Dear readers, who have to spend the hot summer days in an attic apartment: I suffer with you.
At least mentally, because I always lived in attic apartments for years. But even now it's no better for me because all the windows in my apartment face south, so I can't even ventilate well. Excellent. Air conditioning would be a nice thing, right? If only they weren't so expensive! But this video comes at just the right time: Simply make an air conditioning system yourself... class! Or is the DIY video just hot air?

The video

The video on Facebook shows how you can supposedly build your own air conditioner with just 4 items: a chair, a wet towel, a bowl of water and a fan.

First you should place the wet towel completely over the chair, hang the lower end of the towel in the bowl of water, turn on the fan and point it towards the chair.

The explanation in the video: The wind from the fan on the wet towel on the chair creates evaporative cooling, which cools down the room. Apparently the room temperature dropped by a whole 6 degrees during the test!

A real air conditioner? No!

The video is right on at least one point: the method described actually creates a pleasantly cool air flow... as long as you are behind the chair, because the room temperature is only reduced extremely minimally.

The method of using water evaporation to create a cooler draft is not new: air coolers with water, also known as air coolers, are already available in mini format for the desk and in large format for the office.

MIMIKAMA
Air coolers large and small

These work on the same principle: a tank inside the devices is filled with water, the fans blow over the water, and the cool, evaporated air escapes to the outside.

However, the DIY “air conditioning” and the devices only produce a noticeably cooler draft (compared to a normal fan), but the room temperature is only reduced extremely marginally!

In the practical test, my thermometer actually showed a significant drop in temperature... but only when I placed it directly in the draft! However, the room temperature didn't change at all. However, the humidity increased enormously.

Within an hour, the humidity rose from 55 percent to 65 percent. The result: When I wasn't in the cool draft, I had an unpleasantly tropical climate in the room. If such a device is used continuously, mold could even form.

Conclusion

Such air coolers, whether purchased or homemade, are not air conditioners, even if the advertising for some devices (for example the device on the far left in the screenshot above) falsely promises this. Due to the higher humidity that inevitably arises, it is also important to ventilate the room extensively (preferably at night) during use so that no mold can form.

In order to create a pleasant draft that is noticeably cooler than a fan, the air cooler and the self-assembly can definitely be used. Unfortunately, they do not replace a proper air conditioning system.

Further sources on the topic: SWR , Stern

Also interesting:

For many energy saving measures you first have to invest money.
Many people can no longer afford that. But with these easy-to-implement tips you can make a difference. – Fact check: This is how you can save energy


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Notes:
1) This content reflects the current state of affairs at the time of publication. The reproduction of individual images, screenshots, embeds or video sequences serves to discuss the topic. 2) Individual contributions were created through the use of machine assistance and were carefully checked by the Mimikama editorial team before publication. ( Reason )