DIY= Do It Yourself Water Chiller that Works!
- Thread starter cruzer101
- Start date
squirrelfooker
Active Member
Vinyl tubing. Not the best for heat transfer, but I don't need that much transfer. There's probably 30ft of tubing inside the cooler for the flower, and 30ft for the veg side. With room temps of 80f the water was at 75f with no chiller, now it is at 66f constantly. This just happened to be the coldest setting the A/C thermometer goes down to with it stuck into the reservoir.
DjTumbleweed
Active Member
Great info and thanks for the pic's
Cuttings2Colas
Active Member
These are great, guys... I'm in desperate need of an economical chiller, and I'll definitely be giving this a shot.
Does the case need to be removed to use the chiller plate, or did you just do that to fit in your cabinet?
With the A/C unit, what is used as the thermostat? Does it just work like the fridge, where you put in on a setting and adjust it yourself, or do you have a temperature switch for the water?
C2C
(+rep to both of you)
Does the case need to be removed to use the chiller plate, or did you just do that to fit in your cabinet?
With the A/C unit, what is used as the thermostat? Does it just work like the fridge, where you put in on a setting and adjust it yourself, or do you have a temperature switch for the water?
C2C
(+rep to both of you)
"SmokinForever"
Active Member
Nice work pretty cool dude
Healing Herb
Member
very carefully and took out the componants... pluged it in and it no longer works. I have run down all the electric and cant find a problem...but it no longer fires up when you turn on the thermostat.
any help?
any help?
Healing Herb
Member
Ok so I bypassed the thermostat and now it works great - loud as hell though! Guess I am gonna hafta find a replacement thermostat...
I don't get it, when I did it the thermostat was attached and didn't see how I could bypass it. The other thing is you mentioned it make a lot of racket... I wonder what that is. Is it vibration from the compressor?
I did leave the mount attached.
One thing I can add at this point, after using it for a couple months in a six gallon res I found it is pretty powerful for that size and with the thermostat at one I get the water about 15 to 20 degrees cooler.
So that means when ambient temps hit 80's I need to shut it off.
If you find a way to attach a more accurate thermostat please post it here.
I did leave the mount attached.
One thing I can add at this point, after using it for a couple months in a six gallon res I found it is pretty powerful for that size and with the thermostat at one I get the water about 15 to 20 degrees cooler.
So that means when ambient temps hit 80's I need to shut it off.
If you find a way to attach a more accurate thermostat please post it here.
I dont know who the fuck you think you are but those type of comments are not welcome in my journal.
Healing Herb
Member
So I figured out how I busted the thermo... when I was cutting thru the thin plastic into the 'freezer' section I nicked the little copper tube that acts as a sensor... not sure if I can resolder it and make it work... but I will let you know.
To bypass the thermostat I just 'hotwired' the two black leads that go into the dial controller - you can ignore the ground wire (green) at the thermo cause the thermo is not getting power now - but the ground would need to be reattached if the thermo was unbypassed...
I am actually using this to air cool my seedling/clone cabnet I just built. I built a little box slightly larger than the 'freezer compartment chiller plate' and am running two small computer fans thru it. Works great keeping the temp a steady 75 lights on 65 lights off (125 EQV CFL) So I am thinking screw the thermostat... ok so 65 a little cooler than I would like for this cab... so I am going to see if I can just have it shut off for night and stay cool enough... I will upload some pics of the setup. BTW you can rebend the tubing to make it more compact if you are VERY CAREFULL and DO NOT CRIMP THE TUBING. I was able to get mine all onto one side of the cabnet exterior. Also I woke up this morning thinking how can I use this to cool the air AND my little 3 gallon res for this set up... I think I might have the answer if I can find a small auto heater core then put that inside the little box and run water thru it....hummm wonder how cheap a small core is...hummm - I will update.
BIG UPS AGAIN FOR THIS THREAD !!!!!
Looks like the heater core is prohibitive in size and cost ... perhaps I will do a mini tubing spiral in the chamber instead...
Stayed at a perfect 70 during the 'night' so looks like I will run it full for 'day' then just shut it down minus the air moving fans.
To bypass the thermostat I just 'hotwired' the two black leads that go into the dial controller - you can ignore the ground wire (green) at the thermo cause the thermo is not getting power now - but the ground would need to be reattached if the thermo was unbypassed...
I am actually using this to air cool my seedling/clone cabnet I just built. I built a little box slightly larger than the 'freezer compartment chiller plate' and am running two small computer fans thru it. Works great keeping the temp a steady 75 lights on 65 lights off (125 EQV CFL) So I am thinking screw the thermostat... ok so 65 a little cooler than I would like for this cab... so I am going to see if I can just have it shut off for night and stay cool enough... I will upload some pics of the setup. BTW you can rebend the tubing to make it more compact if you are VERY CAREFULL and DO NOT CRIMP THE TUBING. I was able to get mine all onto one side of the cabnet exterior. Also I woke up this morning thinking how can I use this to cool the air AND my little 3 gallon res for this set up... I think I might have the answer if I can find a small auto heater core then put that inside the little box and run water thru it....hummm wonder how cheap a small core is...hummm - I will update.
BIG UPS AGAIN FOR THIS THREAD !!!!!
Looks like the heater core is prohibitive in size and cost ... perhaps I will do a mini tubing spiral in the chamber instead...
Stayed at a perfect 70 during the 'night' so looks like I will run it full for 'day' then just shut it down minus the air moving fans.
bicycle racer
Well-Known Member
plus rep for your ingenuity im outdoor now but i grow indoor when i can.
Great idea,
Glad to be of help. So I get it now. I could replace the thermostat for a more accurate one then. I didn't think I could, thanks.
Oh and yea, you do have to be real carefull with those tubes. I went and bought a tube bender from home depot for like $20 used it and returned it. LOL I can be real cheap sometimes.
Glad to be of help. So I get it now. I could replace the thermostat for a more accurate one then. I didn't think I could, thanks.
Oh and yea, you do have to be real carefull with those tubes. I went and bought a tube bender from home depot for like $20 used it and returned it. LOL I can be real cheap sometimes.
Thanks Racer, much appreciated.
newb19547
Well-Known Member
Hey now....calm down. That comment was towards someone who got banned about a minute after i wrote that. His post was deleted. And I'd say its more of a tuturial than a journal
I must admit i assumed your derogatory remark was toward the previous post and I didnt quite understand, I may have jumped the gun there.
Well, you are certainly entitled to your own opinion in regards to a journal or a tutorial and I appreciate your explanation. However I myself along with the roll it up moderators believe we are a community of growers, a family if you will, and there is no room for people who insult others.
In other words, Don't talk shit in my thread and we will be fine. We cool?
Well, you are certainly entitled to your own opinion in regards to a journal or a tutorial and I appreciate your explanation. However I myself along with the roll it up moderators believe we are a community of growers, a family if you will, and there is no room for people who insult others.
In other words, Don't talk shit in my thread and we will be fine. We cool?
Healing Herb
Member
Yo Cruzer do you ever have problems with your 'ice tray' frosting up or icing up? How often does yours kick on? Is it totally submerged? My air cooling set up works but the problem is it turns to a big block of ice after 2-3 days. How do you keep your box cool? Is it just ambient temp from the house? My apt stays warmer than 80 usually (I lika da heat!) So I need to cool my tiny seedling booth (1'x2'x2'). Thinking I might create a second small cooling RES that the 'tray' sits in that a fan blows on for cooling the air - humidity is not really an issue I would think since this booth is just for starting seedlings and clones , seems like this might cure my icing problem - as long as the 'cooling res' doesnt turn to a block! Whata ya think?
Hogdady
Member
Well, first to answer your questions. I have a thermostat set at the lowest setting so it comes on for like 20 min. every couple hours. The cooling unit is submersed in the res water about 3/4 of the way so the top about 2 inches of it never gets wet. I have never seen any ice forming on it.
How I keep my box cool, I assume you are talking about the grow area not where the res is. I have cut a hole in the sub floor thats my intake and set the cab on top of it, I run my lights at night starting at 8:8:00 PM and I vent outside up top by going out the back and then out the window. (its in my cabinet build journal)
I think your problem is the humidity in the air is collecting on the tray and doesn't have time to melt off. maybe you need to see if you can solder that hole in the thermostat line and get That working.
How I keep my box cool, I assume you are talking about the grow area not where the res is. I have cut a hole in the sub floor thats my intake and set the cab on top of it, I run my lights at night starting at 8:8:00 PM and I vent outside up top by going out the back and then out the window. (its in my cabinet build journal)
I think your problem is the humidity in the air is collecting on the tray and doesn't have time to melt off. maybe you need to see if you can solder that hole in the thermostat line and get That working.