DIY DIY Water Chiller

[Muddy]

I'm setting up an indoor hydro room and have been giving some thought to building a water chiller. Wanted to ask if anyone has experience building one. My friend and I have been discussing it and the best idea we've come up with so far is a refrigerator with a tank of water inside. Coils suspended in the water tank to chill the water. The piping and pumping we can easily set up. Any ideas?

 

[quixotic1]

Kingpincooling.com/forum/showthread.php?t=490 check that out maybe what your looking for. I do a lot of plum ing work and from time to time I find myself researching heat exchangers and stuff like that. Sorry I couldn't just post the link. Hope it helps.

 

[gtron]

I think the issue for you to solve is going to be your circulation.
How fast you are circulating the cold water will make a difference, as well as how much heat is picked up while running through the system.
I am sure there will be a "sweet spot" that will be balanced between how fast the water is moving thru the system and how quickly you can cool it with the compressor you have that will probably take some trial & error before dialing it in.
Hospitals & Nursing homes have to use a circulation system on their hot water systems to prevent burning patients. Depending on which state the facility is in, variation can only be a couple of degrees.
It is not a problem getting the water to its optimal temp, but then you have to have a pump that will move the water quickly enough to maintain that temperature throughout the system.
So consider your total water volume as well as your water pump speed when you are designing the system.

 

[Muddy]

Thanks much. That's a pretty slick setup but probably a little to noisy for my application, but I'll certainly keep it in mind.

Kingpincooling.com/forum/showthread.php?t=490 check that out maybe what your looking for. I do a lot of plum ing work and from time to time I find myself researching heat exchangers and stuff like that. Sorry I couldn't just post the link. Hope it helps.

---------- Post added 10-12-2011 at 07:55 AM ----------

Yes, I realize those issues will also need to be considered. There will also be a distance factor involved that will require that at least the return line be insulated to prevent cooling loss. But for now I'm more concerned in coming up with an effective way to cool the water.

I think the issue for you to solve is going to be your circulation.
How fast you are circulating the cold water will make a difference, as well as how much heat is picked up while running through the system.
I am sure there will be a "sweet spot" that will be balanced between how fast the water is moving thru the system and how quickly you can cool it with the compressor you have that will probably take some trial & error before dialing it in.
Hospitals & Nursing homes have to use a circulation system on their hot water systems to prevent burning patients. Depending on which state the facility is in, variation can only be a couple of degrees.
It is not a problem getting the water to its optimal temp, but then you have to have a pump that will move the water quickly enough to maintain that temperature throughout the system.
So consider your total water volume as well as your water pump speed when you are designing the system.

 

[The Medicine Man]

What hydro setup are you going to be using?

 

[Muddy]

Going to start with a 4 tray AeroJet with a 20 gallon res. Will be adding more trays later, probably 12 total and possibly upping the res to 40 gallon when the last 4 trays are added.

 

[The Medicine Man]

One thing you could look into is aerating the rez. You could run the intake for the air pump from that refrigerator and then out to some 4" air stones and that would be aerating the rez with refrigerated air, keeping it nice & cool. Plus it's be a hell of a lot easier, I think.

 

[Muddy]

Thanks OG, that's something to consider. But wouldn't it be difficult to maintain a consistent temp unless the air stones were hooked up to a thermostat?

 

[The Medicine Man]

I don't think so because the fridge would be at a consistent temp, and the lengths of tubing will be the same, so all other things are consistent except the lighting schedule. As long as you're below 70-72, you're golden, unless you add something like dutch masters zone, then you can have some higher temps. Temperature consistency in the rez isn't that big a deal, IMO, as long as your in the range of say 62-72 deg.

 

[C.E]

One thing you can consider other than a chiller would be to pump cold air through your air pumps into the rez to cool it down. Works perfect if you have a source of cold air to put the air pumps near (Air Conditioner, etc.)