I had a small refrigerator that used an electric heating element to expand the freon, without the use of a pump or any other moving part and it worked quite well, it even made ice. With all the excess heat of a car engine going to waste, why couldn't a similar setup be used in cars for the air conditioning, making it as free as the heater is in winter?

That is an Absorption refrigerator; https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absorption_refrigerator

 

I can't right now see why it wouldn't work. I must do more reading. hoola, weren't you trying to get most of your home off the grid? They say this works with solar too.

 

 

 

OK, found more info; https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/55/Einstein_Refrigerator_pat1781541_clarified.jpg

 

 

I can hear the slogan now: " What could be more c-o-o-l than an Einstein?"

Edited December 27, 20159 yr by arc

Hi arc, yes I am slowly getting off the grid, but plan on keeping the meter hooked up so when my batteries run low, a relay kicks in the utility company power to keep them up. I asked 2 years ago to get a grid-tie meter put in but the local utility made sure I wouldn't, as they quickly wrote up new regulations with 5 pages of stuff I had to do, including buying a $100K insurance policy if my electricity could be shown to have hurt anyone or their property on the town's grid...(!)....I imagine I could fight it with a threatening letter from a lawyer (you'd be surprised how often that simple tactic works), but I won't. I will proceed with a home system that can handle most of the house load. I already have the garage self-sufficient, so I am making progress. I have had the air conditioning idea for years....why can't the huge amount of heat coming off the exhaust maniford work.?..the thing practically glows in the dark! I haven't researched it yet, but I suspect that the absorption type refrigerants are toxic, unlike conventional freon, and it's a liability thing, especially with a car accident.