DIY Chiller

[F.H.Chan]

Hello Guys!

Could anyone advice me on building a DIY chiller? I saw some ideas from
websites of using fridge based chiller while a few on the aircon based. I
was wondering if I could use a minibar fridge and turn it into a chiller
with the following arrangement:

The compressor and the freezer coil is removed from the fridge body.

Soak the freezing coil into am insulated container/bucket with its
thermostat replaced with an aircon thermostat so that we can control higher
tempreture.

Using water closet flexsible stainless steel hose, connect a few together
and roll them like a heat exchange coil. This will be soaked together with
the freezing coil from the minibar in the same bucket. Try to limit the
water in bucket so that its enough to cover both the coils only.

Soak the thermostat into the said bucket for tempreture control.

Water from the fish tank will be pumped into the selfmade stailnessteel coil
and the heat transferred in to the bucket which is cooled by the minibar
freezing coil.

What do you guys think?

Thanks!

Regards,
Mark

[Tidepool Geek]

Hi Mark,

I think that there are several difficulties with your plan.

First, if you really need a chiller it's unlikely that a domestic
refrigerator will have enough capacity to get the job done. The
mechanicals of these units are sized to maintain a low temp in a well
insulated box and that's quite a different situation from trying to
overcome excess heat from intense reef lighting. OTOH: Are you really
sure that you need a chiller? Many of the contributors here and on
other forums have gotten good results by simply using one or more
muffin fans blowing across the surface of the water.

Second, I just looked at a chunk of "stainless steel" WC hose and it's
actually rubber hose clad in stainless mesh. Rubber is not a good
conductor of heat so you would need an awful lot of it to get the heat
transfer you need.

Third, the piece I have has copper fittings in the ends - REALLY bad
for inverts!

Finally, these hoses usually are female on both ends which means you'd
need to use adaptors at every joint.

As an alternative, here's a low tech idea that I posted to another
forum some time back:

1. Build a watertight insulated box.

2. Strip the housing off a "window" A/C unit and mount it to the box
so that the cold side is inside the box and the hot air is exhausting
away from tank and plumbing.

3. Using appropriate tubing (plastic, glass, or titanium) to create a
'circuit' from tank to box and back to tank for aquarium water. BTW:
Titanium tubing (which is impervious to salt water) can be found on
Ebay for a reasonable price.

4. Fill the box with liquid - water would work but it would probably
be better to use the antifreeze that RVers use to winterize their
potable water systems so as to give some corrosion protection to the
A/C parts.
4a. For best efficiency you might want to consider putting a small
powerhead in the box to insure some movement in the heat transfer
liquid (think wind chill factor)

5. Plumb the aquarium water circuit so that it circulates constantly.

6. Cobble up a thermostat to turn on the A/C when the tank needs
cooling.

Thermally yours,

Alex

[wolf]

see the "Chiller choice?" topic posted on 3/2 also

">

[Mark Henry]

My truck had an after-market center console that included a drink
chiller that ran off the truck's 12vdc system. What if I run about 15'
of 1/4" plastic line around the inside space of the chiller, then topped
it off with antifreeze. I run a small, slow power head from the sump
pushing water through the line and back to the sump...

I could do the same thing with a small Thermos insulated lunchbox and
one of those dorm size fridges.... You can find those things cheap,
cheap, cheap, at the Goodwill...

Hmmmnnnnn. Mr frugal sees a weekend project here.

mark h

[groo]

Mark Henry > wrote:

> My truck had an after-market center console that included a drink
> chiller that ran off the truck's 12vdc system. What if I run about 15'
> of 1/4" plastic line around the inside space of the chiller, then
> topped it off with antifreeze. I run a small, slow power head from the
> sump pushing water through the line and back to the sump...
>
> I could do the same thing with a small Thermos insulated lunchbox and
> one of those dorm size fridges.... You can find those things cheap,
> cheap, cheap, at the Goodwill...
>
> Hmmmnnnnn. Mr frugal sees a weekend project here.
>

It will do almost nothing, because plastic has such poor heat transfer
properties. For the water to remain in the tank long enough to cool
significantly you would have to use a very, very low flow. With such a
low flow, the net impact to tank temperature will be extremely small.

You need to also get a coil of stainless steel (do not cheap out and use
copper) to put inside of the chiller. Attach your plastic tubing to it.




--
"People you agree with are allowed to be sarcastic. People you don't
agree with are just jerks." - Opus T. Penguin on afca

[Wayne Sallee]

And your results will be cheap, cheap, cheap.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



Mark Henry wrote on 3/10/2006 6:58 PM:
> My truck had an after-market center console that included a drink
> chiller that ran off the truck's 12vdc system. What if I run about 15'
> of 1/4" plastic line around the inside space of the chiller, then topped
> it off with antifreeze. I run a small, slow power head from the sump
> pushing water through the line and back to the sump...
>
> I could do the same thing with a small Thermos insulated lunchbox and
> one of those dorm size fridges.... You can find those things cheap,
> cheap, cheap, at the Goodwill...
>
> Hmmmnnnnn. Mr frugal sees a weekend project here.
>
> mark h

[F.H.Chan]

Thanks for the feedback! I tought of the aircon unit before but was a little
worried of its
heat generated, size and noise. The stainless steel tubing I was referring
to does not have
rubber lining in the inside but just plain stainless steel wall.

I live in Malaysia and normal water temp without lighting will get to 29 ~
30^C on any normal day.
Its a little too hot isn't it?


"Tidepool Geek" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Hi Mark,
>
> I think that there are several difficulties with your plan.
>
> First, if you really need a chiller it's unlikely that a domestic
> refrigerator will have enough capacity to get the job done. The
> mechanicals of these units are sized to maintain a low temp in a well
> insulated box and that's quite a different situation from trying to
> overcome excess heat from intense reef lighting. OTOH: Are you really
> sure that you need a chiller? Many of the contributors here and on
> other forums have gotten good results by simply using one or more
> muffin fans blowing across the surface of the water.
>
> Second, I just looked at a chunk of "stainless steel" WC hose and it's
> actually rubber hose clad in stainless mesh. Rubber is not a good
> conductor of heat so you would need an awful lot of it to get the heat
> transfer you need.
>
> Third, the piece I have has copper fittings in the ends - REALLY bad
> for inverts!
>
> Finally, these hoses usually are female on both ends which means you'd
> need to use adaptors at every joint.
>
> As an alternative, here's a low tech idea that I posted to another
> forum some time back:
>
> 1. Build a watertight insulated box.
>
> 2. Strip the housing off a "window" A/C unit and mount it to the box
> so that the cold side is inside the box and the hot air is exhausting
> away from tank and plumbing.
>
> 3. Using appropriate tubing (plastic, glass, or titanium) to create a
> 'circuit' from tank to box and back to tank for aquarium water. BTW:
> Titanium tubing (which is impervious to salt water) can be found on
> Ebay for a reasonable price.
>
> 4. Fill the box with liquid - water would work but it would probably
> be better to use the antifreeze that RVers use to winterize their
> potable water systems so as to give some corrosion protection to the
> A/C parts.
> 4a. For best efficiency you might want to consider putting a small
> powerhead in the box to insure some movement in the heat transfer
> liquid (think wind chill factor)
>
> 5. Plumb the aquarium water circuit so that it circulates constantly.
>
> 6. Cobble up a thermostat to turn on the A/C when the tank needs
> cooling.
>
> Thermally yours,
>
> Alex
>

[Wayne Sallee]

Yep, 30 degrees is when I turn the light off.

Wayne Sallee
Wayne's Pets



F.H.Chan wrote on 3/14/2006 10:19 PM:
> Thanks for the feedback! I tought of the aircon unit before but was a little
> worried of its
> heat generated, size and noise. The stainless steel tubing I was referring
> to does not have
> rubber lining in the inside but just plain stainless steel wall.
>
> I live in Malaysia and normal water temp without lighting will get to 29 ~
> 30^C on any normal day.
> Its a little too hot isn't it?
>
>
> "Tidepool Geek" > wrote in message
> oups.com...
>> Hi Mark,
>>
>> I think that there are several difficulties with your plan.
>>
>> First, if you really need a chiller it's unlikely that a domestic
>> refrigerator will have enough capacity to get the job done. The
>> mechanicals of these units are sized to maintain a low temp in a well
>> insulated box and that's quite a different situation from trying to
>> overcome excess heat from intense reef lighting. OTOH: Are you really
>> sure that you need a chiller? Many of the contributors here and on
>> other forums have gotten good results by simply using one or more
>> muffin fans blowing across the surface of the water.
>>
>> Second, I just looked at a chunk of "stainless steel" WC hose and it's
>> actually rubber hose clad in stainless mesh. Rubber is not a good
>> conductor of heat so you would need an awful lot of it to get the heat
>> transfer you need.
>>
>> Third, the piece I have has copper fittings in the ends - REALLY bad
>> for inverts!
>>
>> Finally, these hoses usually are female on both ends which means you'd
>> need to use adaptors at every joint.
>>
>> As an alternative, here's a low tech idea that I posted to another
>> forum some time back:
>>
>> 1. Build a watertight insulated box.
>>
>> 2. Strip the housing off a "window" A/C unit and mount it to the box
>> so that the cold side is inside the box and the hot air is exhausting
>> away from tank and plumbing.
>>
>> 3. Using appropriate tubing (plastic, glass, or titanium) to create a
>> 'circuit' from tank to box and back to tank for aquarium water. BTW:
>> Titanium tubing (which is impervious to salt water) can be found on
>> Ebay for a reasonable price.
>>
>> 4. Fill the box with liquid - water would work but it would probably
>> be better to use the antifreeze that RVers use to winterize their
>> potable water systems so as to give some corrosion protection to the
>> A/C parts.
>> 4a. For best efficiency you might want to consider putting a small
>> powerhead in the box to insure some movement in the heat transfer
>> liquid (think wind chill factor)
>>
>> 5. Plumb the aquarium water circuit so that it circulates constantly.
>>
>> 6. Cobble up a thermostat to turn on the A/C when the tank needs
>> cooling.
>>
>> Thermally yours,
>>
>> Alex
>>
>
>