Homemade chiller in the making

[sage]

Sorry I didn't mean to actaully tear apart the plumbing to the point you have to re-charge the fridge. What I surmised was that inside the fridge you will probably find a cold radiator - maybe with a fan in front of it (do I see a fan inside the fridge in one of the pictures?). I was suggesting there might be enough flexibility in the piping to re-locate it into the container of water the plastic pipe is in.
I guess if you can do that then you really don't need the fridge cabinet any more. Just an insulated bucket contaiing the cold radiator, water and the pastic pipe. Add a platform to hold the compressor, piping condenser and evaporator and all the rest of the gubbins and hey - you've pretty much destroyed the fridge

Sorry I suggested it.


Sage

[destroyer125]

Right now til I get more funds for the project, im sticking 9 gallons of acid pulled out of the tank, chilling it in a deep freeze for a few hours, and pouring it back in with the rest of the acid to do the run, it usually holds its temperature for a long time before it starts to change

[sage]

So you just pour a bit back in at a time as the temp rises to bring it down to normal?
Sounds like that should work. You must have a big tank if you can still run it with 9 gallons missing

Interesting.

On the issue of the cooler though, bottom line I think you need to eliminate as many of the air interfaces and plastic pipe interfaces as possible. Air is pretty inefficient in heat transfer as is the plastic.


Sage

[Sid03]

Hate to bring up old threads.....well, actually I dont

Destroyer- Any progress on this? Ive been sitting here working on a similiar design. Im curious if you tried another version of this setup.....

Instead of buying an expensive acid pump and pumping the acid through the coil have you thought of just putting a coil(im going to use Polyurethane coiled hose) in the ano tank and circulating water in a closed loop system between the fridge coil and tank coil using a cheap fish tank pump? The small fridge would have an easier time keeping the water in the system cool since its continously circulating through the system. You just need to make sure you have decent tank circulation so the cooled fluid gets circulated well.

Any thoughts on this? Im about ready to start buildin

[destroyer125]

I dropped the project until I get the chance to pick up a pump

[acidrain]

My 40' of 1/2PVC coiled in the bottom of my shop fridge didn't work for ****.
Next I tried submerging the coil in water to try to get more heat transfer, but basicaly I get about a 1 deg. F. drop in my 40 gal. tank, then I have to let the 40' of PVC chill again befor running the pump for an additional 1 deg. F. drop.
If I was to do it all over again (and I probably will), I'd just run a window AC unit into the insulated box that my tank sits in. Too bad my tank doesn't sit on the outside wall in my shop.

[destroyer125]

ive been able to do fine with the chilling 15 gallons of water down to about 30* then dumping it in the 80* water...it will stay near 68 and slowly rise for about 2 hours to about 76-78...Then I have to rechill

[Sid03]

acidrain- your running acid through the coil in fridge and not a closed loop system like i mentioned, correct?

[acidrain]

Originally Posted by Sid03

acidrain- your running acid through the coil in fridge and not a closed loop system like i mentioned, correct?

Thats correct.

[jrow]

Just a "thought".

If you have seen the water coolers that hang on the walls in some business places would those work? OR the old style water coolers that you put a 5 gallon jug in, would those work? You would probably have to add a pump, don't know for sure!

John