this post was submitted on 23 Mar 2026
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Yeah I get what he is doing it just feels wonky - assuming you already have enough panels to charge your batteries overnight -and- run a/c during the day, this design is advantageous how? Instead of using the infrastructure you already own (batteries + a/c) you need to build a large water freezing receptical and machinery to do the freezing and an electric fan system to bring warm air from the home over/around the radiator attached to the ice? It seems less tech and more redneck swamp cooler with more bits to me, I dunno.
I think youre misunderstanding one thing, which is that the ice is a replacement for batteries. While the system had a small battery for running a small pump and fan, its a small cheap one that doesn't store much and the water has substantially more energy, equivalent to something like a large lithium battery.
The thermal battery is also far smaller, cheaper, and more robust than a lithium battery and it won't deteriorate with repeated cycling. The obvious trade off is that in this case it can only be used for refrigeration and only down to 0C. So while its very niche, it is quite effective for home air conditioning.
No, I understood that.
The repeated cycling thing is the only advantage I see to this, the ice block will not be smaller than a normal battery array.
Is it?
92kWh/m^3 of energy is a lot of cooling. It'd be hard to not be effective.
source: https://commons.erau.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3263&context=publication#%3A%7E%3Atext=These+blocks+of+ice+would%2Cone-ton+block+of+ice.
So a block of ice about the size and weight of a car to cool one house... I'm really just not following how any of this is worthy of attention?
This you?
Because 32 cubic ft is about the volume of most residential AC units.
lol is that the size of your dwelling? That size (4 ft × 4 ft × 2 ft) get's you 12k btus which is not enough for any house lol.
He goes into the storage being theoretically better with water vs batteries as a possible advantage.
But if I were serous about solar and air conditioning, I would go with a solar powered mini split. Ive heard good things about them and they seem to work.
I installed a minisplit in my RV and it is partially powered by solar when I am off grid. Works very well!
Ha nice!