DIY chiller

[Paul B]

I really built this evaporative chiller for my blackworm tank but here in NY it is almost 100 degrees now so I transfered it to my reef for a while. It chilled my worm tank down to 65 degrees but that is only about one gallon.
I will see how much it chills my 100 gallon reef. If it works I will put this back on the worms and build a larger one for the reef.

 

[dherrera83]

Hows the evaporation rate and how much water do you go through on your bw tank. Just trying to see how much top-off water will be needed.

 

[CONSTANTNE]

Nice idea! Let us know the results.

 

[Mattl22]

Wow that's really cool idea intrestead to see it it works on your reef if it does I hope u have a patent on it lol

 

[Paul B]

I am not sure how much it will effect the temp of the 100 gallons, I doubt I will see ice bergs in there anytime soon. The water is 1/2 a degree cooler as it exits the device. It can't be patented because it is a simple evaporative chiller patented 100 years ago, maybe 200 years.
I don't know the evaporation rate as I just put it in today but it trippled the evaporation on the worm tank.
The black thing next to it is the auto top off so I can't tell how much water is going in.

Here it is over the worm tank

 

[Paul B]

Before I switched to LEDs I used to have to put in frozen gallons of ice, I no longer need to do that. I don't need a chiller either, this is just an experiment. The tank was 82 degrees yesterday, now it is 80 degrees, so the chiller cooled it down by 2 degrees which is better than I thought due to the small size of the device.

 

[Mattl22]

What if u added a fan to blow across the water being chilled? I know evap would be killer but for some ppl a chiller isn't an option


Sent from my iPhone using Reefs

 

[Paul B]

There is a fan near the red acrylic in the top right

 

[Macropora]

Very nice Paul. How much did it cost to put it all together?

 

[Paul B]

Including the pump and fan about $50.00 or $60.00.
The container was originally my wet dry many years ago. It was collecting dust so I sawed it to a much smaller size and added the angled plates.

 

[Macropora]

Including the pump and fan about $50.00 or $60.00.
The container was originally my wet dry many years ago. It was collecting dust so I sawed it to a much smaller size and added the angled plates.

Thanks for the update!

 

[Paul B]

The fan is way too small for this and is a computer fan I had from something else. I don't need more cooling but it would work much better with a larger fan, a fan that almost pulls the water off the plates would be the most efficient and cause the most evaporation. This process works by evaporation so you want it to evaporate. That is how we cool off, by sweating and evaporation which I am doing now.
The tank is in a finished basement (like almost everyone in NY has) it is much cooler in the basemrnt than the rest of the house. My top floor is now hotter than 90 degrees, the thermostat only goes to 90 so I don't know the actual temp but yesterday it was 104 degrees here and today will be the same. The basement is still 80 degrees and the tank is also exactly 80 degrees. Normally the tank runs about 10 degrees hotter than the room but with the LEDs and this chiller, the tank is producing no heat at all. If it stays over 100 degrees here for another day or so, the basement will also get much hotter.
The humidity is also about 70%
I went to the town pool yesterday to swim my laps and when I went into the shower a guy was coming out of the steam room. I said "Are you kidding me? A Sauna. It's 104 degrees out.
He told me he went in there to cool off.
Our surrounding areas lost power yesterday and I am prepared with my generator but I will be out on my boat today (in the water up to my neck to be correct) and if the power goes out, I won't know about it.
I have solar electric on my house so right now my air conditioning is almost free but that goes off if the power goes out.
I know there are plenty of places in the US where it is much hotter.
We have not had it this hot in NY since the 30s or so and 104 is the hottest I remember here in NY, although it never got this cold in Viet Nam :spin1:
And we should think of the troops we have in Afganistan where it is always this hot

 

[ed51802]

huraaaa
And we should think of the troops we have in Afganistan where it is always this hot.:thumbsup:[/QUOTE]

 

[Mattl22]

Did u notice a temp drop when u installed the chiller if it was larger do u think it would work better

 

[Paul B]

The temp went down 2 degrees which is great being it was 104 degreeh here yesterday. A larger one would definately be better or the same one with a larger fan, but my tank is just the right temp now even though it is plenty hot here.

 

[lzqkeith]

my tank was 89 degreeh last night ... nothing die:party:

 

[Mattl22]

Paul b that's great I'd imagine a larger one for ppl with huge tanks could save them hundreds on chiller electric usage

 

[Paul B]

my tank was 89 degreeh last night ... nothing die:party:

My reef used to go to 89 many times in the summer but that is about the upper range of a lot of animals. If the circulation would stop at that temp, it would most likely crash as water doesn't hold much oxygen at that temp.

I'd imagine a larger one for ppl with huge tanks could save them hundreds on chiller electric usage

That is true but there are many ways hobbiests could save wheelbarow's full of money but for some reason there is so much money wasted on this stuff.
I need the money for boat gas so I am not spending $3,000.00 for a chiller when it only costs $400.00 for a room air conditioner for my house.
This evaporative chiller costs about $60.00 to build and one twice as large is only a little more. We only need to chill these tanks a few degrees so this design will work.
Of course you need a place to put it so a long one could be built above a sump or if you have the room, you can do like I did and put it above. I am not a fan of stuff under my tank, I have been very lucky for decades with no leaks yet and I like to keep it that way. If this thing leaks, it leaks in my tank.
The biggest "chiller" I installed was my LED lights. They put out zero heat. My tank is exactly the same temperature as my house.