chiller alternative

[silverwolf72]

They have a cheap frig at wal mart for $67 drill a hole in it put a couple feet of tubbing threw it...should work

[VWD]

Originally Posted by silverwolf72

They have a cheap frig at wal mart for $67 drill a hole in it put a couple feet of tubbing threw it...should work

They don't work like You think they will. Buy a chiller, the cost is going down all the time. I have over the years had touble keeping the temps down, now my family live in an ice cave in the sumer. LOL I keep the air low and on 24/7.

[tysfamily]

Excuse my spelling I’m doing this fast and not proof reading I timed out the last try.

Go to a construction remodeling or tear down, school, hospital, motel/hotel ect.

Ask for their drinking fountain if they are throwing any away. Most importantly is to find out why their throwing it out, was it good and just wanted to upgrade or have a better look or was it bad? If they want money just mention the fact that it’s for a home DIY fish tank. That if they give it to you then they won’t have to pay someone to remove the freion for them. It has to be removed by a professional and stamped before it can be thrown away, they’ll load it for you and be glad. If by chance they have several look at the tag on the side. The tag will have the information on it: ie volts, watts, freion type R22 or 134A (R22 is colder), the build date and most of all size. I have found them from 1/6 to 2/3 hp. A 1/6 will work for up to a 20 gal and in a pinch a 29. 1/5, ¼ or 1/3 work well, larger tanks need 1/3 up. The short one’s that hang on the wall are the best and the easiest to change over to a chiller but the tall one’s work well especially if there free. Also the chrome or stainless steel one’s are newer and look lots better sitting in the living room than those old brown one’s.

Once you have it home take the cover off and see if it works, you can hook a hose up to it and see if it gets cold. If it doesn’t come on, turn the temperature setting down, it might have just been to high and they replaced it for nothing. The water, cold freion tubes, thermocouple censer and some have the drain in a Styrofoam or some sort of insulation covering. Take it off and try not to mess it up you’ll need it later. Throw away the drain line and take out the water line, try to keep the water line so that you can make your line like it to replace it.

If by chance you got a tall unit, then slowly bend and form the freion lines to move the unit as low to the bottom as possible, close to the compressor is good. Cut the top half of the cooler off and you can put the top back on later just without the drinking part and drain.

Now get some stainless steel ¼ inch tubing. You can get it at an auto parts store that sells stuff for racecars. Ask for Stainless steel brake line or gas line or ebay stores have it for about a $1.50 + shipping a foot. You can tell just about how much you need from the water line that you removed + 1 foot. The water line most likely was 3/8’s if it was add about another foot. Make the new coil out of the stainless steel line and put it back in, leave yourself about 6 inches at both ends to work with for your pump and return lines. It’s best to but the stainless steel line right on the cold freion line. Remember heat rises so keep the SS line next or under the freion but never over it and wire tie it is best. Put the insulation cover back on, remember to put the thermocouple censer back in also.

Go to a hardware store Ace, HD, Lowes ect. and get 2 barb fittings the size of the line that is coming from your pump and to your return. The barb fittings should be some form of plastic barb to ¼” compression fittings. Put them on and check for leaks, the pump size should be around 80 to 250gph pump or power head. Too slow it might freeze up and to fast it might not have enough time to cool. Set the temperature to what you need, it must be in the tank and you need to tweak it, might take a day or 2. Better yet it is best to just turn it down as far as it will go and plug the chiller into a chiller/heater controller.

Put the old top and back - back on, you’ll need to drill 2 holes for your water lines in and out.

Your cost should be for the SS tubing, barb fittings, water lines, pump or power head and controller if you opt to use one. Good luck and have a really reefing great day.

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[tysfamily]

OH YEA DON'T KINK, SMASH OR BRAKE THE FREION LINES OR THERMOCOUPLE CENSER. If you do an AC/Heating repair person can repair and recharge it for around $50. Sometimes it's best to have them recharged once your done.they can also cut and re mount the freion lines on the tall ones to make them shorter.

[yardboy]

And after all that you'll have as much in it as a Pacific Import chiller costs, and inefficient and more expensive to operate. Plus you'll have a stainless steel tubing that will corrode over time, don't think it won't. Even 316 will deteriorate in a salt environment with fluid flowing through it. That's why chillers use titanium. Sorry, good idea but not practical. Geoff's used one and finally gave it up as too much hassle and not enough return.

[tysfamily]

I wrote this because this was in the DIY Form and the title was for a "Chiller alternative” not “Just go buy yourself a chiller”.
The drinking fountain chiller is for a DIY project. It is intended for the type of person that wants to do it them self’s. It is also for the hobbyist that is on a shoestring budget. Not everyone has the money on hand to run out and buy a chiller. If maintained it will last for a long time and the hundreds of dollars saved can be spaced out over several years on the little bit of on increase that the others would save on the electric bill. If there were any differences at all it would be minimal.

Air conditioners, drinking fountains, water coolers, motor vehicles and chillers all work on the same principle. A compressor, an expansion valve, orifice, temperature controller, cooler exchanger, heat exchanger, suction line, discharge line, drier and some means to dissipate the heat and cold away from the exchangers. Some are better than others, some are built better, some are really generic but basically all are the same. Some have some energy saves over others and some are user friendly. That’s the same with water pumps, lighting and calcium reactors, some use less power and some use less CO2. We still get what we can get or what we have on hand or what we can afford at the time. We will get better later, for now use what we have or do a DIY project. This form was about other forms of cooling. If they worked or not and if they were a quick fix or long term. Just everyone’s ideas, each person should decide what’s best for them and what will work for them.
I looked at chillers and there is no way that you can buy one cheaper than $60.00. $113.80 if you used the MD pump and the Titanium line.[/size][/font]
An Iceprobe, which won’t do any form of large tank, is at least $110. Chillers start out at about $280 and run up and into the $1000’s. Even on ebay with shipping it's around $200 unless you get a really small one and if it works that's another quistion.

Yes if you got a real heat problem, then get some form of cooling. If your running MH’s then most likely you will have a heat problem, which air conditioning alone won’t cure. Fans will help, but most times won’t and can’t do enough fast enough. RO/DI ice in the sump for evaporation water is a short-term quick fix that won’t last. I think that pumping your tank through an aluminum car radiator is way out there in the “Don’t ever do this” place with in the hobby. Ice in the chest is only good if your home, what happens when your at work or away? The Geothermal idea is a good one if you have a cold water tank. The ground stays at 54F; you would need a really good heater to keep up.

For the DIYer’s there’s a form on the internet with pictures about making a dorm sized refrigerator chiller, works great if you do it right. You need a Dorm sized frig, bucket of water, 2 pumps and the hose to hook it all up
There’s even a DIY chiller made out of a window AC unit. Rip out all the fins in the cooling radiator, epoxy coat everything, build an acrylic sealed box around it and plumb it.
Then there’s the drinking fountain, just ideas, which make the world go around. I thought that this was a DIY form for a chiller alternative, but just go buy a chiller because your idea won’t work wasn’t what this is about.

If your not a DIY’er and have a real heating problem. Then you do need a chiller, even if it’s for a few months out of the year. If you want a reef or have a reef, you found the money for the PS, Lights and the corals. You better find the money for a chiller, just a fact or you’ll end up lousing everything and you’ll wish that you had.

Here was my cost, when the SS line fails I’ll put in Titanium. I’ll get a real chiller once I’m done playing, lose the fun out of building it myself, I run out of ideas to see if I can do it better or cheaper, and the kids move out. Whom ever made all of these things, that we use were just DIYer’s. They found a really cool idea and made a fortune from it selling it to you and me.
Fittings $3.90[/size
SS ¼” Line 3 foot $11.00
Controller $45.00
Pump had sitting around
Total $59.90
Options were
Mag-Drive 250 $36.95
Or Maxi-Jet 600 $29.95
Titanium line 3 foot $27.95

[yardboy]

Please don't think I like being a nay-sayer about any idea. I have plenty myself, though sometimes they are off the wall. I've built lots of DIY projects myself, and they weren't all pretty, but if they got the job done, then fine. This idea of a DIY chiller has been around a long time, because a regular chiller is expensive and uses a lot of power. A DIY chiller is only cheaper to build, not cheaper to operate. The only protest I made about your idea is the SS tubing. Use it and it will leach iron and heavy metals into your tank and the livestock will suffer.
If you've built a chiller like this, post pics of it and of your tank. (and send me the supplier link for titanium and a temp. controller at that price!) If it's just an idea you've had, I'd suggest rethinking it.
As for me, I've gotten by quite well without a chiller at all, these fans do the trick, timed to come on with the halides.

[menelaus22]

Originally Posted by skeety

I think you'd be suprised what a difference this can make! I bet you buy a couple Hellmart (hate saying their real name) cheapo fans, and you'll see a 2-3° difference! If you have a glass lid on your tank, remove this and you'll see another 2-3° diff!

MIGHT just keep you right where you want to be!

I thought it was all over for me and reefing when the summer temps came around. My tank was pushing just over 90 degrees and I was really freaking out. Here's what I came up with as a last minute half court shot, hoping to not have to shell out $400 for a chiller...



that fan on the right side of the tank comes on with my metal halide and blows air underneath the lights and across the top of the exposed water. I was able to keep my tank always below 85 degrees the entire las vegas summer. The air conditioning was at 80-81 degrees... so the fan idea really does work wonders!

[yardboy]

Good idea and really cool shot!