, many are plugged up with stop leak. But as soon as you start running lots of fresh water through them all of the stop leak and other assorted crud will be flushed out and they will probably end up leaking. And there goes your fountain again. Fourth - Radiators are going to be difficult to get clean. Most of them are full of bug leftovers and oil and other assorted things from the engine compartment. Even if you do get them clean they will probably continue to put off a nasty smell. Fifth - The ability to use the outside water in a normal way, and by this I mean that you can turn off the water at the hose, run sprinklers or even wash your car without any fear of fountains in the living room, is something you probably could not achieve using radiators. With my cooler there is no need to just let the hose drain on the ground because it can be pressurized - it is not just a drain. In addition because it is made to hold the water pressure and not leak you can locate the cooler anywhere in the house where you need the cooling. I actually considered building a unit to fit into the heat ducts and use the furnace fan to drive the air through it so that it would become a whole house unit, but I decided that it was too much work and too complicated for my needs. Keep it simple and you will have fewer problems. If you are planning on using this for your garage or shop I could see using radiators. Water spills wouldn't be near the problem that they would be inside your house but I would not recommend using radiators for in-house use. Next - If you mount one in a window and pull in air from outside you will defeat part of the cooling effect. The outside air is far warmer and has much more heat in it than the inside air. By setting this up completely inside and circulating the air inside through it you get more cooling because the air going through it is already more moderate. Use outside air only if you need the ventilation. {{{ What would be really great is for some enterprising company to manufacture a specific unit for this purpose. A heat exchanger/radiator that is designed for the standard water pressure built into a plastic housing for catching the condensation and with a fan mounted inside. An all in one unit. Just attach the hoses and plug the fan in. But it's unlikely that anyone will because the market is not large enough. Of course, that being said, some Chinese company will probably market this in the future and totally screw me out of any share of the profits. }}} I did a Google search on the internet and there is baseboard heating pipe available, even some for salvage prices. Somebody in Texas had 200 feet that he had just taken out and didn't want to throw away because it was in like new shape. My cooler used about 40 feet of the pipe. So that's around the amount that you will need to make a similar unit. The water I use is directly from my pressure tank. It's untreated and is intended for outside watering. Our ground water here is pretty nasty. It's very alkali and has lots of rust in it. Just to be able to use it for the house I run it through a sediment filter, then a rust filter and finally a water softener which uses rust removing salt. And after all of that we still don't drink it. So the inside water and outside water are kept completely separate. I want to emphasize this ---- I don't waste the water by just dumping it on the ground. It is used for watering the garden, grass and trees. It hasn't rained here for 8 weeks now. With temperatures in the 80's and above everything dies if it's not watered. So the water is not being wasted. I try to keep a band of green around the house as a fire preventative. In 1999 we had a grass fire / fire storm sweep through the area and 3 neighbors houses burnt to the ground along with 4 out buildings/garages and the UPS shipping depot. Only the houses with green grass around them were spared. So having a green belt is a pretty good idea. So again I emphasize, I would be watering anyway, I am just taking advantage of something that would normally be thrown away. (The cooling properties of the water). Also this doesn't need tremendous amounts of water to work. Even at a trickle there is still a lot of heat absorbed by the water. "bricko" described this as a poor mans water source heat pump". He is pretty correct in that. Regular heat pumps don't work here because the winter air temperatures are too low, as much as 40 bellow zero and often 10 below for weeks at a time. So they developed what are called ground source heat pumps that both heat and cool

http://www.instructables.com/id/Free-Air-Conditioning/

using the ground for the moderate temperatures that a heat pump needs. My cooler is actually only half a system in that it's not for heating, but for cooling only. A full Ground Source Heat Pump system is very expensive and uses a lot of power year round. In addition the laws concerning them have changed recently. In Montana you are no longer allowed to return water back to the water table by using a well. There were too many instances of people contaminating the water table by returning dirty water to a well. So any new heat pump system has to be contained or sealed. You can run a fluid through underground heat exchangers but the inside fluid cannot come into direct contact with the ground water, thus it's a sealed loop system. I have avoided all of this by simply using the water for both watering plants and cooling the house. It's not sophisticated, there's no compressor, no thermostat, it's manually regulated, this is what makes it cheap and green. This is also in keeping with the whole concept of the going green contest. Yes there are more sophisticated systems available. But that's not the intent of the contest, at least as I understand it. (Or so I thought until I saw the contest results) I do have a plan for a wind powered/compressed air/water pump that I would love to adapt to this system and make a totally self contained system. But I have never had the funds to develop it or the kind of shop tools I would need to build it. Maybe someday----. Finally for those of you who have asked, I run the coldest water through the outermost layer so the air to leave hits the coldest water as it departs. The temperature drop between the incoming and outgoing water depends on the flow rate. Running full open the water temp only drops a few degrees. But running only one sprinkler and so reducing the flow, the temp difference can be as much as 15 degrees. The inlet hose will be wet with condensation but the out hose will be completely dry. Interestingly the fan speed doesn't appear to have to much affect on the difference in the water temp, but it does have an effect on the air temp. The lower the fan speed the colder the air coming out of the cooler. That's because the air spends a little longer moving over the fins and gets a chance to shed more heat. However the cold air doesn't circulate around as much because there isn't much air movement, so I usually run the fan on high or medium. Also in case anyone is wondering or interested, my well is around 70 feet deep with a submersible pump at the bottom and a pitiless connector about 10 feet down. Because our ground freezes down to 8 feet on occasions all underground pipes need to be at least that deep if not deeper to prevent them from freezing. So this is a sealed well, the top of the casing is closed to prevent any contamination from getting into it. Our water table is around 20 feet down so the pump is well below the table. This allows for it to draw down a lot before it starts sucking air.

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Comments
50 comments Add Comment view all 234 comments

MY says:

Jul 11, 2010. 10:48 AM REPLY I have a friend who built a similar system, but using "closed loop" design with a pipe dropped into the lake his property borders. I've heard about folks burying a pipe below the frost line and using soil to cool the circulated water, but I've not seen confirmation of the effectiveness of that design. Thanks for an excellent Instructable!

phvnbent says:

Jun 4, 2009. 8:07 AM REPLY Have you thought about running a return line to the well, a storage tank,hot water heater so you could run it withoout having to use any water elswhere ?

Jesster_King says:

Jul 11, 2010. 10:36 AM REPLY since he has a well, it kind of goes back to the well, minus what ever evaporates and gets absorbed by the plants he waters.

Steve Taylor says:

Jul 11, 2010. 10:28 AM REPLY If you had room in your bathroom and your Mom didn't wig-out this might make a good precooler (summer) from the inlet line to the toilet tank and keep the tank from sweating in the process. Or even a heat reclaimer (winter) from the shower drain's gray water, but you would likely need a prefilter to keep the radiator from clogging up.

medicationreqd says:

Dec 31, 2007. 12:45 PM REPLY If your wellhead is accessible, you could just run a hose back into the well. I'm sure the water temperature would still remain at 48.

cardoctor says:
That would be illegal in most states simply because of contamination risk

Dec 14, 2009. 6:12 AM REPLY

http://www.instructables.com/id/Free-Air-Conditioning/

Bad Maxx says:

Jul 11, 2010. 9:22 AM REPLY You are 100% correct on that one. I have yet to find a state that allows this at least without a permit. Some states (Idaho for one) allows water to be returned to some wells with a permit from the DNR. Water rules are quite strict and expect it to get much worse in the future here is a prime example: In Colorado Rain Barrels are illegal... Colorado Water Law requires that precipitation fall to the ground, run off and into the river of the watershed where it fell. Because rights to water are legally allocated in this state, an individual may not capture and use water to which he/she does not have a right. We must remember also that rain barrels dont help much in a drought because a drought by its very nature supplies little in the way of snow or rain. Strange thinking in my opinion. Jan 7, 2010. 11:54 AM REPLY My great grand-dad (I only know from the stories of my grand-dad) had a large "sisturn" (that's how granddad says it) behind his house that collected rain water. Basically it was a big deep hole that was dug and then concreted and he pumped this water out and ran it through some 30's filtering system and actually had indoor water at a time where most people still were drinking out of the river (at least in TN). If someone had the land and equipment needed to do it, you could build a deep "sisturn" and pump water into it, and cover it with concrete. then build another one close by. They could run the water from one to another, and once one was dry the other would be cool enough to use.

Funk_D says:

askjerry says:
It is actually spelled CISTERN.

Jan 7, 2010. 3:14 PM REPLY

They used them in many civil war fortresses... here is some more information and images: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cistern

Funk_D says:

Jan 8, 2010. 11:03 AM REPLY Oh! hahaha. I always assumed it was one of those words that older southern people make up; I never even thought to look it up!

WaltSellers says:

May 15, 2010. 7:25 PM REPLY I think the construction industry uses the term "grey water" with systems like that. I've seen some home-improvement TV shows where large plastic tanks were installed to catch rain-water for lawn watering or other non-drinking purposes.

wperry1 says:
If the first sistern were large enough you could just recirculate the water without the need for a second.

Jan 7, 2010. 12:59 PM REPLY

YotaTruck says:

Jul 21, 2009. 12:29 PM REPLY I'm not sure if that is legal in most areas. They allow you to take water out of the well, but not put it back in, for safety reasons. If somehow the water was polluted and then put back into the well, you and all of your neighbors could be poisoned. I think this is why "geothermal" systems use a separate well at a different depth.

Vyger says:

Jul 22, 2009. 9:17 AM REPLY The first geothermal systems used to do this, they were open systems and simply pulled the ground water out at one end and put it back in the other. However it is no longer legal in most places, unless you already have it in place. The concern is for introducing contaminates directly into the ground water, including bacteria. Well water from a good sealed well is almost bacteria free due to the filtering effect of the many feet of soil. Introducing anything back into the well almost guarantees the water will become contaminated. The systems they use now are closed loop. The internal water in the pipes never comes into contact with the ground water. It simply exchanges heat so in effect acts like a giant heat sink. If you cannot find constructive uses for the water such as watering a garden it would be possible to put in a dry well to return the water to the water table. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dry_well With these the soil filters out contaminates before the water gets back to the water table. It works like a septic drain field but for cleaner water. If at all possible its still better to use the water to grow more trees. And trees have a cooling effect all by themselves so you get double use of your water. Not to mention the carbon benefits.

ronmaggi says:
Yay trees!!!

Aug 18, 2009. 1:20 AM REPLY

Bonzoix says:

Jul 11, 2010. 8:31 AM REPLY For those without a well, couldn't we dig a field in the backyard to run lines through to recool the water to ground temp? Like a DIY geo-thermal A?C unit? Then we would need a pump or an impeller driven by the same motor as the fan... Love the instructable. Jul 10, 2010. 5:19 PM REPLY You talked about this being a green concept? It is not really green, because you use quite a bit of water from the well. The green part would be to conserve water. Your well pump uses a lot of power. You would be able to run 2-3 5,000 btu air conditioners for the same power consumption as your well pump uses. You created a breeding ground for mosquitoes and fungus that has could have serious health or death issues, both could be deadly.

shortw says:

bb789 says:
Why not just let the outflow return back to your wellsite? It will make its way back to return again.

Aug 25, 2007. 9:43 AM REPLY

http://www.instructables.com/id/Free-Air-Conditioning/

mmmmna says:

Sep 4, 2007. 6:34 PM REPLY Well, now the water is hotter from cooling off the room, so next time you draw it in, it isn't quite as cold..... and it has been through soldered connections (soldered copper pipes can leach lead into the water, as vyger points out). Letting the water feed the vegetation is not necessarily bad, unless there is a water shortage declared.... then you might get fined. I could address a lot of these issues, but ultimately, the idea, as presented, has its own merits. People that are creative can adapt this to whatever they want!

shortw says:

Jul 10, 2010. 4:35 PM REPLY When was the last time you bought leaded solder? It was outlawed more than 10 years ago. Also I see a mosquito and fungus breeding ground.

riverm88 says:

Aug 4, 2009. 5:40 PM REPLY Your ideas are good and when you mentioned that the lead in the solder would pollute the out going water returning to the well, I thought....why not use lead free solder. Your comment is well over a year old and someone probably has already suggested this by now, thanks for your interesting comments.

lil jon168 says:

my well water is near 32 degrees when it comes out of the faucet so this might work with me

Mar 26, 2009. 12:25 PM REPLY

jsummerlin says:

Mar 17, 2009. 11:01 PM REPLY There is lead free solder now. I would favor a closed system. There is also the risk of legionaries disease anytime there is standing water. I also know from growing up in Louisiana that units that sweat can make your house have a very high level of humidity and make all your closets grow a green fungus on all your leather apparel.

FooGlacticon says:
Er, units that sweat are *removing* water from the air, not contributing. It sounds like a drip pan would be ideal for this setup.

May 7, 2009. 1:15 PM REPLY

blodefood says:

Aug 25, 2009. 8:55 PM REPLY Drip pan indeed! The towels just keep the moisture in the room making it feel hotter. A drip pan full of water could be put in the washing machine, used to flush a toilet, water indoor plants or saved to wash hair. It would be free of minerals making hair soft.

bb789 says:

Sep 4, 2007. 7:59 PM REPLY I didn't think anyone still used lead solder for pipes. I use silver solder per code. By the time expended water goes through 20 ft of earth, it is cooled and filtered. I just scrapped a dehumidifier and saved the "radiator" and fan section. Feeding water into the 1/4 inch end and out of the 3/32 end and returns near our 80' deep artision well. sitting in the window, the unit Works fine.

static says:

Oct 13, 2007. 11:51 PM REPLY I have to be curious as to how you return water into your artesian well? Problem with thinking of an aquifer as a filter is that filter will eventually get full. Hard to tell if your referring any filtering affect to the lead content or not, but if you are, I doubt there would be any filter of lead

mmmmna says:

Oct 17, 2007. 6:20 AM REPLY Actually this filter has some interesting cleaning mechanisms in it: Biological organisms (bacteria, germs, protozoa, various worms) that consume what would contaminate some filters. No, not everything gets consumed by those cleaners... we still talk of lead in lead/tin solder that MAY have been used in portions of such a dissipator. Sadly, we never seem to worry about the various OTHER ores that we already mine from one continent, process into aluminum, iron, steel, etc., and then ship that material to another continent and let it decay into the ground on the new continent (prime example of minerals shipped to other continents: automobiles; applicances also factor in). Lead is a concern, for some obvious reasons, but is tin totally harmless when ingested for decades at 'weak' solution levels? For that matter, is Aluminum safe (hint: remember the alzheimers links to cookware, heatedly debated a decade ago)? Is Iron safe (think hemochromatosis)? We've focused on lead, but diffusing anyones mineral resources into thousands of groundwater aquifers is stupid thinking.

mmmmna says:

Sep 4, 2007. 8:05 PM REPLY Actually, I was combining multiple situations into one thought - used car radiators from a junkyard are likely to still be lead/tin soldered; and I still have the lead/tin solder on my tool bench, because I've never used it all up, just like other folks might still have lead/tin solder laying around.

shortw says:

Jul 10, 2010. 5:04 PM REPLY So to sum it all up... We use leaded solder. We do not return the water to the well because it is illegal, it may contaminate the water table with the lead. So we use it to water our garden. Now we may have created 3 problems. #1 When it rains the leaded contaminated run-off still can reach the water table. # 2 Your garden plants including vegetables absorb the lead and will be eaten by humans. #3 If your property is deemed to be health issue for a breeding ground for mosquitoes and fungus , it will be condemned.

bb789 says:

Sep 4, 2007. 8:11 PM REPLY Well mmmmmna, you are just going to have to break down and dump that old lead/tin stuff and spring for the good stuff. LOL

http://www.instructables.com/id/Free-Air-Conditioning/

Vyger says:

Aug 25, 2007. 1:24 PM REPLY I use the water for watering and returning water to th well after it has been removed is no longer legal. It can contaminate the well.

Scwounch says:

Aug 27, 2007. 7:01 AM REPLY Couldn't you use a radiator/exchanger inside the well and leave the loop closed? It would require a separate pump, but then you wouldn't use up so much well water.

toro1410 says:

Sep 23, 2007. 1:01 PM REPLY I wander how efficient would be a system with a water tank burried in the ground and used instead of a well to give off the heat and keep the system as a closed circulation system. How big the tank would have to be? Would its shape matter?

PCfreak says:

Jul 9, 2010. 10:22 AM REPLY here's a thought........ for some of us that have basements.... i was thinkin about puting 2-3 55 gal plastic barrels (like the ones used for rain barrels) build a stand, hook up the barrels to a pump and pump the water thourgh the "free AC" since some basements are much cooler Dec 14, 2009. 6:10 AM REPLY the best way would be to put a closed looped pipe or hose seme as the one carring the water to the house, you will neet a whole new water system, pump, lines, tank, pressure switch, plus your heat exchanger. this system is already in use by many home builders mostly to heat homes of course in areas where the underground is hot instead of cold but the principle is the same. good luck with your project.

cardoctor says:

Bad Maxx says:

Jul 11, 2010. 9:10 AM REPLY Where is it you think the ground is hot? (Here in the USA we do not have much for really warm earth) What you are referring to is called a GeoThermal Pump. Geothermal energy is extracted from the earth at an average temperature of 54 to 56F . Running a thermal loop to this consistent temperature is a method of both cooling and heating, Vyger's well is a bit on the cool side for heating and while a Geothermal set up is a big chunk of change, a retrofit Geothermal unit installation for cooling alone is going to be cost prohibitive. That is why it is homebuilders that are building them and very few retrofitted units are built. So for cooling alone, the remodel, "pump, lines, tank, pressure switch, plus your heat exchanger" it will be tough to justify

ronmaggi says:

Aug 18, 2009. 1:49 AM REPLY I have thought about the same thing. I would imagine the more surface area the better. It is tough to say how big the tank would have to be. If the goal is to cool the water to ground temperature, you really couldn't oversize it.

Jollyrgr says:

Jul 8, 2010. 10:53 PM REPLY The reason (at least in the midwest of the US) trees are not allowed to be transported is they may contain distructive insects. In fact they urge campers NOT to bring their own wood and buy locally.

leonthedruid says:
I put one of those in my air handler. I run water from my well through it.

Jul 8, 2010. 7:58 PM REPLY

forgetfulca says:

Jul 6, 2010. 1:02 PM REPLY I worked for my grandfather in his radiator shop as a teenager. (and probably have a ridiculous level of lead in me, but that's another story) It was about 30 feet high inside, and was ridiculously hot in the summer. One summer we got the idea to suspend a transport radiator above the wash-out tank, together with a warehouse fan & a steady trickle of water into the lower neck (which just went bank down the drain through a hose from the upper on.) So it's easy to use a radiator without extra fittings, you just control the flow w/ valve at the faucet. It was fantastic. Not only was the air in the shop about 5-8 C cooler, it was relatively dry. It was private well, but our nearest neighbour was about 1/4 away. Our water level was about 30-60 down, theirs was closer to 100. Also, I worked doing hvac during the summer while in college, and one house we were retro fitting literally had an artesian well in it's basement. ie, a small creek started at his house. So, we hooked up a low voltage pump that just ran water through a custom made evaporator in his furnace, and poof, free A/C. It wasn't nearly as fast as a fully mechanical rig, but the upside is that it could be left running 24/7. Jun 1, 2010. 1:22 PM REPLY Finally, someone with the same concept I have! With this design, I take it a little future. My well water also is about 51 degrees. I'm building an aluminum box with copper tubes with an inline thermometer for the well water. The well water will pump thru the tubes with a squirrel fan in front. With the water flow in the "OFF" position, the water will begin to drop as air passes through it. Once the thermometer reaches 60 degrees or higher, I will open a valve to allow water to flow BACK into the well. I haven't actually found out how to run a pipe back into the well bore but I was advices I could do so. In effect, I would not have to worry about water waste unless I needed to water the yard I guess. May 11, 2010. 10:47 AM REPLY This is awesome. You could take this to the next level by: a.) Gut an old, monstrous Window AC unit, put the OP's cooler inside, waterproof it, plumb drain lines, block-off the outside air inlet and set it in a North/south facting windows. b.) Run window fans upstairs to draw-out the hot-air c.) Set-up a DIY irrigation system to automate the watering process: http://www.instructables.com/id/Automated-Sprinkler-System-Anyone-Can-Do/ It wouldn't be a 2-ton central Geothermal cooling system(which costs $15K+) but would do the same job as a large window unit, which is all we had growing up. It's a real shame a residental geothermal heat-exchanger costs that much(the $15K is just for heat-exchanger, doesn't include your cooling source). I have

opc167 says:

goat6500 says:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Free-Air-Conditioning/

an ailing R-22 central AC system but also an unused 130 foot well with good flow and a 0.10 pond for waste heat. Perfect set-up for an open-loop verticle geothermal system but it make no sense to spend $15K when I can get a traditional R-410 system installed for $2K. Makes no economic sense.

sjoobbani says:

Mar 7, 2010. 4:11 PM REPLY This is simply amazing. What we are planning on doing is using a aquarium pump, and one of the many fridge/freezers we have ( 5) and use a water cooling basin in the freezer, and circulate the water thru that, and we are done :D

defiant1 says:

Mar 9, 2010. 8:32 PM REPLY Of course, it's no longer 'free' or efficient at that point. You'll be transferring the heat to the refrigerator that will have to run more proportionally.

sjoobbani says:
true, but when I'm already using the fridge, it adds a bit of a bonus.

Mar 14, 2010. 3:48 PM REPLY

biofueljunke says:

Aug 21, 2009. 9:18 PM REPLY if you ran hot water or steam it would be a heater too and cover all ur HVAC u cud make a wood boiler (or veg oil) and use the extra waste steam in a home built sauna

moosetooth says:
Downright elegant in its simplicity. In use 20 years? You are way ahead of the curve! Thanks for sharing this.

Aug 12, 2009. 10:03 PM REPLY

tundrawolf says:
That's cool, but how many amps does your well motor draw Vs. an actual air conditioner? Good idea though.

Aug 1, 2009. 7:59 PM REPLY

dominoe says:
coudnt you just used a flushed out car radiator and it would be lighter?

Jul 26, 2009. 2:15 AM REPLY

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http://www.instructables.com/id/Free-Air-Conditioning/