Chiller Ideas

[Ocean Images]

I am currently looking for ideas for a DIY chiller. I priced a couple different units today......ouch my central air did not costs as much :eek2:
I have had a few ideas running through my mind since early this morning ie; a stainless steel canister placed inside the fridge and have the water pump through it......I only need to drop the temp 3 or 4 degrees.
Has anyone made or attempted to make a chiller? or even have some crazy thoughts about what might or might not work?
I know that some people have modified a bar fridge and coiled the water line inside prior to feeding the tank.
:cheers:

[Ocean Images]

Well, I found a solution to the chiller problem:dance:
I used a dehumidifier to cool the feed line to my new Seahorse tank. I removed the back of the unit and coiled the feed hose into the aluminum coils that get ice cold.
I can even adjust the temp by adjusting the dehumidifier's controls.
The negative of this plan is that the basement really doesn't require the removal of water this time of year but the positive thing is I did not have to spend $700+ to buy an "official" chiller :)
I will post a pic soon

[afss]

how well does it work? how hard does it have to work to keep up with the load? what is the wattage consumed by it?
Scott

[Ocean Images]

Scott, it works really well. The way I have it setup now the water temp drops 4 degrees prior to feeding the Seahorse tank, there are a couple different ways to adjust the output temp.
1) use more coils of hose inside the cooling section of the unit
2) slow down the output from the pump that feeds the unit so the water has more time to cool
3) adjust the dehumidifier control to take out less moisture from the air, this will only allow the unit to turn on when needed.
I am not sure about the wattage being used, I justified the cost by thinking " I have the dehumidifier turned on in the basement from May to Sept anyway" so I am really not too concerned about the additional costs.
What really impresses me is the condition of the horses in their new home. Since the tank is being fed directly from my reef tank in the basement, the water quality is excellent and the horses are much more lively.
This new tank is kinda like a big refugium, the DSB and the live rock in this tank should help my reef tank.

:cheers:

[Mitchell]

well where's the freakin pics?????????????????????????

[Dman]

Greg Moore has an awesome design for a chiller and uses about a 2 gallon pail of cold water a day in the summer. He did the electronics himself and wouldn't divulge but I'm sure there is something about here, you might have to go back a ways to find it.
Dman
:spin:

[Michael_Lambert]

This worked on my smaller 30 gallon not sure how it would work on larger tanks, But we had a little Bar fridge close to the tank so i had placed a large airpump in the frezzer part of the fridge and pumped the cold air into the Sump of the tank and it lowered my temp by up to 6 degrees depending on what speed i had the air pump running.

[Ocean Images]

Ok,Ok a pic:D

[afss]

cool, no punn intended:D

I wonder how it compares in efficiency ($$$) to other methods. If i ever built a house i think i would be tempted to try one of those underground type systems that a few DIY types have riged up. Basically no cost once installed. I will be very interested in seeing how this method holds up in the warmer weather too.
Scott

[Ocean Images]

Scott, the summer "should" not be a problem:rolleyes:
I have central air which kept my last SH tank at a pretty constant 73 degrees. I know the humidifier will be working fulltime in the basement, I am actually concerned about the tank getting to cold.
I like your idea about the outdoor natural cooling system, I have read many people's plans for such a system. I guess anything is possible as long as you have the pump to handle extra hose footage.
If my DIY setup does not work I am going to seriously see about an underground setup. I think once you have two bulkheads through your wall (neatly):) the outside work should be easy.
I am curious to find out below ground level temps, say at 2' / 4' / 6'
Is there any engineers in the crowd???? ;)

[afss]

In our area of the worl i would say that you would have to go atleast 4 feet (maybe more.. frost level). If you were above this you would be in the frost zone and bad things would be happening to your hard work:D . I don't know if you would need a pump that was any stronger, the idea would be to pass the water slowly through the system so even if the added length was a concern a small pump should still be able to handel it. No additional head pressure. If you were carefull about it you could design the system to have a continuous fall of say 1% and then the system would drain itself you would just have to have a pump strong enough to pump from the sump up to the entrance. at 1% you could have 200 feet of piping, 4 lengths of 50' start at 4 feet down and end up at 6 feet down. Would take a bit of finessing, but it could be done. If you decide to try something like this let me know. I am a surveyor and have the gear at my disposal on week-ends for something like this.

Scott

[Ocean Images]

Scott, thanks for the offer....now you really have me thinkin:D
I have all the tubing necessary for the job.......I will wait and see how my DIY chiller makes out, if it doesn't do the job we can talk:)

[afss]

I'd be glad to be involved.. never know if i may need to do something similar myself some day:D The big thing would be determining the frost line in your area

[Greg Moore]

My cold water chiller uses a little more then 2 gallons, closer to 10, (about 2 toilet flush's)

It is only good to home owners, useless to apartment renters etc, however it is silent and very effective (we used to do summer days seeing the tank at 88f with lights off, fans running and ice in it, now 81f 24/7/365 and not using fans anymore)

The dehumid' setup looks very pratical for a lot of people and given the BTU probably much more sensable then the bar fridge routine!

Greg Moore

[Chaz]

Has anyone attempted useing a drinking water dispencer? Mine is Crystal Springs 18L and the water temp is adjustable.
Mine is running 24/7 anyways and keeps the water chilled for drinking. easy enough to move next to My reef.
Mybe setup a coil and a pump to chill the tank.

[Ocean Images]

Chaz, I thought about the drinking water cooler however they use a very small holding tank to cool the water. There is a cooling unit but it is very small, one suggestion is to buy the cooling units that are in fountains ie :school water fountains, these units cool the water instantly as it passes through the unit.
I am very happy with my dehimidifier setup, I can cool my Seahorse tank to 69 degrees from the 79 degree feed water. So far its been running a month and is very accurate, the real test will come in the summer heat.
:cheers:

[afss]

did you notice much of a difference in the average kw/day on you hydro bill?

Scott

[afss]

Originally posted by Greg Moore
My cold water chiller uses a little more then 2 gallons, closer to 10, (about 2 toilet flush's)

It is only good to home owners, useless to apartment renters etc, however it is silent and very effective (we used to do summer days seeing the tank at 88f with lights off, fans running and ice in it, now 81f 24/7/365 and not using fans anymore)

Greg Moore


Greg.. I missed this post of your till now. Just wondering why its not effective for appartments etc and also wondering if you have plans for this unit.. knowing you i assume its some sore of DIY.

Thanks
Scott
:cheers:

[Ocean Images]

Scott, i have not sat down and calculated the extra power usage yet....my problem is I am forever adding bits and pieces to my setup:D Today I added a Mag 350 to boost the flow in my refugium, figuring out the power usage for me will take some time......
:cheers:

[afss]

I figured out mine the other week.. damn tanks aren't cheap and i don't have near the pumps and lights that many have. I figure my fish room uses +/- 21 kwh/day.. about 1.75 a day. Its more than i thought it would be. :(
oh well i still gotta figure there are worse things to spend money on:cheers:

[ReefVan]

For those of us with large reef and FOWLR tanks, this option is the "Coolest" I've seen yet and this summer will probably try this with one of my reefer buddies here in Montreal.

This is definitely the best I've seen to date. Uses a window mounted a/c unit which you install outside on a concrete patio block. The titanium cooling coil sits in a modified pvc pipe unit under your tank, where your tank water circulates through. Mega cooling!

Lots of potential with this project.

You must be a member of RC to see the pics, registration is free.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=177111&highlight=chiller

[Greg Moore]

Scott
The 2 reasons I say it is useless for apartments is ownership and temp.. You need to cut into a supply line, something most landlords probably won't let you do, and in larger apartments, the supply water is usually almost room temp by the time it gets to you. You need cold ground water for this unit to be effective.

If you can tap into a cold water line in your apartment and if that water runs cold instead of p warm, it will work fine!

To cool my tank effectivly, this chiller is producing 75F waste water from 55F source water. If the source water was 70F, it might discharge at 76F (assuming tank target is 80F) and it would take so much water to produce usable chilling.

Greg Moore

[afss]

OK. that makes sense:D

I am interested in trying your method if you can give me some plans or instructions. I think my wife will let me, shes the only landlord i have to deal with;)

Scott

[ReefVan]

Greg,

So, if I understand this system of yours it takes treated municipal water and basically throws it down the drain on a constant basis.

If I'm mistaken please correct me. Maybe it's because I don't understand how your system works and I'm taking it for granted that it's like the people who run the garden hose all day long through an old car radiator with a fan blowing through it to cool the house during the summer months.

If it's otherwise please share with us ...

Van

[afss]

From what i understand of it it does uses municipal water and puts it "down the drain". I frget how much he said it consumes.. but it isn't much

[User Name]

Well me i go with the drinking water dispencer! The compressor
is a 1/12 hp , and if i compare with the one on the market ex:
jl chiller (http://www.jlaquatics.com/cgi-bin/shopping/jalstore.cgi?user_action=list&category=Equipment;Chillers;UMI)
i can estimate it is god for 10° on a 100g
Inside the dispencer the heat exchanger is made of a copper pipe weld on the out side of a stainless stell canister so i paint the inside with epoxie paint! water come from the top and get out from the bottom
will it work? well the math is there and i did't pay for the dispencer ;)