dyi chiller

[reef165]

ive seen a couple DYI chillers on the net that use a window AC unit as the base and they have a seperat tub with the cooling coils in water and then tank water ran through 3/8 inch vinal tube running through the chilled water, i was thinking of one better . does anyone know of whare one can order replacement parts for chillers? namely the chiller barrel itsself? one could remove the cooling side of an AC and replace it with a chiller barrel and youve then got a chiller for way cheep. A 1/2 hp chiller is 6000btus and abought 900$+ a 6000btu window AC is what 150$ then even if the replacement barrel runs 150 to 200$ your still at only 1/3 the cost.

[powdertang05]

but can it take saltwater???

[reef165]

if your getting the chiller barrel as a replacement part itll be the same as if you were using the real thing. a chiller barrel is whare the titanium heat exchanger is and the water from the tank goes through. the rest of a chiller is just an ac unit.

[powdertang05]

o ok just checking you know salt does affect metals so was just thinking but that makes sense. you could ask pacific coast if they can get you replacements they usually have everything to basically build one. alteast skimmer and pump wise

[mister crabs]

I have seen the same thing done with a portable fridge or freezer and you run the tubing thru it....coiled up inside you get like 25' of tubing in there at once.....cant remember where i saw it at

[impur]

How much is that titanium tubing gonna run ya?

[powdertang05]

seem some on rc i know it can be done just dont know where to get it or put it together

[H20cooled]

The frig thing does not work great, reason being if you think about what they are design to do is lower the temp of an item and maintain that temp, but the item does not heat up on its own so they do not have the much work to do. Now a tank would continually put heat into the frig. I've seen this done with water cooling on computers and they do not last long, the only ones I've seen that do had a huge fan blowing across the frig radiator to keep it cool and even then it did last long.

 

I think you would be better off with a AC unit altered with a heat exchanger.

[dsoz]

I have seen the same thing done with a portable fridge or freezer and you run the tubing thru it....coiled up inside you get like 25' of tubing in there at once.....cant remember where i saw it at

 

I use this same setup at my school when we raise trout and salmon eggs for ODFW... OK not for ODFW, it is FOR the kids in my class- we just get the eggs from ODFW. A MJ1200 powerhead pumps the water through about 70 feet of 1/2 inch tubing that goes into my old college-dormroom-fridge. I drilled two holes in the side. No problem with saltwater, the loop is contained and "should" not leak (knock on wood).

 

When the 45 gal tank is insulated (styrofoam insulation from home depot), and the fridge set to MAX, it can cool the water from an ambient 72 deg F to between 48 and 50 deg F. Just right for salmon or trout. Fun project, and the kids get a kick out of it. I don't know how much impact releasing between 200 and 500 fry will have on the salmon run in a few years... Probably not a lot.

 

Cheers

[ReefStarrBow26]

There was a pet shop in sandy at one time. They had a large tank mounted on top a chest type deep freeze with no lid kinda lame but it worked. He had foam board all a round it and a under gravel filter with power heads to keep the flow to the bottom glass to cool the tank down. the tank was cold when I seen it about 50 or so.