DIY Chiller?

[grav]

Okay, I've always wanted a chiller. Thought it would be cool to not have to worry about keeping the AC on for the whole place while I'm away for a long weekend in July.

SO, a chiller is what? For a cheap one? $500? While a little fridge (remember the one you had in college?) sells for $75.

There has to be a way to do this.
Drill 2 holes in the door, run some tubbing in and around and back out (the longer it is in there the more it would cool the water) and then back into, say a 10g "pre sump" with a heater in it to make sure the water isn't too cold.

Now all you need is a controler and you are all set.

Right? Where am I wrong? It can't be this easy to save $400.

 

[Anonymous]

for a smallis tank it may work fine, but for most people, they will be disappointed. the efficiency is poor, and the compressor is not meant to run as long as it need to cool water, hence premature failure.

 

[xrunner123]

Why you cant...
http://www-2.cs.cmu.edu/~cap/raid/chillers/dormfridge/
http://www.utahreefs.com/forum/forum_po ... 9&get=last

Plans for one.
http://www.aloha.net/~hqf/indexdonschiller.htm

Maybe this is a solution for you.
http://209.151.83.92/forum/showthread.p ... adid=6763&

 

[Anonymous]

It won't hurt to try, but I just let you know what to expect.

 

[grav]

Had to be too good to be true.

 

[Anonymous]

now wouldn't volume be key here?

if a fridge held 20 gallons of water at 40F i think it could be very successful in cooling a tank (even a fairly large one) that only required cooling a few hours a day.

there would potentially be upwards of 6000 btu of cooling available kept in storage for a tank kept at 80'F.
i think the 400 btu/hr fridge could easily reproduce this chilled water in time for a cycle on the following day, correct?

for instance, a 100 gallon tank that is running at 87'F contains about 45,815 btu above 32'F. the proper temp of 80 degrees would contain about 39,984 btu above 32'F.

this DIY chiller could handle cooling a tank of this size that is overheating to this temp (once daily), couldn't it?

now of course this tank would not be allowed to climb to this temp but for simplicity's sake i have explained it this way.

 

[Anonymous]

6000 BTU per hour is more than two HP, but I guess you don't need to chill down 7 degree (F) every hour.

However, most fridge are not designed to handle the amount of heat generated by a reef tank. To get it to work, you will need very efficient heat exchanger, and the size of the fridge will probably make it a less attractive alternative after all.

 

[MLVA123]

wow! I just spent like 90 minutes reading that thread of the DIY coral greenhouse. That is phenomenal. My puny 125 gal project here now seems like so much trival pursuit. :lol:

 

[Anonymous]

Could a small chest freezer be used instead of a "dorm" fredge?

 

[Anonymous]

The compressor is of the same power, and nothing is changed except the temperature at which the compressor stop working (~4 F instead of ~36F). Unless the rating of the compressor is 1/6 HP then you may want to look into it.