I’ve searched around and mostly seen people create custom radiator builds attached to their water supply, but that’s beyond my skill level and I’m not sure if linking it directly to the water supply via piping would violate the lease or not. Are there any solutions a bit more DIY that I could take advantage of?
Almost no matter how you do it, it’s going to be a horrible waste of good drinking water to try to extract cooling from the temperature of the water. If you are in a dry climate, make a DIY swamp cooler. Otherwise shell out for a small AC unit.
Also; using your free lease-included water for stuff like that, is probably the quickest way to no longer have water included in your lease…
So if
- Using water this way is a waste of water
- Using water this way will end the policy that permits this use case
Does that mean the fastest way to end the waste is to go ahead with this plan?
Only if that was your sole use of said water otherwise you’re just going to pay more for all the water you’d normally use.
we’re literally on the precipice of water wars
Start a car detailing business. Use the water to wash the cars.
Use the money from new, low-overhead business to do anything you want.
If the actual problem is that you yourself are too hot, cool yourself instead. A trick I’ve picked up working in kitchens, where it’s very fucking hot indeed, is to wet your nape and forearms regularly. You can wear a wet hat too. Doesn’t really take advantage of the unlimited water but it gets you there.
Just get a window AC if you have the right type of windows. Otherwise, a dual hose portable heat pump from costco or other reputable source.
Gut an AC from the dump. Replace the condenser with a tube in tube heat exchanger, using your cold water as a heat sink. Brazed plate HX if you’re feeling rich. Replace the cap tube with a TXV for better load tracking. Recharge with R290.
T Sure this is even further beyond your skill level but is the best possible way to use a source of cold to chill your apartment. You can locate it anywhere convenient, not just by the window. You could likely get a COP over 5 and be discharging the water in a fairly modest stream at around 30-40C.
- Find a pair of vehicle radiators that are as close to a box fan in size as possible.
- Zip tie them to either side of the box fan. As the fan blows: it will draw air in through the “second radiator” and blow it out through the “first radiator”.
- Hook the out of the first radiator to the in of the second using flexible hoses. Cheap garden hoses might even fit.
- Hook other hoses to the in of the first radiator and the out of the second.
- Run water on through the first radiator, out of the second. This makes the most efficient heat transfer possible.
This is exactly what I was going to suggest. Use the water to cool the radiators, and use fans to push hot air through the cool radiators, cooling the air in the process.
This is basically what AC does on a much larger scale. It uses refrigerants, a compressor, and some basic physics to cool the radiators, but it’s still the same basic concept.
I don’t think a box fan could cool one entire 20x20in automotive radiator, let alone two.
fan -> plenum -> radiator would probably work best. The plenum only needs to be a few inches long, it’s just to direct the entire square of the fan over the entire square of the radiator. Cardboard and caulk would work.
It’s a low efficiency heat exchanger.
A swamp cooler would potentially be a solution; those could be used in conjunction with your ready access to water in order to keep your home cool! Sadly, this is not great for areas of the world which already have high levels of humidity in the air. I don’t know if it would work well for you based on not knowing your climate. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Evaporative_cooler
Swamp coolers only really work if humidity is low. If it’s already humid then any drop in temperature is negated by the increased humidity.
Honestly I get the most “cooling” by putting a dehumidifier in front of my fan. Dry air will feel a lot cooler than super humid air.
Dry air will allow more sweat to evaporate, providing the cooling effect right on your skin instead of in the air you blast at yourself. It’s basically the better swamp cooler.
Is there a reason why you can’t get an air conditioner? There’s tons of valid reasons why it wouldn’t be an option, I’m just wondering what your situation is. Because nothing is ever gonna work anywhere close to as good as an air conditioner. If you can afford even the smallest air conditioner then it’ll beat every single diy method in most situations
I don’t know how big your apartment is but why not a window unit. It’s probably the most efficient way to cook your apartment down short of redesigning the building.
These are very expensive to run. They can add upwards of $200 to your electric bill.
It’s either that or maintain a swamp cooler that won’t work on humid days and can cause respiratory infection if not cleaned properly. A renters options are very limited and a window unit is a pretty good compromise if you don’t want to loose a deposit.
If you want to sit in a sweltering room during a 100° day, no one is stopping you. I’ve heard it’s a pretty typical thing for Europeans anyway. I’m not judging, the guy wants to cool the room down.
OP would probably be better suited with a portable AC. Most apartments I know of ban window units because they can fall and hit people if not installed properly.
When getting a portable AC, get one with two hoses as they’re much more efficient since they aren’t blowing cooled air outside (and sucking hot air in from every gap in the exterior walls.
Yeah, whatever is reasonable and within the terms of your lease is usually the best bet.
Depends on your electricity rates. Ours is around $0.12/KWh and doesn’t even cost 1/4 of that.
Depends on the area too. I live in Texas and can tell you from my personal experience that at .14/kw it increased my bill by about $200
Maybe you have a bad AC. I’ve been running ours nearly daily and our electricity bill has gone from $120 to $140
Wouldn’t be too difficult to jerryrig a system which does that but because it’s going to be a huge waste of water I feel morally obligated to not even give you any ideas. Invest in a split AC system instead. They make ones for windows as well.
AC is worse for the climate than wasting water
Ehhhhhhh
Is it though?
Depending on where you live yeah
Youre not necessarily wasting any water. Any water that goes down the drain just gets filtered and recirculated. Even if it wasn’t filtered and made it directly to the river, evaporation would still ensure it returns to the cycle.
Not as far as the efficiency of filtering water vs an AC… well. You’ll need someone significantly smarter than I to tell you that
By your definition “wasting water” is impossible, since it all stays on Earth and will get filtered eventually.
That was what I was going for :p. Had hoped an engineer might come in and tell us the efficiency of either or both.
The wasting of water refers to water that is available for use by people. Water that’s been treated and is ready to go.
Take a cold bath?
Depending on you humidity, you could look into building a swamp-cooler. Sounds weird but works pretty great.
Why not buy a portable AC?
