DIY Chiller

[Jason McK]

Ok I've now become uninterested. LOL

[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

[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.