DIY Chiller

[davidc]

Originally Posted by customshopguy

Hey guy's this is one of my first posts so i welcome myself. Anyways i was wondering why nobody just uses an in-line pump to force water through a small heater core say for a honda accord, and run about 4 small computer fans on it. this would definatally cool your water down and you could put the fans on a variable output power converter to control the speed/noise. I think it would work great and would be very cheap. Please post any comments on the idea.

copper = kills everything

Depending on what the heater core is made of, it could cause big problems. It probably wouldn't last very long in saltwater either.

[Geoff]

Originally Posted by customshopguy

Hey guy's this is one of my first posts so i welcome myself. Anyways i was wondering why nobody just uses an in-line pump to force water through a small heater core say for a honda accord, and run about 4 small computer fans on it. this would definatally cool your water down and you could put the fans on a variable output power converter to control the speed/noise. I think it would work great and would be very cheap. Please post any comments on the idea.

Welcome to TRT!!!



unless it is made out of glass or Titanium it will prolly be very toxic to the fish.

G~

[OkieReef]

I built a Chiller for my 150g using peltier junctions. They are terribly inefficient, but easy to use and 200 W easily does the job I needed it to do. In addition to that, I built a thermostat that would switch the current through the Peltiers so that at night the same chiller is a heater. I can explain how to do it if anyone is interested.

[davidc]

Originally Posted by OkieReef

I built a Chiller for my 150g using peltier junctions. They are terribly inefficient, but easy to use and 200 W easily does the job I needed it to do. In addition to that, I built a thermostat that would switch the current through the Peltiers so that at night the same chiller is a heater. I can explain how to do it if anyone is interested.

I'm planning to use a small thermoelectric device (peltier) for my 1Gal pico reef

I'd like to hear how you did yours. I don't need the electrical explanation, just the mechanics of how you mounted it, etc...

[OkieReef]

I used a block of aluminum which I milled down so that I could press fit several tubes of 316 stainless steel into the block. I then mounted all the peltiers on the outside of the block with some pretty large finned heatsinks. I mounted them in sets of four so that there was one on each side of the block which were all held together with plastic wire ties. In order to get the water to go through I found a couple of PVC manifolds at a hot tub supply place and used acrylic tubing and silicon to attach the manifolds to both ends of the block. Right now I just have a large fan blowing over the heat sinks. I hope to improve this by enclosing the whole contraption and forcing all the air flow over the heat sinks. I just use a small power head to push water out of the sump and back through the chiller. I hope this helps.

[davidc]

Originally Posted by OkieReef

I used a block of aluminum which I milled down so that I could press fit several tubes of 316 stainless steel into the block. I then mounted all the peltiers on the outside of the block with some pretty large finned heatsinks. I mounted them in sets of four so that there was one on each side of the block which were all held together with plastic wire ties. In order to get the water to go through I found a couple of PVC manifolds at a hot tub supply place and used acrylic tubing and silicon to attach the manifolds to both ends of the block. Right now I just have a large fan blowing over the heat sinks. I hope to improve this by enclosing the whole contraption and forcing all the air flow over the heat sinks. I just use a small power head to push water out of the sump and back through the chiller. I hope this helps.

That's a great idea! I understand what you're saying. Thanks!

Now I've just got to figure out a way to scale something of this nature down to a single 40mm peltier on a 1 gallon picoreef.

[Geoff]

Originally Posted by OkieReef

I used a block of aluminum which I milled down so that I could press fit several tubes of 316 stainless steel into the block. I then mounted all the peltiers on the outside of the block with some pretty large finned heatsinks. I mounted them in sets of four so that there was one on each side of the block which were all held together with plastic wire ties. In order to get the water to go through I found a couple of PVC manifolds at a hot tub supply place and used acrylic tubing and silicon to attach the manifolds to both ends of the block. Right now I just have a large fan blowing over the heat sinks. I hope to improve this by enclosing the whole contraption and forcing all the air flow over the heat sinks. I just use a small power head to push water out of the sump and back through the chiller. I hope this helps.

could you post a pic? i am word challenged.

G~

[concept3]

2 to 3 degree pull down! Fluval 202 very slow flow, about 5 feet of tubing, fridge cranked all the way up!

[Geoff]

Originally Posted by concept3

2 to 3 degree pull down! Fluval 202 very slow flow, about 5 feet of tubing, fridge cranked all the way up!

what sized tank?

this does work for smaller tanks. it is also not the most efficient way to cool a tank, energy wise.

G~