Smittolis
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Mar 2, 2017
Ok so write up #2 of the day....
This one may be a little overkill for some, I can understand that, however, being from the PNW anything we can do to make our children more comfortable and stave off the crankiness I am all for it! One of our first trips we used the usually hand held fans that push about as much air as blowing a kiss! We then moved to the ubiquitous stroller fans that clip on and have foam blades. We found they were too weak and chewed through batteries! I wanted to find something that would help keep them cool in the heat without being a huge burden.
I took my inspiration from the plethora of 'redneck' AC units you can view on youtube, but I wanted to find a fan that was battery powered, would last long enough and would push enough air to be effective. I went through a number of fans that ranged in price, but they were all too weak to push the air I wanted to be effective. I took a gamble on a fan that was lithium powered and it shifts a huge amount of air for its size and lasts for hours. Bonus is that I can run it and charge it from an external USB power pack.
Here is my Frankenstein creation:
The concept is simple, you fill the cooler with Ice, fit the fan and its insulated holder in the mouth of the cooler, the fan blows air into the cooler and through / around the ice, the pressure in the cooler builds and then exits through 2 holes in the upper half of the cooler. 2 tubes then direct this air into both of the seats of the stroller.....
I took an old Gallon Columbia cooler I had laying around as the basis of my unit, quite conveniently it had an interior 'lip' that would allow my to place some insulating board in it and prevent it from falling into it:
I then used some 'hobby insulating foam board' that you can purchase from Home Depot for $2, I made a template and cut out a circle that would fit just inside the cooler. Taking the fan i made a cut out for the fan just a little too small so the fan would be held snuggly by friction alone. While at home depot i found some flexible white tubing that would distribute the cold air. I drilled 2 holes into the side of the cooler using a circular drill bit, once again this was the same size as the interior diameter of the tube so it would be a snug fit.
I then wrapped the foam board insert (with the fan cut out) in insulation tape i had laying around from some other projects:
Here is the fan:
Here is the fan installed in the fan housing and placed into the cooler:
Filling the cooler up to just underneath the drilled holes puts a nice amount of ice in there. When the fan is placed on medium it can run for 4+hours and gives off a very decent amount of air flow, more than enough to get a moderate breeze through the tubes. In order to be efficient I would hang the cooler off the back of the stroller's handle bar, it was attached by 2 simple velcro straps. The tubes would then simply be placed into the top of the seat back area where the mesh lining is. This allows the air to be directed onto the head of the person sitting in it without having to permanently modify your stroller. I did some testing and the air temperature coming out of the ice cooler at the end tube was at least 10 degrees different than the ambient temperature. This differential obviously grows larger the hotter it is outside, when in direct sun in Florida in the parks it was an absolute godsend and our kids loved it. Putting it on high power gives a very nice air flow, but this will only last for a couple of hours continuous use. I would have a usb power pack in the stroller handlebar parent organizer to plug it into just in case. The ice would last for over 3 hours with the occasion top up from a cup of ice from vendors etc.. All the materials pack away into the cooler itself for easy storage and organization.
People would often ask what it was, I guess many people would assume it is some kind of breathing apparatus for one of our children, which it obviously is not! However, what it does do (and do very well) is provide a very nice cooling effect for children in the heat when there are just no other options. We used this a lot and I am already designing mark 2 with a number of improvements! I know its a little over kill, but as stated, a happy kid is a non whiney kid! lol And we absolutely love it!
This one may be a little overkill for some, I can understand that, however, being from the PNW anything we can do to make our children more comfortable and stave off the crankiness I am all for it! One of our first trips we used the usually hand held fans that push about as much air as blowing a kiss! We then moved to the ubiquitous stroller fans that clip on and have foam blades. We found they were too weak and chewed through batteries! I wanted to find something that would help keep them cool in the heat without being a huge burden.
I took my inspiration from the plethora of 'redneck' AC units you can view on youtube, but I wanted to find a fan that was battery powered, would last long enough and would push enough air to be effective. I went through a number of fans that ranged in price, but they were all too weak to push the air I wanted to be effective. I took a gamble on a fan that was lithium powered and it shifts a huge amount of air for its size and lasts for hours. Bonus is that I can run it and charge it from an external USB power pack.
Here is my Frankenstein creation:
The concept is simple, you fill the cooler with Ice, fit the fan and its insulated holder in the mouth of the cooler, the fan blows air into the cooler and through / around the ice, the pressure in the cooler builds and then exits through 2 holes in the upper half of the cooler. 2 tubes then direct this air into both of the seats of the stroller.....
I took an old Gallon Columbia cooler I had laying around as the basis of my unit, quite conveniently it had an interior 'lip' that would allow my to place some insulating board in it and prevent it from falling into it:
I then used some 'hobby insulating foam board' that you can purchase from Home Depot for $2, I made a template and cut out a circle that would fit just inside the cooler. Taking the fan i made a cut out for the fan just a little too small so the fan would be held snuggly by friction alone. While at home depot i found some flexible white tubing that would distribute the cold air. I drilled 2 holes into the side of the cooler using a circular drill bit, once again this was the same size as the interior diameter of the tube so it would be a snug fit.
I then wrapped the foam board insert (with the fan cut out) in insulation tape i had laying around from some other projects:
Here is the fan:
Here is the fan installed in the fan housing and placed into the cooler:
Filling the cooler up to just underneath the drilled holes puts a nice amount of ice in there. When the fan is placed on medium it can run for 4+hours and gives off a very decent amount of air flow, more than enough to get a moderate breeze through the tubes. In order to be efficient I would hang the cooler off the back of the stroller's handle bar, it was attached by 2 simple velcro straps. The tubes would then simply be placed into the top of the seat back area where the mesh lining is. This allows the air to be directed onto the head of the person sitting in it without having to permanently modify your stroller. I did some testing and the air temperature coming out of the ice cooler at the end tube was at least 10 degrees different than the ambient temperature. This differential obviously grows larger the hotter it is outside, when in direct sun in Florida in the parks it was an absolute godsend and our kids loved it. Putting it on high power gives a very nice air flow, but this will only last for a couple of hours continuous use. I would have a usb power pack in the stroller handlebar parent organizer to plug it into just in case. The ice would last for over 3 hours with the occasion top up from a cup of ice from vendors etc.. All the materials pack away into the cooler itself for easy storage and organization.
People would often ask what it was, I guess many people would assume it is some kind of breathing apparatus for one of our children, which it obviously is not! However, what it does do (and do very well) is provide a very nice cooling effect for children in the heat when there are just no other options. We used this a lot and I am already designing mark 2 with a number of improvements! I know its a little over kill, but as stated, a happy kid is a non whiney kid! lol And we absolutely love it!
