how to make a water chiller?

anyone know ow to make a chiller to keep a res cool. i have unlimited supply of cold running water, thinking just coiled pipe in res......what pipes best? or is there a better way?
thanks guys!

 

Im working on that project right now. I want to get it assembled and tested but I will post the instructable on the board when I have it complete.

 

Budget DIY Res Chiller


http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=42428


or this one which is posted below. http://www.rollitup.org/hydroponics-aeroponics/233783-diy-mini-chiller.html


OK Here are the results of my DIY water chiller.


I have been growing in a cabinet for about a year and a half. Pretty good results in hydroton


Well now I want to try aeroponics. I got a larger cabinet and built a system out of a under bed storage container.


Thing is, I needed a chiller. I use a small res. Its actually the controller from a water farm eight pack I had drilled some holes in.


I circulate the water with a 180 gph pump.


Now I have posted this in my cabinet grow journal but I figured it was buried there and started a new post so people can find it.


First I tried the portable cooler. Low wattage thermal electric cooler.





I ran seven loops of tube inside and back to the res. filled it with water and gave it a shot.





I realize this is with no insulation and I probably could get better hose but I wanted to see what it would do.


It got maybe 2 degrees cooler. I knew that wasn't enough to continue with this.


I read a DIY using a small refer with tubing in it. Then one where a guy put the cooling tray right in the res.


I wanted to try that so I went on craigslist and bought one for $50


After I got the new small refer home I realized it was different then the DIY I had read.


The evaporator or grid was not on the back. I figured it was just inside the back panel.


I disconnected the thermostat





Then used my disk grinder to cut because I didn't have a cutting blade.





Then basically peeled back the case to find the coils were ran around the fridge.





I looked at it and thought "how the hell am I going to get this to work" I went this far, Might as well finish.





After cutting a hole for the cooling unit I slid everything out the front and left the system intact.





The lost my shade so I took a break until sundown. It was 97 degrees.


Then I took the res and set it inside the system and carefully bent the cooling tray inside.


It was still about 93 degrees outside but no direct sun.





Here is the back





I let it run with the thermostat set in the middle for about an hour.


It cooled about 4 degrees. The thermostat was under water and I didn't know if that made any difference but


I drained about a gallon of water so it set in the air. Then I realized I didn't have anything to compare it to so I


got a home depot bucket and filled it with water too. I set a thermometer it that as well.


I turned the thermostat all the way up, kept the circulating pump on and left them until noon today.


Todays outside temps are 101 degrees.


Here is the uncovered bucket of water temp 84 degrees





I really didn't think this was going to work, well I looked inside,





Then checked the temp. 58 degrees.

 

that is one nice mcgyver job there. ^^^^^^^^^^

 

Nice job, when I was in college we used a mini freezer to cool keg beer we drilled a in hole and out hole and filled it with tubing.


assit:

 

nice one MK..........how many spleeffs would you recommend for doing that retrofit????


i guess the idea is to run some cold water through coiled tubing in a closed system inside my res. what would be the best material to use for the tubing in the res? copper would be ok with the nutes? or something else more suitable?

 

Im not sure how copper would affect a nutrient solution. It does have anti-microbial properties so it might help. Copper is efficient when it comes to thermal exchange rates. How many degrees do you need to drop your nutrient solution? I try to keep mine at 68 at all times for maximum dissolved oxygen levels and pathogen resistance.

 

mk, yeah


yeah mk, right now i am maintaining anywhere from 67 to 71 by using ice. i am lazy so i need to automate either with copper pipes and my unlimited great white north cold water or macguyver a refer like you. looks like i need to lower by 5 degrees. am off to the scrap/recycle yard here shortly to check out feasable refers (not doobies). it will have to be in the growroom so not sure about how much heat it will add, but am liking the idea of that. yours looks great. are you able to adjust the temp with the thermostat????

 

Yep u can control the temp with the thermostat.

 

I've read that it's bad to put a heat source inside a refrigerator. They were talking about putting a computer inside a minifridge to cool it so they could overclock.


Fridges are designed to keep cold things cold, not make hot things cooler. The significance is that their compressors aren't designed to operate continuously, so if you're making enough heat that it has to kick on the compressor a lot, you're going to burn it out fast.


What you've got is a very cool design, don't get me wrong. I'm just curious how long it will last.

 

using the cooling unit from a Clear Water Systems water cooler also works well but not 58 degrees


cold but 70's