As an alternative to purchasing an air conditioner....?

Question

I think i'll just use a shallow bowl of ice under a fan. Good enough for me, but if I add salt and some water to that bowl of ice, will it cool the air even more than just that plain bowl of ice?

Thanks,
Sweating in seattle

It only gets hot here every now and then. Sometimes I'm just too hot for an hour or two before it gets cooler in the evening.

Answer 1

Sorry but this is a really bad idea. Your fridge used a lot of energy to make that ice. You are using the same amount of energy just in a different form.

You are also doing nothing to remove heat from your room. The condenser coil on the fridge is cooled with the air in your house. All the heat that the fridge removes from the water to make ice just gets dumped into the house.

An A/C actually removes the heat from the room and dumps it outside. If you want to make a standard room A/C more efficient dribble some water over the condenser coil. Water removes heat better than air.

Answer 2

A good air circulating fan (more powerful than a regular fan) and strategically opened windows to take advantage of the cool shady sides of the house work wonders. Keeps my house cool in the mornings and I live in Ok, where 95 is cool. Of course, once it hits midday we turn on the AC

Answer 3

Well.... it will cool the air for a bit. Then the ice will melt and you will increase the humidity and make the room hotter.

Answer 4

Find yourself a light weight curtain and hang it over as many window and doors as you can. Now take them and soak them in water and rehang them wet..they will leave a mess but any wind that passes through them will be quite a few degrees cooler.

Answer 5

Salt lowers the freezing temperature...it doesn't make the ice colder.

Answer 6

back when we didnt have ac i would put the pan with ice in it and a small fan blowing on my face when i slept.. i was happy with it