Homemade Room A/C

86 was bad enough, but 92?  Ugh!

Recently, our A/C went out.

Fixable, 
but it actually got up to 92 in the house.

Not fun.

C and I decided to put together this do-it-yourself air conditioning unit,
while we were waiting for our fantastic A/C guy 
to finish the big job,
just to see if it would work.
We had all of the components we needed.

This is what we came up with on our own.
It worked, but not as well as it could.
We needed to upgrade the model,
so we called in the big guns.
Big K.
He helped us tweak it so that it was even better.
He's like that... 
Featured here is our second prototype.

We used a styrofoam cooler (a friend gave us one they weren't using),
a 12-volt fan (so it can run on a battery),
a pencil, marker, box cutter or sharp knife, caulk (optional), a hack saw,
and pvc pipe.

The diameter of the pipe was traced onto the cooler.

We cut out the holes using a box knife.
We made three holes on one side of the cooler.

We cut the pipe into 3 pieces, 
each measuring about 5 inches long.    

 Being the master crafter that he is,
Big K even sealed up the holes with caulk,
to keep the air from escaping.

We bought the fan online,
and cut a hole on top of the cooler to fit.

Big K wired it so that it can be run off of a battery
that we had from one of C's ride-on vehicles
when he was younger. 

We filled a plastic gallon-sized jug with water
and froze it for a couple of days.
This will provide the unit with lots of cold air inside the cooler.
You can also just add ice, or ice packs if that's all you have.
 For less than 20 bucks,
it does the trick.
It can be used with a standard plug for indoors.
It can be used in a car if you have the right plug on it.
You can even make it solar powered,
if you want to spend the extra money on a panel.

I'm planning on taking it to my next craft venue,
so that I can be more comfortable selling my daisy totes.
We're gonna make another one for a friend 
who has a hot spot in her house.

Thankfully, our A/C got fixed the same day
and we are comfortably enjoying the summer
from inside our cozy home.
  For a little sweat equity,
we've got a handy portable A/C unit that can be used anywhere.

Good ole' American ingenuity does it every time.

***Update:  I did take it to one of my outdoor venues,
and it worked remarkably well.
It kept me comfortable for a solid 2 hours.