How can I improvise some air conditioning for a couple of days ?

May 29

The central Air Conditioning in my apartment is getting repaired and won't be working for 4 or 5 days.
I want to improvise something. Maybe taking a fan and pointing it a a bag of ice. Heck.. I don't know… Any tips ?

use the principle of evaporation. Depending on the humidity, it can work wonders. Lightly soak and wring out a sheet before bed, and have a fan blow across you. You will be comfortable enough to get to sleep. Some people get a large amount of ice, put it in a shallow pan, and have a fan blow over it. Another is to fill an ice chest with 70% ice and 30% water, take a hand towels, soak and wring out, then place over head and breathe the cold air. Do it once more but this time leave on your wrists for a couple of minutes. As for a whole house fix, there is no other DIY method I know of. The ice cold towel on the head is really amazing relief even though temporary.

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5 Responses to “How can I improvise some air conditioning for a couple of days ?”

Genny, on May 29th, 2009 at 9:17 pm Said:

The fan will be enough!
References :
Ear GW, on May 29th, 2009 at 9:32 pm Said:

It is possible with a little hardware

http://www.eng.uwaterloo.ca/%7Egmilburn/ac/anon_ac.html

The other answers I see here don't address humidity. This setup will actually do the work of real A/C if you are mechanically inclined.
References :
garyomega, on May 29th, 2009 at 10:14 pm Said:

use the principle of evaporation. Depending on the humidity, it can work wonders. Lightly soak and wring out a sheet before bed, and have a fan blow across you. You will be comfortable enough to get to sleep. Some people get a large amount of ice, put it in a shallow pan, and have a fan blow over it. Another is to fill an ice chest with 70% ice and 30% water, take a hand towels, soak and wring out, then place over head and breathe the cold air. Do it once more but this time leave on your wrists for a couple of minutes. As for a whole house fix, there is no other DIY method I know of. The ice cold towel on the head is really amazing relief even though temporary.
References :
old desert rat
cheezy, on May 29th, 2009 at 10:52 pm Said:

friends of mine live in a trailer with no a/c–they hung bags of ice behind the fan (put a pan below it to catch any drippings) they found these ice cube bags that were like tubes & twist tied them on to the fan
References :
cahyegirl, on May 29th, 2009 at 11:12 pm Said:

You actually had the answer yourself - get a big block of ice and put a fan behind it. That's how a lot of people living in apartments in NYC before ac did it. Just make sure you have something under the ice.
References :

Air Conditioning 2.0