My new homemade chiller

[cameraman]

I built an icewater based chiller and tested it yesterday. It works pretty well. The tank temp (6 gallons) started at a little over 80°, ambient air temp the same. After 1 hour and 7 lbs (1 bag) of ice the tank temp was 73.4°. After another 1/2 hour the tank temp was 72.6° so I dumped a little more ice in, and another 1/2 hour got it to 70.6°. The water in the ice bucket started at ambient temp. Next run I'm going to try pre-chilling it using blue-ice packs; I believe if I start with cold water I can get the ano tank under 70° on one bag (we all have to have goals ).

The idea was to circulate the ice water into the ano tank instead of the other way round so that I could use a cheaper pump - I used a pond pump that has a 240 gph output. The piping's all sched 40 1/2" PVC. I think schedule 20 would have worked better but I couldn't find any. I also would have preferred to use 1/4" for the 'cores' but couldn't find any of that, either.

I put restrictions in the 1st three tubes in the radiator to encourage more even flow. I'd originally intended to make it a closed system with a radiator in the ice bucket but it occurred to me that it might actually be a little more efficient to just circulate the bucket's water, and it simplified construction.

The cross bars at the ends are for hanging my cathode plates. I blocked off the one near the pump connections but it apparently didn't hold; it gets cold.

[cameraman]

One more photo.
I have disconnects on the hoses so that I can put ano tank's lid on when it's not in use.

[destroyer125]

chilling the electrolyte itself then using it directly in the tank seems to prove better results. You might want to look into some kind of way to put coils in your ice tank to keep from having to use ice....you will also have better temperature control if you insulate the bucket and put a lid on it

[cameraman]

The bucket's insulated (that bluish tint) except for that top collar. I may add a layer of aluminum insulation on top of that, but that stuff was pretty pricy. I've fashioned a styrofoam lid for it but left it off for the photo shoot.

From ice I'll proceed to the frozen water bottle idea combined with the blue ice packs, then eventually I'll go for the dorm fridge. A friend told me about a place that sells used ones removed from hotels for $40 - I dono, maybe a new one would be worth the extra $30..

I understand what you're saying, but I prefer to recirculate regular water. The pump is a readily available mid-sized one at $35, and they have a smaller one for $20 (it might have been $25) that probably would have worked about as well. If anything ever breaks and I have a spill, it's a non-issue.

And actually, with the ano tank at 6 gallons and my using an estimated 4 gallons in the 5 gallon bucket, my thinking is that the heat transfer is going to be about the same whether I'm circulating acid to the cold or the cold to the acid. The most inefficient part is the plastic radiator, which would be present in either configuration.

[destroyer125]

I wouldnt go for the dorm fridge....wish I wouldnt have touched that project....it takes 5 seconds for the fridge to rise 20 degrees after opening it...and 1/2 hour to cool down...it doesnt have enough BTU's

[acidrain]

Nice job cameraman! A nearly 10F drop in temp in 2 hours is really good.

[cameraman]

I wouldnt go for the dorm fridge
That's a big bummer, it seemed like such a great idea.
I looked around for real chillers, am I looking in the wrong places or are they really $600-800?

A nearly 10F drop in temp in 2 hours is really good.
If I weren't stingy with the ice it probably would have gone faster; the ice water temp was 33.5 while ice was still in it and rose into the 60's in the first half hour after it all melted.

[hurricaneracing]

I seen a new chiller on Ebay for 199.99. This was the same price as the regular web page price. If I can manage to find the address I will post it.

[hurricaneracing]

http://www.liverocknreef.com/shop/in...7&prevstart=36

Let me know what you think about this one. From what I have been reading everyone tring to make something work has probally spent at least this much to to mention the hours if planning, glueing, engineering and so on.

[destroyer125]

thats a good find...the ones ive been looking at were in the 250+ area