Der Goetz
07/01/2003, 05:31 PM
Hey!
I did what some DIY guys adviced and build myself a chiller based on the "2.7 cft Dorm Fridge with bucket and coiled hose inside" concept. That thing was completely overwhelmed by my 140 Gallon setup......my powercompacts brought the temp up to 81 degress opposed to 83 without the chiller......bummer...wasted 100 bucks.
Then I remembered that, when I moved to San Diego in 98, I had bought a DeLonghi airconditioner. A room-to-room unit on wheels.
The unit has 2100 watts!!!!
It hassn't seen action on over 4 years..classic dust-collector
I opened it up and the chilling radiator was sitting on top of the unit. A fan blows air right through the chilling radiator and cools the air....insufficient, eh?
Soooo....I took the screws out, dremeled around and after a minute I had the radiator bend out and hanging outside of the airconditioner unit.
I dropped the radiator into a 40 Gallon bucket filled with 80 degree water....5 minutes!!! later it was down to 50 degrees!! OMG!!!!
I'm in heaven now!
The whole setup looks more like a drop-in tank then a in-line chiller. The radiator get's dropped in the bucket, it cools the water in the bucket directly, not through the air as a middle man.
I'll have the chiller cool the 40 Gallon bucket. Inside the bucket is a rio800 for circulation and 100 feet of Flex coil garden hose (green, coiled Garden hose from Home Depot, 1/2 inch inner for $25 total). The sump has a Rio2100 which shoots water through the hoses, and the chilled water runs back into the sump. That way I have two seperate systems and the Air conditioner cannot contaminate my Aquarium water. Hooked everything up to an AquaMedic two-stage controller......wooot!
I have a big hose run the hot air away from the Aquarium, no problems there anymore, either.
I found that the dorm fridge was highly insufficient because it uses it's housing as it's cooling surface, not a regular radiator like the bigger fridges do.
It cannot get rid of the heat it extracts from the water quick enough.
I know that my DIY project doesn't really help anyone out there, who has a airconditioner on wheels lying around?No-one..... BUT: The in-window airconditioning units cost $99 at Sears, I wonder if you can do the same with those as I did with my $700 Monster?
I did what some DIY guys adviced and build myself a chiller based on the "2.7 cft Dorm Fridge with bucket and coiled hose inside" concept. That thing was completely overwhelmed by my 140 Gallon setup......my powercompacts brought the temp up to 81 degress opposed to 83 without the chiller......bummer...wasted 100 bucks.
Then I remembered that, when I moved to San Diego in 98, I had bought a DeLonghi airconditioner. A room-to-room unit on wheels.
The unit has 2100 watts!!!!
It hassn't seen action on over 4 years..classic dust-collector
I opened it up and the chilling radiator was sitting on top of the unit. A fan blows air right through the chilling radiator and cools the air....insufficient, eh?
Soooo....I took the screws out, dremeled around and after a minute I had the radiator bend out and hanging outside of the airconditioner unit.
I dropped the radiator into a 40 Gallon bucket filled with 80 degree water....5 minutes!!! later it was down to 50 degrees!! OMG!!!!
I'm in heaven now!
The whole setup looks more like a drop-in tank then a in-line chiller. The radiator get's dropped in the bucket, it cools the water in the bucket directly, not through the air as a middle man.
I'll have the chiller cool the 40 Gallon bucket. Inside the bucket is a rio800 for circulation and 100 feet of Flex coil garden hose (green, coiled Garden hose from Home Depot, 1/2 inch inner for $25 total). The sump has a Rio2100 which shoots water through the hoses, and the chilled water runs back into the sump. That way I have two seperate systems and the Air conditioner cannot contaminate my Aquarium water. Hooked everything up to an AquaMedic two-stage controller......wooot!
I have a big hose run the hot air away from the Aquarium, no problems there anymore, either.
I found that the dorm fridge was highly insufficient because it uses it's housing as it's cooling surface, not a regular radiator like the bigger fridges do.
It cannot get rid of the heat it extracts from the water quick enough.
I know that my DIY project doesn't really help anyone out there, who has a airconditioner on wheels lying around?No-one..... BUT: The in-window airconditioning units cost $99 at Sears, I wonder if you can do the same with those as I did with my $700 Monster?