Drew Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Anyone ever try to make their chiller from anything? I want to make a budget chiller for a garage tank this summer. After seeing eugenereef's thermostat heater diy I was looking at some cheap drinking water units or even a mini fridge that I could convert using the same idea for a one off switch Sent from my Ally using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harold B Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 I've seen projects using mini fridges with the freezer compartment taken out and a coil of vinal hose put inside as a DIY "chiller". Not to sure on the effectiveness or ability to control temp though. Chillers IMO are an excellent investment. It's a expensive initally but when you think of the amount of $ invested in livestock (fish/coral) that could be potentially lost it's for me a simple decision. They last for years and usally don't depreciate in value much. After you have one, your not limited to the amount of light you can have and it's a fact that the more stable your parameters the more your tank will flourish. Thanks Harold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drew Posted April 7, 2011 Author Share Posted April 7, 2011 I would love to just buy a chiller but just can't afford one for a while... at least another year or more. Sent from my Ally using Tapatalk Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gill Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 When I kept salmon (as a kid) I was changing water daily and adding frozen milk jugs to keep the temp down. I did some reaserch online and decided to make a chiller from a mini fridge. I never did do it, but the idea was to pump the water into something like a kitty litter pan which would sit inside the mini fridge. The flow would be adjusted to adjust the temp; I would definitely use a heater for back up though. Are you planning ahead for summer or do you need a chiller for year round use? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaticEngineer Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 I made a mini fridge chiller a couple different times and it isn't worth the effort. I only got mine to drop a tank 10 degrees in a controlled home environment that never went above 67 degrees even during the summer. Thats why I'm rocking the lobster tanks with 1/2 horse chillers for my coldwater tanks now Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef165 Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 How about this? http://www.cvreefers.org/showthread.php?7169-DIY-Evaporative-Chiller Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sergebmw3 Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 ED thats a cool idea but iam wondering did it work ? to keep the water cool? BTW nice job on Brandens SUMP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Smann Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 Here is a old link to dorm fridge and why they dont work. of course I didnt believe it and built one anyway and guess what, it didnt work http://www.beananimal.com/articles/dorm-fridge-aquarium-chiller.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reef165 Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 It did work, he had it on a 250 gallon tank and on a day with 95 temp kept the tank at 81 or something like that, it's been a while since I read it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 I think you could do this pretty cheaply, but the tubing is going to be your biggest cost. I would go with titanium in a coil, placed in a tub of water which in turn is placed in the fridge. You can pick up a little dorm fridge off CL for $20-$30, the tubing is gonna run probably close to $50. You probably have a pump so thats won't add $$, only other thing really is the controller, and like you said Upinder did one for $20. I'm going to be making one of those controllers this weekend I say go for it and take lots of pics for us! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AquaticEngineer Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 It did work' date=' he had it on a 250 gallon tank and on a day with 95 temp kept the tank at 81 or something like that, it's been a while since I read it.[/quote'] If you only want to control temperature fluctuations in your tank caused by halides or high relatively high temps in the summer then they work for that. But, the most your really going to get out of a dorm fridge/mini fridge chiller is a 10 degree drop if your lucky. Thats fine for most normal applications, like I mentioned above, but if the outside temp gets above that 10 degree difference that your DIY chiller can handle than its pretty much game over. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cklskypilot Posted April 7, 2011 Share Posted April 7, 2011 I did it and it work. went to wal mart bought a new small frige that had a small freezer in it. first I tried small plastic tubing did not exchange the heat. Then I went to S.S. tubing for the heat exchanger that work. and after all of the buying and building I sold it and just turned on the central air added a fan to the top of the tank now the tank is cooler and so am I. there is another way. you place the tubing in the ground. needs to be at lease 24 in. down. this system is used for pre heating the water coming into your home. but could be used the other way. Cool down the water. The ground temp is around 66 deg. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eugenereef Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Sorry guys. I didn't visit this forum for a while. Actually Drew, I have been thinking about it as well. I think the dorm fridge idea may work. What I though would be a good heat exchanges is the tubing used for heating tiles. I don't exactly know what it is called but it is made of plastic so it should be good for salt water. This kind of tubing is used I homes I Wisconsin and they pump super heated water through it to keep the floors warm. I don't see why we cannot do this with cold water. And this tubing is not very expedite either. But think you would need about 50 ft of this tube, 20 ft coiled in the refuge, 20 ft in the fridge and 10 ft to move the cold water back and forth. I am just throwing these numbers out there but I think the longer the tube the better could be the efficiency. The pump could be connected to the temp controller and it kicks in as the temperature hits the set point. One more thing. The flow rate would have to be slow to allow the proper heat exchange. Thoughts? I'll try to find the name of the tube but I am sure folks here who are in this business would know the technical name. . So I'll rely on there expertise! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eugenereef Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Another though came to my mind. Since it is a closed loop system without coolant coming in direct contact with aquarium water, we could use engine coolant :0 but the efficiency would be excellent!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eugenereef Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Ok so the tube is called PEX tubing. And here is a link to the information. http://www.pexinfo.com/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 I think titanium or stainless steel would provide a quicker heat exchange and be more efficient. My house has PEX tubing its pretty cool stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Eugenereef Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 I think titanium or stainless steel would provide a quicker heat exchange and be more efficient. My house has PEX tubing its pretty cool stuff. Totally agree with you Miles! I was just concerned about the cost of this heat exchanger vs PEX tubing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Anyone played around with window ac units for this? It looks like they are much more efficient than the dorm fridges (some mention them being equivelant to about a 1/2 hp chiller). I just happen to have one in the garage I picked up for a few dollars at a garage sale that I was thinking about building a chiller from if I can figure out how to do it without hiring a HVAC tech. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Anyone played around with window ac units for this? It looks like they are much more efficient than the dorm fridges (some mention them being equivelant to about a 1/2 hp chiller). I just happen to have one in the garage I picked up for a few dollars at a garage sale that I was thinking about building a chiller from if I can figure out how to do it without hiring a HVAC tech. Hmmm i think you would need to either build an enclosure that the ac would then cool down, you'd need a tub of water in there to put the tubing in but it would work. People do this all the time for fermentation chambers in home brewing. I've seen chambers that get down into the 30s. Other than that the only thing i can think of would be either mounting the tubing inside the unit to the coolant lines, or using the actual coolant lines as your means of cooling the water. That would depend on the type of tubing used in it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 ......... Other than that the only thing i can think of would be either mounting the tubing inside the unit to the coolant lines, or using the actual coolant lines as your means of cooling the water. That would depend on the type of tubing used in it. Chances are it's copper so I wouldn't want it to be in direct contact with the water. It appears that some people replace this with titanium and then use that instead. The system needs to be recharged to do it this way though. An alternative appears to be to coat the copper with several coats of epoxy but I'm not sure if I like that idea. I thought of using titanium and have it mounted directly to the coolant lines as you suggested but I'm not sure how efficient it would be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Yah probably copper. I don't think mounting the lines together would be efficient either. I wonder if you could use like a PVC spa flex, cut it so it will fit over the tubing kinda like pipe insulation, then use PVC glue to seal it back up? Edit: that would take away from the heat transfer abilities of the tubing i think. Can you recharge the unit yourself? If so and its not too expensive then switching the tubing out sounds like the best idea. You could also extend the tubing so its longer and easier to use for this purpose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rick Posted April 8, 2011 Share Posted April 8, 2011 Yah probably copper. I don't think mounting the lines together would be efficient either. I wonder if you could use like a PVC spa flex, cut it so it will fit over the tubing kinda like pipe insulation, then use PVC glue to seal it back up? Edit: that would take away from the heat transfer abilities of the tubing i think. Can you recharge the unit yourself? If so and its not too expensive then switching the tubing out sounds like the best idea. You could also extend the tubing so its longer and easier to use for this purpose. Maybe. If I can find the tubing at a reasonable cost I might give it a shot. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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