DIY Chiller

[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

[muck]

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.

[KarlK]

Originally Posted by muck

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...

[muck]

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

[KarlK]

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

[muck]

Funny.. works for me.

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

[Chin_Lee]

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?

[KarlK]

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.

[KarlK]

Originally Posted by Chin_Lee

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?

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.

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?