DIY Chiller

[KarlK]

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

[KarlK]

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.

[KarlK]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

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

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.

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.

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by KarlK

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

[KarlK]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

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) 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

[Jason McK]

Ok I've now become uninterested. LOL

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by KarlK

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 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

[KarlK]

Originally Posted by StirCrazy

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.

[Hightower]

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.

[KarlK]

Here's some progress pics to soothe the masses

Pic #1 - PVC Parts for the barrel




Pic #2 - PVC caps before drilling and tapping




Pic #3 - PVC cap after tapping for the plumbing and the gland nuts to seal around the refrigerant tubing




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




Pic #5 - Cap with fittings attached and the tubing running through the cap with a perfect (I hope) seal.




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