Cheap and Effective DIY Water Chiller

I'm running RDWC and summer's coming. I've tried frozen water bottles to cool my nutrient solution, which might work for a very small system, but for my two 27 gallon systems it was no help. I was looking at either spending big bucks or coming up with something cheap and effective. I looked around some, and found this:


http://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/453857-cheap-effective-diy-water-chiller.html


Basically, the idea is you take a dehumidifier and bend the cooling coils down into a bucket of water. This makes the water in the bucket cold. Then you drop a pump into the cold water bucket and pump the cold water through a stainless steel wort chiller which sits in your res. The heat is transferred from the solution to the water through the stainless steel (conducts temps very well) and out the front of the dehumidifier as the fan blows the heating coils.


I tried it and it works as advertised. This works great! :thumbs-up: I spent $110, no joke.


As a disclaimer, I'm basically just copying that other (much cooler) guy's thread. Second, there are some sketchy moves making this thing so do this at your own risk!!:danger:


First I bought a couple of wort chillers here http://www.nybrewsupply.com/. Then I scanned craigslist for a few weeks until I found a dehumidifier for $10


First I took the skin off the dehumidifier. Here it is, and a wort chiller.








With the skin off, I bent the cooling coils down into the collection pan that came with the dehumidifier. I did this very slowly, and had to modify the frame here and there to get it to work. I have no idea what happens if you break the line, but I bet it's no good. Be careful!








I turned it on and voila, frost! :coolbounce:





I dropped a pump in the pan and the wort chiller in the res. The res was 67.5 F. I turned it on, and in 40 minutes the temp dropped 5 degrees! There was ice building up on the coils above the water, and the supply line was covered with condensed moisture.

















I accidentally let it run for about 3 hours and the res temp was 54! I have no idea how cold this will make the water, but I know it's cold enough for my purposes, and as cobed together and cheap as this is, it seems to have ample capacity. I could make it more efficient, and it would run less, if I insulated the lines, changed the drain bucket out for a cooler with a lid, and fully submersed the cooling coils. All of those things would make it better.


After the initial experiment I hooked up the second wort chiller which sits in the bloom res and set a timer to turn it on for a half hour every 3 hours. Temps steady at 62 in both systems.


So for about $110 - an effective water chiller.


:bong-2::bong-2::bong-2::bong-2:

 

bump ^^^

 

Interesting idea. I'm not quite sure how it works, but it does seem to do the trick. I'm looking at it on my Droid. I'll have to get a better look when I get to my computer.


I like how the design incorporates a wart chiller.

 

drinking fountain water cooler


Me a friend ran across a scrapper who ended up with about 100 drinking fountain water coolers from a school remodel. I bought it for 20 bucks a piece.. can't wait till the temperatures get up and I'll try it I have already sold 4 of them for 100 dollars a piece. 1 of my buddies circulate his reservoir solution through it. he has no problems in the thermostat is set it's 68 degrees so when it kicks on circulates the solution through. Ironically he's discovered he can ride his room a lot hotter and not have to worry about it with the root zone being kept cooler. I read an article how to grow lettuce in africa and keep the nutrient solution it's 65 degrees even with temperatures over 100 degrees the lettuce doesnt bolt( going to bloom from the higher temperatures) and it sweeter.

 

I forgot to say something


That's a real good idea and use for that dehumidifier coil. We took 1 of those coils in a 5 gallon bucket we put together. Filled the bucket with an to freeze and sealed it. We drilled a hole in the side of the freezer ran the lines through the holes fill them with some spray foam. We pump the nutrient solution from the reservoir into the side of the freezer through the coil in 5 gallon bucket of antifreeze. This was the chilling system for hisNTF system for his lettuce and cucumbers in is greenhouse. Last time I talk to him he was getting ready to put a nother bucket in there for his tomatoes and go hydroponic on them too.


it's kinda funny how some of them things you look at this like wow we use that a little bit differently. for the same purpose. All I had was an extra chest freezer they had sitting in his garage.

 

I forgot to say something


That's a real good idea and use for that dehumidifier coil. We took 1 of those coils in a 5 gallon bucket we put together. Filled the bucket with an to freeze and sealed it. We drilled a hole in the side of the freezer ran the lines through the holes fill them with some spray foam. We pump the nutrient solution from the reservoir into the side of the freezer through the coil in 5 gallon bucket of antifreeze. This was the chilling system for hisNTF system for his lettuce and cucumbers in is greenhouse. Last time I talk to him he was getting ready to put a nother bucket in there for his tomatoes and go hydroponic on them too.


it's kinda funny how some of them things you look at this like wow we use that a little bit differently. for the same purpose. All I had was an extra chest freezer they had sitting in his garage.


I was thinking if there is a way to seal his freezer so it wouldn't week and put a water pump in there you could fill the whole thing for antifreeze and circulate it and just use the coils inside freezer. It might be more efficient without the 5 gallon bucket. Anyway the circulation pump was tied to a thermostat on the drain side of his System It would pump the solution through the freezer If it got too warm

 

I don't know how the dehumidifier itself works, but inside the thing there are two blocks of coils/fins that look like the radiator in your car only smaller. One of them gets warm and the other gets cold. You take the cold one and unbolt it from the unit. It will remain attached by a 1/4" copper tube. Bend it slowly so that you can immerse the cold radiator into a bucket or pan or cooler....anything that holds water. Then you have made a cold water reservoir. If you pump that cold water through the coils of the SS wort chiller, whatever that wort chiller is sitting in will cool down. Just make sure the wort chiller is sitting in your res. :new_blackey:


This thing rocks! I have had to turn back the timer so it just goes 1/2 hour every 4 hours. It does both my reservoirs easily.

 

Hey man can you get a line on the thermostat he uses? I am using a timer but to be more precise I'd love to have a thermostat to have it turn on at 64 or something. I have searched high and low for a submersible thermostat that turns on a power supply when the water temp goes up, but all I've found is for air - nothing with a liquid sensor.


The roll it up post points out some downsides to using a fridge or freezer. First, they are not designed to run constantly, and apparently dehumidifiers are. Second, they are large and cumbersome. Third, they are far less efficient because of above, so.....


Not saying it wouldn't work, but the dehumidifier is SO cheap and easy to deal with. No drilling through the sides and risking puncturing anything.


asssit:

 

I'd be honored. How does that work? :thumbsup:


This really is awesome. I mean it really brings the expense of running DWC, RDWC, UC, and I guess EnF way down. Anybody can find a used dehumidifier. I have no idea how it compares power consumption wise to the commercial chillers, but the one I needed cost over $800, and I saw a ton of "ecoPUSS" complaint threads, so WTF? I was actually considering shutting down in the summer months, or just going outdoors.


Stickie indeed! Share the knowledge!

 

Sounds like a plan.

 

Hell yeah this is exactly what we need in the DIY!

 

Yes.

 

Conclusion


So, after much tinkering and augmenting, here's the conclusion of the DIY chiller/heater.


It works great. I don't know exactly how much juice it draws, but at the hottest of summer in an un-air conditioned garage it easily kept my 8 five-gallon buckets, and their reservoirs, cool and clean. It can be controlled by the thermostat on the dehumidifier, and I could easily keep the buckets between 60-65 degrees F with minor daily adjustments based on the ambient temps.


The kicker is it also doubles as a heater by dropping a tank heater into the cooler res behind the humidifier, and obviously not running the dehumidifier. We've had consistent nights into the 20's and no sign of trouble. I left it off and the temps sank to the low 50's in the reservoirs.


I switched out the old dehumidifier catch bucket with a cooler, and enclosed the thing in a plywood box. Easy peasey. I insulated the lines too. The little temp monitor on the wall behind it is the chiller/heater res temp.


I do not know how scalable this is. I am quite convinced, because of the ease with which this cools my systems, that it could handle a larger system, and with a larger dehumidifier, larger pump, and perhaps a better liquid to transfer temps than water, you could chill/heat a much larger system than I am running. When you consider the costs of a commercial unit designed to handle large gallon applications, it makes this design that much more attractive.


asssit:

 

I like the box to enclose everything. :goodjob:


Peace....

 

It actually brings the expenses down and anyone can find a used dehumidifier as well.It is very cheap and easy to deal with as well.There is no risk of puncturing as well.


_________________


wort chiller

 

:-welcome-:


Whatcha growin?