Do-it-Yourself Air Conditioning

Do-it-Yourself Air Conditioning FARM HOME Miscellaneous 12-2-31 "It cools down our whole house better than a conventional central air conditioning system," says Ruth Stuber, Redcliff, Alberta. She and her husband Steve put a car radiator from a junked car in the ductwork of their forced air furnace. They run ice cold water to die radiator from their well and use the furnace fan to blow air through the cool radiator and into the house. Water feeds into the bottom of the radiatorat a trickle and out the top. A hose carries the drainage to the yard where Ruth uses it to water the grass. "Our relatives from town, who have central air, can't believe how it cools the house. It also doesn't dry out the air the way other air conditioners do. The best thing is that it costs virtually nothing to run. Only the power required to run the furnace fan and the well pump. We hardly notice the change on our power bill," says Ruth. She says they used a small radiator from a foreign car because it was the only size small enough to fit inside the fan housing at the furnace. When winter comes around again, they just pull it out. No permanent modification is required.

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