Dopest's "Cooler" DIY Chiller

[BudLove]

ok so when i tried to use a water cooler the coils got very cold and frosted up but when i put them in the water the coils didnt get cold enough to actually have a effect on the water.. Was my water cooler just crap or does these actually work for you??? if it does i will so go out and find another cooler.

Oh and i found out that my neighbor had a 50gal fishtank setup with a bunch of gear and he had a water chiller along with it and sold it all for 150.. I almost cried

Personally I run mine 45mins on, 15mins off... right now a single unit is cooling a 6 bucket recirc DWC with a 7th bucket as a rez... it's a shitload of water and keeping the temps around 70F based on the current timer schedule. I'm sure these things werent meant to be pushed that long but fuck it, for 35.00 I'll just get another if it breaks.

However, I DID use the plasti-dip...not the shit in the spray paint can but the shit in the smaller pint. Just poured it in a foil throw-away pan and glopped it on the coils with a paint brush...

Dont get me wrong though, it's not like I literally feel the freezing energy pouring off the unit...but with 45mins on, it slowly, ever so slowly cools it all down.

I'll take slow over spending 350.00 anyday...

 

[Green Force]

lol well boys im about to roll with this shit in 2 days hopefully it will cool my 50 gallon dwc recirc system


if not ima add a 2nd controller rubbermaid tub and throw 2 of thos bitches into it

 

[Green Force]

k so i just got my water cooler how long is it supposed to take for this bitch to make cold coiles? right away or takes some time for it to cool down?

 

[Green Force]

lol nvm i spoke wayyyy too soon lol now lets see if this bitch cools 50 gallons

 

[Green Force]

lol this thing is working its asss off to cool my water down from like 77f to 74f in like 2 hrs

 

[Green Force]

lol k this is not working so much peace of shit lol any one any advice? any ideas?

 

[Carl Spackler]

Man...how hard was it to cut that stainless? lol

 

[Green Force]

tin snips lol im actualy a 3rd year apprentis carpenter, dont usualy fuck with refrigerant shit tho LOL

 

[Chaghatai]

After building my chiller out of a dehumidifier, I've decided that any cooling compressor is a chiller. Bigger the setup, bigger the comperssor needed.

To convert your H2O cooler DeVenT, you could fill the metal bowl with water and either circulate it directly into the res with feeder lines and a pump, or you could place 25+' of 1/2" tubing coiled in the res and a pump in the metal H2O chamber circulating the chilled water through the coils in the res to act as a heat exchanger. Better still to use a titanium heat exchanger in the res as 18" of titanium will do as much as 35' of plastic tubing.

An upgrade would be to remove the metal bucket and put the coil of copper directly into another container that could hold the heat exchanger. It would either be a direct sump of res water or use coils of plastic or a length of titanium to act as a heat exchanger.

With a simple loop of copper that you have, it is also feasable to strap a bent titanium tube directly to the copper coil. A pump in the res would circulate res water through the tubing, insulate the whole thing and that would be about as efficient watt for watt as an aquarium chiller. (more than some since not all use titanium)

edit: for right now, just dump the copper coil into a small tub of water, and either circulate it directly in the res, or use a coil of plastic tubing as a heat exchanger. To use a coil, it should be at least 25' worth.

 

[Chaghatai]

I was concerned about copper toxcisity as well and opted to do a heat-exchanger. My chiller is a converted 40 pint dehumidifier that ran 7.5 amps, which makes it a 1hp chiller potentially. Since I'm running plastic tubing, I'm not yet at full efficiency, but I'll get that titanium soon and then I'll be happy. (that and I need to insulate my chiller sump.)

I made a thread about it before I discovered this one.

http://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=96647

It was based on advice found on this page.

http://www.guarriello.net/chiller.htm

A lot of good information about chillers comes from aquarium hobbiests since coral is even more sensetive than our beloved MJ plants.

 

[cannabislocator]

been reading all of these threads her is what i came up with.
i have a cold water and a regular water spout on mine
i am gonna unscrew the spigots
use one for the in and one for the out. and just circ through the main tank without ever pulling the unit apart at all.
i am just gonna put a lid on the top no tear down no risk of breakage

 

[d4twamp]

cannabis locator, post some pics of your chiller when its done, and let us know how that works for you..if so I'll do mine that way too...

D

 

[Bud-Boy]

Why do the copper cools need to be protected.
Does it leach into the water? how quick will it really corrode??
Do you have any supporting literature???
Anyone out here actually lose a crop OR cooler to corrosion ??


My wort chiller for beer brewing is pure copper, Wort is an acidic solution
No problems with that or copper brew kettles
or our water pipes as far as "leaching" is concerned

Could they be coated with a thin wax?
Plasticote almost defeats the purpose, it insulates the heat transfer
It at least diminishes efficiency dramatically
Thought of a clear laquer but it would be way too fragile
If copper exposure is a problem that is

at this point im just going to use a turkey bag
But I need a much better solution

Are there any other threads about this i missed?

 

[FLoJo]

wouldnt it be just as easy to get a cube mini fridge, coil a shit load of tubing inside and pump nutes through into the res? i think it was mentioned earlier but it seems that since a minifridge has a thermostat and a better cooling unit than a water cooler it would be a better choice? i do love the diy cooler though.. i am in the process of deciding how to make mine.. it also needs to cool about 50 gallons

 

[Bud-Boy]

seems like that would work well
except it seems inefficient
nutes through plastic into cold box area, heat transfers through plastic to the air,
from the air to the fridge coils and then exhausts out the back
Maybe a stainless steel keg in a cooler to hold the nutes and its pumped direectly to the crop???

But it still raises the question...

Will the copper affect the nutes
and will the nutes affect the copper?????

 

[milehighco]

Product called Paint Dip in the HD paint isle. You can spray the copper like spray paint. then you can submerge the copper directly in the res. works flawless.

 

[Bud-Boy]

Product called Paint Dip in the HD paint isle. You can spray the copper like spray paint. then you can submerge the copper directly in the res. works flawless.

Never heard of "paint dip"
Ill look for it today.

If its the same as "plasti cote"
Im trying to avoid insulating the coils in rubber

DOES ANYONE KNOW IF THE COPPER LEACHES INTO WATER
(I dont think so)
AND
WILL THE COPPER CORRODE IN THE NUTES?
AT WHAT RATE???? very very slow I 'm guessing

 

[FLoJo]

i have been reading a few other diy cooler threads, and it seems that others have used the mini fridge idea, and the compressor burns out fairly quickly.. I was wondering what about those small chest freezers.. you could do the same thing as the mini fridge, put a large tub inside, fill it with water, run tubing through the top, down into the water, and back up.. seems like a better method considering that those chests have cooling elements on 3 sides usually, and have much stronger compressors?

 

[Bud-Boy]

At that cost may as well just go for the nutrient chiller

Chest freezer and 68 degrees? Would that work??

Maybe just change the range of the thermostat relay

 

[badbert]

Man guys check Craigslist. Look for the sunbeam model with the little fridge in the bottom. Cut that bitch open and carefully pull that little panel used to cool the fridge submerge that thing in water FORGET THE COPPER TUBES!!

Best part is, the sunbeam model is defective! It leaks so most people bought theirs and they leaked within a year, so the compressors are like new!!