budleydoright
Well-Known Member
Those Ecoplus chillersr eally can't be compared to the chill king. I believe they are really more of an aquarium duty chiller than an industrial duty.
Water Cooled Grow Rooms
- Thread starter phillipchristian
- Start date
Hucklberry
Well-Known Member
After some serious thought on finding a DIY low cost way to provide chilled water to use in applications for a grow room I came up with this idea. Tell me what you think.
I take my chest freezer which has a molded plastic inner shell as most of them do, Fill it with enough water to cover 3 or 4 of those Wort stainless steel coils coupled together with short pieces of garden hose. Set the freezer temp control to a setting that would get the water in the freezer compartment very cold but not frozen. If the stock thermostat can't do this then replace it with one taken from an old refrigerator. I would hope that when the sytem is up and running the heat coming back from the room would be enough to keep the water in the freezer from freezing. Even if it did you could use antifreeze in a closed loop system. You really can't hurt those stainless coils. I know someone is going to say " what about a leak. My answer is, if you use good materials and pressue test the system like all closed loop cooling systems in the commercial world, then leaks won't be a problem. There are all types of risks you take when growing, This is one risk vs reward for cheap cooling I would be willing to take. of course the freezer sits outside the room and if stealth is a concern and your room is in your garage it looks very natural. Dual zones for hydro systems could be a bit tricky, but for those of us using soil this just might do the trick.
Finally I read alot of posts concerning condensation, the answer is insulate the water lines as the do in the commercial world. cheap insulation for piping is available at all the home improvement stores.
I'm very intrested in feedback on this idea, Thanks in advance!
budleydoright
Well-Known Member
Your chest freezer is designed for a static load. Adding heat constantly will almost certainly burn out your compressor. I think a rez chiller could be done like this, but nothing that could handle HID lamps.
phillipchristian
New Member
Yea, I don't have much faith in their compact ones (the little black box) any more than cooling reservoirs but I don't know too much about their commercial ones and the 1.5hp is a commercial unit. I don't think they are all that bad and they have hose connects so they are designed for hydroponic use.
Hucklberry
Well-Known Member
Your right to a point, but it would depend on the heat level coming back. In my case I have 8'x16' room. 5-400 watt lights the intake and output are vented outside the room. The ballast are also outside the room. No co2 no dehumidifier yet. I would only use for ambient room temp. During the peak of summer I would only have to lower the room by 10 or 15 maybe 20 degrees. Having a window ac mounted in a room in the garage is a dead give away when seen from the street. Although I'm legal I have always operated with stealth in mind. I thought posting more infomation on my room might help. Probably would not work for a larger operation with 4 or 5 1000 watters and other associated gear. I currently have the ac window in use but people have already asked me whats going on. I just tell them it's a recording studio or a wood working shop but I'm not sure there buying it.
phillipchristian
New Member
I agree with Budley on this one. If you are trying to cool 1 light or maybe some reservoir as well then go for it. Anything more than that and you will be putting too much load on that compressor and it will fail eventually. The design sounds great and I don't think you'd have any problems with freezing but those freezer compressors are not meant for heavy loads.
As far as you idea about condensation and pipe insulation. It doesn't work; especially in a grow room. If you are running water through your pipes that is 45-50 degrees and using that foam insulation then you are going to have severe condensation build up and mold problems. That insulation will also turn literally to mush within 2-3 months max. I use Rubatex which is a thermal nyplon/plastic insulation fitting that is considerably more expensive and I still don't run my chiller below 55 because it has led to problems.
phillipchristian
New Member
Instead of all of that buildout; and since your lights are already vented; why not just get a portable a/c and just vent the exaust. If you ONLY need to cool the ambient temps in the room then that will be a lot easier and probably cheaper. You can get a 12,000btu one for like $400.
Hucklberry
Well-Known Member
The portable ac would help with the stealth aspect. The cost of the needed materials I don't already own would about $150 more than a portable ac. Makes sense!
The DIY blood that runs through my veins says for $150 I need to try it anyways if it doesn't work I could sell the 4 Wort coils and recoup part of the cash.
Thanks and +rep for your post.
Hucklberry
Well-Known Member
I was speaking about an insulation product we call armaflex, my contact at work would supply this at little to no cost. I'm sorry, I was probaly misleading you a bit, fiberglass insulation would not work and I'm not sure they even sell Armaflex at the box store. For the sake of arguement let's scrap the insulation idea and change the design a little. Would mounting the condenser just inside the room with only 12 to 18 inches of exposed water lines help with condensation maybe use a drip pan to collect it?
phillipchristian
New Member
That would work fine. Just stick a bucket under it and you'll be ok. Make sure you wipe the lines down often too; will help prevent mold buildup.
budleydoright
Well-Known Member
I would suggest looking into this further. I know there are dozens of forum posts on various sites with people building chillers out of freezers, mini fridges, water coolers, and air conditioners. It may work if the freezer can work during the dark cycle and store enough energy in the form of ice or a super chilled solution. It will end up with the early demise of the freezer though. they are just not made for any type of continous load. What your doing is the equivelent of leaving the door open a crack.
The hacked up window AC is the only real diy solution I know of that can handle a continous load.
The hacked up window AC is the only real diy solution I know of that can handle a continous load.
Hucklberry
Well-Known Member
Thanks bud for the post I do have a couple of ac window units and refrigerators laying around maybe I could take the compressor out of one and see if it's feasible to solder/braze it into the freezer.
Warlock1369
Well-Known Member
Hay phil. Have you tried AC and dehumidifiers at different higths? I'm thinking of changing it up but not sure if I'm going to make it worse or better. Right now I have the dehy up high top 3 feet of my room and AC in the middle aimed down. Did this for heat reasons. Hot air holds more water and heat rises. But was thinking of dropping the dehy to the bottom 3 feet taking the heated air out the room. And placing the AC up top. AC is a window unit so only the face is in the room. Now I go thru alot of ro waste water so still thumbing of using that to cool the intake side of my lights that are sealed and vent to the adict. Bringing down the temps left from the AC and dehy. I'm looking at 120 outside temps so cooling is a must. Any ideas? It's a 14x14 room with a 20x18 hot room. And if everything gose rite I'll have 6000 watts of lights going in 2 months.
phillipchristian
New Member
Hey bud. I've never really thought about it. I would think that putting the dehumidifier down low would push the exhaust from it to the ceiling and then force the more humid air down to be dehumidified. Also, I always recommend having your a/c push air to the ceiling if you have a window unit. It will cool and dehumidify your room more efficiently.
For cooling the intake side of your lights I still think you are gonna need a chiller or another portable a/c. With those types of temps and that much lighting you really don't have much of a choice. Chiller being the more expensive upfront cost but more efficient and the portable a/c being the cheaper quick fix which will cost you a little more every month in electricity.
For cooling the intake side of your lights I still think you are gonna need a chiller or another portable a/c. With those types of temps and that much lighting you really don't have much of a choice. Chiller being the more expensive upfront cost but more efficient and the portable a/c being the cheaper quick fix which will cost you a little more every month in electricity.
polyarcturus
Well-Known Member
hey huckleberry i got some extra parts lying around and can get a hold of refrigerant.. how do i go about pressurizing the system after i add my pipes and make my new bends and what not? is there a bleeder valve on the compressor? can i hand pump? what kind of gauges do i need? i have a couple that where given to me free a long time a go that still work or i can but a new set or borrow some from a friend
Warlock1369
Well-Known Member
That's what I'm thinking now. And the reason I asked. I have it set up the way I would a job im on but looking at it I think I'm ass backwards. Well I got 6 weeks to get the stuff I need. I'm gonna go for it and give you a up date if my first was better or swapping was. Next one might be my last in this house and changing things up so might help
Warlock1369
Well-Known Member
There isn't many people I trust for info. So I'm lucky to have you to bounce ideas off of. Thanks
Hucklberry
Well-Known Member
The ports for the gauges would have to be installed in the approriate lines when you put in the other compressor. The household freezers and ac units I have seen don't come with these recharge ports from the factory. Basically there throw away items when they fail and discharge. Also if your a tree hugger you should recover any old refrigerant when you discharge the old system. In my area it's the law. My brother works in the HVAC field and I would let him handle the recharge.
phillipchristian
New Member
My pleasure to help anytime man. Let me know which one works out better. Usually on rooms that size you really won't see a difference just cause the air is so dispersed and with all the fans blowing you get really good movement.
budleydoright
Well-Known Member
If your going to do any brazing recharging on a window unit. Build one of like this. This is a window AC with the evaporator replaced with a direct to water coaxial coil. You can even buy them with stainless steel coils although they are very expensive. I was getting ready to test the salt water version, which should be usable with nutes but am no longer using a chiller. Paid less than 50 bucks for 2 of the coils at a surplus yard.
I ran 3 fresca sols with 600 hps off of this 100 window unit from wal mart. I could bring 50 gallons down to 50-60 degrees quite easily with this load.
I has a friend in the appliance repair biz do mine. took him 30 minutes. He brazed in schrader valves while the unit was charged, sucked all of the refrigerant out. Cut the new coil in and recharged it.
