DIY Chiller

[Hightower]

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

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by Hightower

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

[Quagmire]

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.

[KarlK]

Originally Posted by Quagmire

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?

[Quagmire]

Originally Posted by KarlK

Why do you assume there will be problems?

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

[smellsfishy]

just post the diy thing already.

[Snappy]

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.

[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