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May 24, 2023

11 DIY Air Conditioners for Staying Cool This Summer

Is your air conditioner broken? Try these DIY air conditioners to keep you cool

Is your air conditioner broken? Try these DIY air conditioners to keep you cool this summer in the oppressive heat.

You're melting and you need to cool down. Aircon is on the blink, or you don't have any, and there's no way to deal with this ridiculous heat.

So, what can you do? The solution is simple: build your own air conditioner! Sound too complicated?

These DIY air conditioner projects demonstrate how easy it is to cool down your home and beat the heatwave.

Most DIY aircon projects begin with a fan and some ice. Rather than blowing air around a room, the fan blows cool air.

Here, the ice is on a tray, in the form of cubes from your freezer. The fan is angled down slightly and the air is cooled as it passes over the ice. But how well does this work?

Having tried this myself, it works, but has a few flaws. For example, the ice cubes melt far quicker than a larger ice block. Also, a faster fan gives better results than a slower one.

This is a home-made aircon that anyone can make. It's a good way to get started, but there's considerable room for improvement.

In this alternative homemade aircon build, small soda bottles are strapped to the back of a fan using cable ties.

These bottles have been perforated with holes using a soldering iron, and hold the ice. Air is drawn through the bottles by the fan, cooled by the ice.

This is a great low-budget air conditioning solution that can be assembled in just a few minutes! If you don't already own a soldering iron, we have found some of the best soldering irons for beginners ideal for this task.

If you don't have any ice cube trays to make your own ice, try cool box ice blocks instead. Place them in a plastic net bag and attach this to the back of the fan with cable ties; just remember to place something underneath to catch any drips from the condensation.

If you're looking for something small and compact to keep you cool, this milk carton is perfect. It's another home-made air conditioner that uses ice, so make sure you have plenty on hand.

Featuring a computer fan and a 12V mains adapter, you'll need a hot glue gun and soldering iron to complete this build. The fan draws in air, pulls it over ice cubes placed in the carton, then out of the opening. This is a particularly smart build as milk cartons are designed to keep the product cool as long as possible.

Suitable for a desktop, you could also run a USB-powered fan from your computer or use a portable power bank instead of a 12V battery. Similarly, it's a good, compact AC solution for your car. If you do build it with a USB fan then you can easily plug it into your car with a USB car charger.

Working with the same basic components, this cool-box-based DIY air conditioner adds some drainpipe tubing as an outlet.

Here, two circles are cut into the lid of the cool box. One of these is big enough to fit the fan, which is placed face-down into the box. The other is for the outlet pipe. Finally, inside the cool box, which would normally store food or drink, is a big block of ice.

When switched on, the air is drawn in by the fan, cooled by the ice, and pushed out to chill your room!

A search of YouTube will reveal several variations on the previous project, including this slightly more attractive alternative.

Here, a Styrofoam ice chest is combined with a compact fan and two angled PVC pipe joints. Big enough to hold huge blocks of ice, this makeshift air conditioner will keep your room chilled during a heatwave.

Just remember to keep a bucket handy to empty it. Also, lifting the ice chest can risk structural issues that lead to cracking. Find the best position for all-round cooling and avoid moving it regularly to prevent leakage.

In some ways, this is a combination of the ice chest and cool box DIY aircon builds above.

Here, a compact fan is mounted face down into a bucket lid, alongside two short lengths of pipe. The pipes can be secured with hot glue, expanding foam, or even bathroom sealant.

This time, of course, the DIY air cooler is portable. Just lift the bucket's handle to transport it around. Be sure to keep it within reach of a power supply; alternatively, adapt it to run off a battery.

So far, we've only looked at projects requiring a fan and some ice. For a more authentic air-conditioned experience, however, you can adapt your fan with some 1/4-inch copper tubing.

Mounted on the front of the fan cage, a fountain pump drives water through the tubing. The water runs through vinyl tubing first, then into the copper tubing, and back to the pump. Ice bags placed against the vinyl tubes cool the water before it reaches the copper.

More complicated than the other projects, it seems this DIY homemade aircon could be as cool as it looks.

An alternative design that uses copper coil cooling is this DIY aircon unit with a cannon-shaped fan.

The copper coil is wound inside a large PVC pipe and then connected to plastic tubing. Once they are connected to a pump inside the cooler box, the pipes pump cold water around the system, with a fan blowing over the copper pipes to create cool air.

Inside the cooler is simply water, ice cubes, and the water pump. The fan sits on the outside and is not built into the cooler box. Consequently, it is simple to reposition and direct the air exactly where you want.

With a good selection of tools and a few inexpensive parts, the build takes about 90 minutes. If you live in a humid climate, this design is even better. Because the fan doesn't blow over ice or water, it doesn't add humidity to your room.

Eschewing the need for a fan, this build employs a pond pump and an evaporative cooler pad. Pinned to a wooden frame, it can potentially reduce the temperature indoors by over 20°F.

Evaporative cooling is the process by which the temperature is reduced via the evaporation of liquid. It's basically how sweating works, removing heat from the surface of the skin. The method is also used in industrial cooling systems, yet this DIY evaporative cooling project should cost under $100.

Admittedly, this is the most complex homemade cooler project listed here, and again requires a source of cool water.

Another project relying on the principle of evaporative cooling, this tiny 34-ounce container is turned into a homemade air conditioner.

Simply cut a hole in the lid, glue a discarded computer fan, and make ventilation holes. Three wet sponges stand inside the container, with the fan powered by 12V battery.

It's as simple as that: a small, inexpensive, evaporative air conditioner that is the perfect size for a small apartment. Because evaporative cooling adds humidity back into the air, it's ideal for dry climates.

Now for something completely different: a DIY AC setup with no ice OR cooler box! If you want to put computer parts to good use, this amazing project is for you.

Instead of ice, this small and portable AC system uses a Peltier-12706 thermoelectric cooler. This is a tiny, thin, electronic component usually found cooling computer CPUs.

Made from semiconductor material sandwiched between ceramic layers, you will need an aluminum heat sink to prevent burning.

Hot glue the parts in a PVC pipe with drilled ventilation holes, add a power supply, and you’re done. Using the same system used to cool a computer, you can cool your room too!

Hot weather makes it tough to do anything, other than lie around watching TV, reading, or topping up your tan. (Plenty of sunblocks, please, and only for short periods.)

A DIY air conditioner project should be enough to help you stay cool. While it might not work as a long-term solution, it's a smart stopgap when your air conditioner is down. If you live in areas where heatwaves are rare, a DIY aircon unit will also save you spending big bucks on cooling.

You should also try these additional ways to keep cool:

Meanwhile, if you're reading this guide because you feel your air conditioner isn't cooling well enough, be sure to check our post on common air conditioner mistakes to avoid.

Deputy Editor for Security, Linux, DIY, Programming, and Tech Explained, Christian has extensive experience in desktop and software support, and has been published in Computer Weekly, Linux Format, Tech Radar, ad ComputerActive.Christian also produces MakeUseOf's weekly show, the Really Useful Podcast.His current passions are his cigar box guitar, his retro gaming site (www.gamingretro.co.uk) and his family.