Grow Mediums Reservoir on the rocks: Keeping your H20 cool

[ballzbeard]

Summer has arrived for some and is nearing for others, so I figured this question relevant: what diy solutions/advice do you all have for keeping res. temps down?

 

[Grey Bear]

quick and dirty
is 1liter and 2 liter bottles of water frozen.
It is what I use in my Ice cooler rez's.
Mini fridge will work if you are using a RDWC system.

 

[ballzbeard]

I fixed a 80mm fan to the top of my res. lid and put a funnel over it to allow air flow but minimize light contamination. I have a 1ltr bottle in the fridge as we speak. I'm also going to put my res. on wooden blocks and have a fan blowing across the bottom of it. The goal is to get to ~24*C or below.

 

[Corgy]

I was thinking about this today, and got this camping trip inspiration from owning one of these dunno if it would work/be enough cooling capacity.....keep in mind that compressed air is "hot", and some of that heat be absorbed by the water........it's a losers game, you add energy and want it gone at the same time....there's a price for such contradiction!

Something like this where the cooling unit is in the lid or high up(no pun!) the side, cut a hole a la Grey Bear without cutting any cooling parts, any model would do provided access to the interior is possible through the lid and by-passing the cooling unit

Amazon product ASIN B003KP3NL0

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Dometic 9105202819 CombiCool RC 1200 EGP (50 mbar)

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| 13 Questions answered

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• Absorberbox 12 volts, 230 volts and gas 50 mbar
• Robust housing and fuktionelles Design
• to 25 ° C below ambient temperature
• noiseless operation

 

[Grey Bear]

I see where you are going Corgy,
I think you could even find them cheaper.
Just have to insure they are water tight.
If you found any seam or hole, you could probably just silicon over it.

 

[Corgy]

Yeah, that was my thought.......I did look around briefly for cheaper boxes, but they are small and from the pictures the "engine room" gets in the way.....at least the ones I saw. Will keep a look-out for cheap no-name brands in the next couple of months.....it's that time of year!

 

[Corgy]

Forgot to mention, apart from the initial cost of the box, wonder how much it cost to freeze a 2 L bottle compared to say above box that uses max. 85 W when it is running.....run-time would obviously depend on a number of factors........let alone the convenience of not being a perpetual bottle-runner!

 

[KsjAuto]

I fixed a 80mm fan to the top of my res. lid and put a funnel over it to allow air flow but minimize light pollution. I have a 1ltr bottle in the fridge as we speak. I'm also going to put my res. on wooden blocks and have a fan blowing across the bottom of it. The goal is to get to ~24*C or below.

I have used the 80mm fan concept last year. Keeps my res about 8c cooler than ambient temp.

 

[ballzbeard]

I'm considering taking your idea in another direction and just making a heat exchanger. Bubbleponic res sits on top of hose that is pumping chilled water; heat is removed via convection. Should be easy to maintain a steady ΔT by keeping the pump water housing cool by adding icepacks and the like.

 

[Corgy]

Yup, that's another way.......a bit more elaborate and the re-circulation pump will add heat......... mmmmm......delta T.......brings back some memories!

Question is of course of these weak'ish cooler boxes has the moxy to keep the resolution cool enough to get down in the sweet spot around 19 C in an temperature ambient of say 25-27 C.......dunno if my 160 Euro cooler box will suffer the ignominy of facing up to this......methinks not.....for now!