Will DIY Air Conditioners Really Keep You Cool This Summer?

Don’t feel like plunking down upwards of a few hundred bucks for a window unit air conditioner? No, of course you don’t; that was a silly question. At the same time, you probably don’t want to spend the next few months baking in the summer heat. You could McGyver one using ice and some stuff that’s sitting in your garage gathering dust, but will it make your life any more tolerable?

It’s a good thing our pals at Consumer Reports have a room where they can put some of these DIY air conditioners to the test. So they tested out two low-cost homemade units to see if they could be used to affordably replicate the effect you’d expect from a decent window air conditioner.

For the first test, CR fashioned a unit out of a plastic bucket and PVC pipe (and some ice and a cruddy little office desk fan):
They drilled some holes in the side of the bucket…

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