Mounting chiller outdoors
 

Does anyone have any experience with mounting chillers outside?

I'm curious what people have done for protecting the chiller unit itself (casing, etc.) and what challenges were there for plumbing the tank water to the outside and so on (particularly those in the prairie provinces, where presumably the plumbing has to be shutdown for the winter season and so on).

It can't be much different overall though, than household AC (i.e., making sure the unit is protected from the elements, and reasonably secure so that someone walking by can't walk away with it, and so on) and from a heat dissipation issue probably makes more sense than keeping the chiller in the same room as the tank itself.

I think I would be more apt to just vent the hot air outside rather than mount the chiller outside. I would also think this would be an easier thing to do. Sort of like a dryer vent idea. Besides, after paying that much for a chiller it ain't sittin outside where some yahoo could walk off with it (I live in a great neighborhood :razz: :rolleyes: )

will u need to run it all year or just in the summer . email me a pic and i can help u with it .

thanx aaron

Don't have a chiller yet, just wondering about it and how to plan for it. I assume that a chiller's ability is related to how well it can shed heat itself. To have the unit outside is probably the easiest way to release that heat into the ambient air, much like how an A/C would do it. But I wonder if they need a special casing? I mean, you woudn't want rain and stuff to get on it. But then how does an A/C unit handle that?

I'm assuming you could probably get some honkin' L-brackets that attach to the foundation of the house, and somehow bolt the unit down to that.

Or is it better just to have the unit in the tank room, and just ventilate the unit really well?

Isn't a chiller basically the same as a fridge and can they be run outside safely below freezing? Back home the old man would always shut down the beer fridge in the carport over winter.

For my new place, have been thinking about running some tubing loops outside through the basement wall buried a few feet deep (ideally deeper). They would be hooked to the sump on a separate loop. Sort of a heat pump idea.

you can mount it out side but when you get under -5c you will have a lot of problems and the unit will more than likely shut down or crap out at about -10c. if you whant to run a unit out side i could build one but it would not be cheep . the best way is to build it to exhast out side via ductwork so you dont push the heat into the room becouse as the room warms up you will lose the cooling capasity of the chiller .
pm me tony if you want some help with the chiller .

thanx aaron

why do you say this? at any rate when it approaches zero it will most likely be shut down.. Tony if you have to mount it outsize you have to pick a good spot, ie. shady in the summer but protected in the winter. you will also need to put it in some type of enclosure that will let air flow freely but prevent rain or flood waters from getting in. I personally don't see a problem as you could insulate it a bit in the winter to help but all in all it is the same things as an air conditioner for your house that sites outside, but I will reserve that opinion until I see what Aaron is concerned about at lower temps.

. my one concern would be the water in the lines freezing so if you shut it down during the winter you will need to blow the heat exchange clear and lines clear so they don't get damaged.

another idea might be to build a second insulated cover for it with ventilation flaps that only open when it is running and then put a small light bulb in there to maintain the internal temp above zero.


the other option is to ventalate it outside. for this I would just build a unit that will seal onto the back of it and get one fo thoes inline fans to draw the air through it, this will also increase the preformance of the chiller as aposed to just sitting in the front room.

Steve

thats right im not a journeyman refrigeration and hvac teck . if any one needs help in this area i will help just pm me as for outher people who are "experts" of all thing and want my help i have a charge out rate .



thanx aaron

I've seen a bunch of threads on RC of people who put them outside. Some people put them in a rubbermaid container with some venting to allow the heat to dissappate yet protected the chiller from the elements...

mine has a nice powder coated case with no electronics in it so you could just chuck it outside with little hassle i assume, just a little roof over it to keep the rain off would be good.