MeGaKiLlErMaN
Well-Known Member
This is one of my update videos, not the best update... But for proof of concept... It works and cost me $110. Keeps the water cool.
$110 DIY Water chiller works!
- Thread starter MeGaKiLlErMaN
- Start date
-
- Tags
- diy diy chiller water chiller
Airwalker16
Well-Known Member
Dude it's so weird. Where your picture shows for the video a frame of when you're opening your res, it looks like some kind of disgusting thick intestine colored, blob of nasty shit in the water when I first looked at it .
MeGaKiLlErMaN
Well-Known Member
I thought it looked just like bubbles, but hey I can see that too lol.
Vumar
Well-Known Member
That shit doesn't work well enough for what he paid / what it is. He has a submersible pump releasing heat into the water around it as the cool water return pours over it. Atleast go inline pump and avoid submersible pump heat. I ran 100' of garden hose through an old school mini fridge that worked better than today's mini fridges with an inline pump and went super slow with the GPM through the chiller and it still wasn't a noticeable difference let alone cheap or a solution. Then again I had 80 gallons of water total! 
MeGaKiLlErMaN
Well-Known Member
That sucks man, it works well for me but I have 200' and the pump not runs directly into the different buckets and then returns to the res. Im now under 70 degrees at about 67. So I turned the temp up a bit.That shit doesn't work well enough for what he paid / what it is. He has a submersible pump releasing heat into the water around it as the cool water return pours over it. Atleast go inline pump and avoid submersible pump heat. I ran 100' of garden hose through an old school mini fridge that worked better than today's mini fridges with an inline pump and went super slow with the GPM through the chiller and it still wasn't a noticeable difference let alone cheap or a solution. Then again I had 80 gallons of water total!
Vumar
Well-Known Member
I'm mildly jealous you had luck with it! I had fun tearing apart my fridge and all that but it was a disappointing conclusion for me. Luckily I ran into some money on the side of the road while playing Pokemon Go and was able to buy a 1/4 HP chiller. Thing will probably use like 5 amps (rolls eyes) but handles what I need done. After 50 gallons you pretty much need a chiller assuming there's at least 1000w of HID involved. I had 1600w going at the time too... Big differences lol. You'll get another 2-3 degrees cooler if you insulate your RDWC lines and totes. Well worth the Home Depot trip.
MeGaKiLlErMaN
Well-Known Member
Im running 800W of CXB3590 DB 4000Ks heats never going to be a problem... The room gets up to 75 Degrees and 80 once and a while. I MIGHT be running one DE 1000W and two 1000W HPSs if I expand some. But I hope that I can just sell them before I get to that point lol.
GreenLegend420
Well-Known Member
A 70 pint dehumidifier is what i use. I went by a diy to take off the cover and just unhook/bend the radiator looking part out more to the front, letting it sit in a cooler or tote. Fill the cooler with water and turn it on. It will turn chill the water really fast. I pump it from there to chilling worts.
MeGaKiLlErMaN
Well-Known Member
You have a photo or two showing it in action? Idk what that would look like.
GreenLegend420
Well-Known Member
No but ill snap a few when i get a chance but im telling you man i would put it up against a 1hp commercial. It has its downsides but for less than $300 cant beat it imo
Fastslappy
Well-Known Member
ever try a auto radiator placed in a cool crawl space or basement ?
pump yer water thru the rad in a cool spot in the house
run a fan on the radiator pipe a closed loop sys to the rad & res
run a loops of Copper pipe inside the res ( that' the heat transfer unit that cools the res)
you should get near ambient temps for the crawl space in your res
just an idea I've seen guys do this to cool shit on the cheap
pump yer water thru the rad in a cool spot in the house
run a fan on the radiator pipe a closed loop sys to the rad & res
run a loops of Copper pipe inside the res ( that' the heat transfer unit that cools the res)
you should get near ambient temps for the crawl space in your res
just an idea I've seen guys do this to cool shit on the cheap
GreenLegend420
Well-Known Member
This is kinda what the diy dehumidifier does but it has a compressor pumping r134 through it and it will turn the water to ice if ran to long
Fastslappy
Well-Known Member
that's the set-up i'd do like yours a refer or a old window a/c core & compressor then a thermostat
GreenLegend420
Well-Known Member
Heres a good vid on it. In the end when hes talking about bending the copper its easy to do its like bending a coat hanger. Just go slow and dont bend to fast or to much pressure.
I just leaned it back and put the radiator part in a container and i have about 10-15 gallons in it. You'll want to get aluminum chilling worts for beer. I would say one for 30 gal rez or less and two for 30-75 gallon. Just pump the water 24/7 through the worts and dump back in the chiller rez and your good to go.
You can test run it and put it on a timer or you can get temp controller for fish tanks and keep at any temp you want.
Yesdog
Well-Known Member
I wish somebody would make a cheaper peltier-element chiller. They had those IceProbe things on amazon super cheap, $110. Got one of those and some aluminum tape. Such a happy reservoir now.
Those peltier elements are soooo cheap though. You can get 10 for $10. And for the surface area, they are incredibly powerful. The IceProbe only has ONE SINGLE ELEMENT. There's not a single complicated thing about that cooler. The guys that made that thing just never ever faced any competition. The probe itself is the only custom machined thing. You could probably make a quadruple sized one that just used a single probe stolen from the IceProbe, and add a larger aluminum cooling plane. Amazon is littered with cheap fans and heatsinks.
Those peltier elements are soooo cheap though. You can get 10 for $10. And for the surface area, they are incredibly powerful. The IceProbe only has ONE SINGLE ELEMENT. There's not a single complicated thing about that cooler. The guys that made that thing just never ever faced any competition. The probe itself is the only custom machined thing. You could probably make a quadruple sized one that just used a single probe stolen from the IceProbe, and add a larger aluminum cooling plane. Amazon is littered with cheap fans and heatsinks.
MeGaKiLlErMaN
Well-Known Member
That's true and I used that on a water cooled LED panel I made a long while ago.. I chilled the water on a long aluminum heatsink but only after the water was cooled on a radiator. My only thing is I know they put out some heat on the other side but it would work.
Yesdog
Well-Known Member
Yea, they cool on one side and kick out heat on the other. Similar concept to air conditioners and other heat exchangers, except you have a very small are where the differential is (just the thickness of the peltier). It's ideal for water cooling and bulkheading definitely. Either way they work best with liquid passing over them otherwise they just tend to freeze whatever they're touching. That's why the aluminum bulkhead 'probe' on the IceProbe is so awesome- allows you to properly handle the heat on one side (via cooling planes/pipes/heatsinks), and all the 'cooling' is passed into the probe through the bulkhead.
I bet you could you could make a larger cooling plane from the probe with like, 9 of these. Would be maybe ~400w, but could cool like 100 gal.
I bet you could you could make a larger cooling plane from the probe with like, 9 of these. Would be maybe ~400w, but could cool like 100 gal.
Freddie Millergogo
Well-Known Member
There are a couple of videos on youtube with Peltier systems including MMJ guys. Amazon or eBay has a kit a guy in China makes.
bri77
Well-Known Member
Are they any good for a res inside the grow room? you'd need to step up your venting right?