How To Make A Floor Fan Blow Colder Air

The movement of air across your skin helps remove body heat and creates a cool feeling. This is how the body exchanges heat. Much like a fan blowing across a series of cool coils in a chilled water air conditioning system, a fan with an air cooler can help decrease the temperature of the moving air. These tips to stay cool can create a more comfortable atmosphere while saving energy.

Placing ice in front of a blowing fan can help decrease the temperature of the air. An ice fan cooler is a quick way to keep you cool on a hot day. It is appropriate for use in an immediate area and will not work well for cooling a large space.

1. Position a fan within a few feet of where you want to be. Closer is better.
2. Either fill a large bowl with ice or fill 2-liter bottles with water and freeze them.
3. Place a towel in front of the fan.
4. Place either the bottles or the bowl of ice on the towel. The towel will absorb any condensation that builds up on the frozen water vessel. You can use a serving tray to collect the condensation as well.
5. Turn the fan to a setting that is comfortable.

More widely used in the commercial industry is a fan blowing across a series of cooling coils. In a commercial application, there will be a chilled water system that circulates chilled water through a series of coils. This is also used in some larger residential applications, but a chilled water system is very expensive. The same system principle can be applied to a quick DIY hack using some inexpensive, common items.

1. Use a screwdriver or other means to remove the front grille of a large fan.
2. Using tie wraps, strap copper tubing to the front grille, covering the entire grille as well as possible. Leave about a foot on both ends of the tubing to make the connection to the vinyl tubing. Be sure it's not so tight that it restricts airflow.
3. However you removed the front grille, reinstall it by reversing the process.
4. Slip vinyl tubing over the ends of the copper tubing and secure it with hose clamps.
5. Attach the other end of the vinyl tubing to a fountain pump.
6. Tie-wrap both ends of the vinyl tubing and the power cord together. Be sure to leave a few inches between the two tubing ends, one being the supply and the other being the return. The return should fall higher than the pump.
7. Place a pump assembly in a cooler. (The better the cooler, the longer the ice will last.)
8. Add the ice and fill the cooler about a third full of water.
9. Plug in the pump and the fan.
10. Watch the water flow through the vinyl tubing.
11. Once both ends of the tubing are full and the water is circulating, turn the fan to the desired setting. You may want to use a towel or something else to catch condensation that may build up on the coils.

Whichever DIY project you choose, you will be more comfortable while using fans to cool a room.