DIY Chiller
 

** ** Disclaimer: This is a teaser. If enough people show interest in seing the process, it will be posted. ** **

When is the last time that someone posted something like this in this forum?

What about one that actually works?

Stay tuned for the build progress and pics...

If you really want to see the build, tell me. The more interest I see, the more detail I will go into.

Pics promised in about a week!

:)

Always willing to learn more DIY. Lead on Oh Master.

If it works,go into detal.You have 2 students now :mrgreen:

Go for it.

How about telling us what you plan on using to cool the water?

J

I want to see what you are doing.

Thanks

How about an overview of what kinda of chiller you are going to DIY, the degree of difficulty to actually build one and the projected cost (just a guess to start) of making this chiller. With out these basic things how could anyone know if they want to see in detail how to make one or not..

I do but thats just cuz I am weird that way :mrgreen:

Steve

Canreef understatment of the month :)

Can you have it up and running before the 25th of Nov. because if not i will have to buy one ,love to save money when ever possible .

I doubt you will need to cool your water here in Victoria after October :razz:. I'm interested.

It is planned to be running at the latest by Sept 10

Using some salvaged parts, estimated cost - $250 including modified plumbing

It will be a split system with just a DIY chiller barrel inside and the compressor and condensor outside.

Building the system isn't too hard. Some specialized tools are required to safely charge the system. You may be able to build the system, then have an HVAC tech come to charge the system.

speak
 

please present your wisdom :biggrin:

lets have it.

cheers

you mean you will HAVE to have a HVAC come leak test and fill the system due to laws about buying refrigerant. which still should only be about another 200.00

Steve

In case you havent figured it out, KARL IS the HVAC tech. You just have to be really nice to him.

yup, but being really nice to him would mean paying his ferry ride over to the island, feeding him and paying for the freon, which would be 200.00 anyways.. I can always take it into work and do it myself but when I looked into a titanium tub exchanger it was almost 300.00 and a 1/2 hp compressor unit was another 400.00 so it wasn't worth my time to make my own.

but I am interested in seeing what he uses for a DYI exchanger.

Steve

:biggrin: Lets wait and see what he shows us before finding problems.Then if there are problems,maybe we can come up with a way around them.Or to fix them.

Why do you assume there will be problems?

Im not assuming anything. Hence the word " if " in the second sentance.

just post the diy thing already.

Add me into the interested catagory. Exactly how many need to respond before the real thread begins? If you need more numbers count me twice.

The build will take place in the 7 days following this Monday

I looks like you guys are yearning for more info on this build. How about some background info on the tank?

90g AGA MF display
30g Oceanic sump
10g fuge
440W VHO lighting
Poesidon T4 return pump for the display
Mag 7 supply to the fuge
ASM G2 skimmer
1 Maxi-jet in fuge
1 Maxi-jet in display
Tunze 6060 in display

That should be all the major stuff. (I think) I only took note of the equipment that would contribute to a heat gain in the tank in any way

If i missed anything or put the wrong specs for anything down, Hightower can chime in and correct me. Maybe a few pics and a livestock list would be nice.

Could you post with that info, Hightower. I know you should have a few pics of the system around.

Ask Hightower how much I eat ;)

I forgot to mention when you posted this thread what the hassles of taking what is called "dagerous goods" across the ferry. These include any pressurized cylinders (ie. refrigerant bottles, nitrogen bottles, acetylene tanks, etc...) of which my truck is full of. A quick count in my head shows that I have 6 pressurized cylinders in my truck at all times. Scary when you think about it.... Anyways.... Much better to get it done by someone over there. Now that is true for the split type of system that I will be building here, a complete packaged unit could be built for you and then you could take it across the ferry. :D

I just did a quick calculation and it really wouldn't be too expensive. You could still have the unit outside if you have your tank against an outside wall, or you have a crawlspace that the chiller could sit in. You could also just run it next to your tank. PM me if you are interested in something like this. I love building this kind of stuff.

The only limitation really is the availiability of parts that I can get at a price that makes this feasable to do for an affordable price. Luckily, an abundance of these parts becomes avaliable in hot weather from places like Ho-Pot & WallyWorld.

Hey is this another chiller using an AC and a exchanger? we had a big thread on this a long time ago and it was cheap to get an AC, but the problem was the exchanger. I looked into getting a titanium tube and shell type but it made the project almost unaffordable. No maybe you can come up with another way to do an exchanger , I know you can use plastic pipe but I don't know the tables for figuring out what size of pipe ect to make one for a 5K or 10K BTU set up.

Steve

Yes it is one of those threads. I think I've figured out the materials to use in the chiller barrel.

They will be made known once the tank has been running for a bit.

If you manage to find a way to use plastic for the refrigerant lines in the chiller barrel, I would like to know. I would really worry about the oil eating the plastics.

I guess you could chill some glycol and run that through some plastic pipes in the sump or chiller barrel. You would have to have another pump and a secondary chiller barrel to cool the glycol, but you could use copper tubing to cool the glycol in the primary chiller barrel. That would make materials easier to get, but the size of the equipment would grow.

I am toying around with a way to have a sump designed for chiller applications that would do away with the need for a special heat exchanger.

Does anyone want to be the first to try this new and breakthrough technology? (seriously) :D All you need to do is build the sump to my specs, have the A/C unit modified, some lines run and your good to go. I'm going to crunch some numbers to see if this idea would provide enough heat transfer

Ok I've now become uninterested. LOL

I know there is a plastic pipe you can use for refrigeration, and I was thinking you could either make a coil of it in the sump with a sensing bulb type set up or you could get two different sizes and make a simple duel tube type exchanger but I cannot find any info on the heat transfer through the material so I could size out the tubes for a proper BTU rating.

when I go back to work next week I'll call buddy in the fridge shop and see if I can find out what the type of plastic was again.

Steve

I would definitely be interested in knowing what that product/material is.

Here is what is planned. Obviously each is different according to where your tank is. Picked the "sun room" because the condenser unit can sit out there alone. I purposly left space behind the tank for cleaning and occasions like this, so the chiller barrel will sit behind there. There is about 4" to work with.

Karl will be bending the refrigerant lines around and through my computer room to the unit. The pump will be used off of the mag 7 im using from the sump to the fuge on top of the aquarium. Its only running about 30% with the back pressure falling back into the sump right now.

Canreef require it to be sized down. Hope you can see it.

Here's some progress pics to soothe the masses

Pic #1 - PVC Parts for the barrel
http://www3.telus.net/kethlerhvac/IM000672.JPG



Pic #2 - PVC caps before drilling and tapping
http://www3.telus.net/kethlerhvac/IM000675.JPG



Pic #3 - PVC cap after tapping for the plumbing and the gland nuts to seal around the refrigerant tubing
http://www3.telus.net/kethlerhvac/IM000677.JPG



Pic #4 - Refrigerant tubing I bent up tonight. It has to be in that shape in order to fit into such a small diameter chiller barrel
http://www3.telus.net/kethlerhvac/IM000680.JPG



Pic #5 - Cap with fittings attached and the tubing running through the cap with a perfect (I hope) seal.
http://www3.telus.net/kethlerhvac/IM000681.JPG



If anyone has questions, feel free to ask. I wasn't real detailed. I did number the pics so you could reference when asking questions. Let me know what you want to know.

Hopefully Hightower will step up and post some pics of his tank so everyone can see what a nice system it is going to be cooling

Hi Karl,

Looks like you are linking to pics on your Home Computers HD. You will need to upload the pics to a server or an image hosting site and link from there.

I was hoping no-one would notice as I learned how to post pics here...:redface:

hehe... no worries. Shows up great now. :wink:

I did happen to notice that the link in your sig doesn't go anywhere either ;)



90% of people will click the link when they read this :D

Funny.. works for me.

(Im still working on building the site though so it just goes to a holding page.)

Karl, what did you use to make your Refrigerant tubing? as in what material is it?

Steve

Karl
are you able to elaborate on pipe sizes and descriptions? From what I can see, I believe the part list for the barrel may be:
2x 4" PVC caps
2x 1/2" ball valves (SxS?)
2x 1/2" unions (SxS?)
8x 1/2" 90 elbows (SxS?)
2x 1/2" 45 elbosw (SxS?)
4x 1/2" couplings (SxS?)
1x 1/2" male x slip adaptor
1x 3/4" female x slip adaptor
1/2" tap?

Please correct the above information accordingly.
Also what size tubing and material is the refrigerant tubing made of? (This will also help with the gland nut size)
What approximate dimensions is the tubing after being bent to that shape?
How long of tubing did you initially have to buy before bending it?

Don't worry so much about what parts are actually used right now.

I'll post progress pics along the way and let you know what size the plumbing is and you'll be able to assemble a parts list for your own projects.

The refrigerant tubing is 1/2" OD. The gland nut I bought comes with many different glands for different size cable.

Oh, yeah. The tubing was 10 feet long before I bent it up. I had an extra 3 feet that I cut off after bending. I would assume that I used 7 feet then.:lol:

The tap is a 1/2" NPT (National pipe thread) tap. I can't remember where I got it from.

While I'm posting. I should let everyone know that Friday is the next planned build day. We should be able to get it mostly done and maybe get a frosty coil pic before I close the barrel up. I'll try to remember to do that. Everyone seems to love those pics.

Any other requests for lots of pics of a specific part of the project?

I'm working on a design for a chiller that is self contained. Should make it easier if someone wants one shipped to them. I've got most of the major parts for it. Just need to get a few other things and build it, I guess...

Anyone want to try one out for cost of materials?:mrgreen:

yup one.. what material did you use for the refrigeration loop?

Steve