Later, John
--- "Crail, Todd" <tcrail-in-UTNet.UToledo.Edu> wrote:
>
> I've seen a few people who have done the fridge
> thing. After everything was
> said and done, they spent as much money (not to
> mention their time, whatever
> you "bill" your free time at) and just ended up
> buying a room AC instead to
> get the spouse happy again. But... If you're single
> and like to engineer, by
> all means, have a ball :)
>
> Todd
> The Fish Room is Air Temp Madness, Toledo, OH
> It's never too late to have a happy childhood.
> http://www.farmertodd.com
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: owner-nanfa-l-in-nanfa.org on behalf of Jase
> Roberts
> Sent: Mon 5/29/2006 12:59 PM
> To: nanfa-l-in-nanfa.org
> Subject: NANFA-L-- Homemade chiller
>
>
>
> Hey All,
>
> One thing to consider with Todd's fan chiller (swamp
> cooler, essentially) is
> that box fans use a LOT of electricity. My standard
> one from Wal-Mart or
> whatever draws 120W on low, 160W on medium, and 220W
> on high... That adds up
> quickly (especially if you're running two) And, of
> course, remember that all
> of that electricity is ultimately being converted to
> heat (in one form or
> another). As Todd notes, it's only going to work if
> your humidity isn't too
> high, and you're going to need to add quite a bit of
> water to the tank as it
> evaporates.
>
> Here's a thought I've been mulling over for a cheap
> chiller... I haven't
> built this, but I can't see why it wouldn't work. I
> plan to do this whenever
> I decide to actually start breeding my natives.
>
> Use either a little bar fridge OR your regular
> kitchen fridge (depending on
> proximity of your kitchen to your aquaria and the
> sensitivities of your
> significant other). If you can get by with your
> kitchen fridge, you'll save
> all the extra cost of running a second fridge (those
> little ones are usually
> pretty inefficient, since they're marketed to
> college kids and cost of the
> initial purchase is the driving factor -- certainly
> not energy efficiency).
>
> - Drill two holes through the side/back of the
> fridge to accommodate 1/4" ID
> vinyl tubing (or whatever diameter you
> want/need/have on hand). Don't hit the
> coils or any wires (unplug your fridge first,
> please)
> - Get enough vinyl tubing to reach from your
> aquarium to the fridge and back.
> - Cut the vinyl in half and pass it through each of
> the holes in the fridge
> (so you have two free ends inside). Use silicone or
> hot glue to seal.
> - Get/make the appropriate fittings to connect a few
> feet of flexible copper
> tubing to the vinyl inside the fridge, and wind that
> into a coil.
> - Inside the fridge, have the copper tubing sitting
> in a 9x13 baking pan (or
> whatever) full of water (better heat transfer). The
> copper tubing isn't open
> to this pan, just passing through it.
> - Get a cheap in-line pump
>
(http://www.discount-pumps.biz/inline-pond-pumps.htm)
> or submersible pump
> (http://www.discount-pumps.biz/aquarium-pumps.htm)
> and connect that to the
> vinyl as a feed from your aquarium. A consideration
> here is that the pump is
> going to ADD heat to the system, so in-line is
> probably better and as small as
> possible definitely best.
> - The free end (coming out of the fridge) then just
> returns to your aquarium.
> - Control temperature by turning the fridge up or
> down, OR by adjusting flow
> on the pump (if it's variable)
>
> So the whole thing (drawn linearly) looks like:
>
> aquarium -----> vinyl tube ----- inline pump----
> vinyl tube ----->(next line)
>
>
> |--------------------------------------------------|
> ---------FRIDGE--->[____copper tube in water
> pan___]---vinyl tube---(next
> line)
>
> |--------------------------------------------------|
>
> ----------> aquarium -----> cool, happy fish
>
> Any reason this wouldn't work? The bigger the
> surface area of the water pan
> in the fridge (and the longer the copper tube heat
> sink), the colder the water
> you're going to be able to return to your aquarium.
>
> If you really want to take best advantage of it, get
> some rigid Styrofoam
> insulation to line the back and sides of your
> aquarium with (reduce
> condensation and heat loss).
>
> If you try it, let me know. I'm curious.
>
> -Jase
> Montpelier, VT
>
>
>
>
>
> Crail, Todd wrote:
> >>Has anyone tried modifying a personal (tabletop)
> refrigerator as an
> >>inexpensive alternative to a chiller?
> >
> >
> > As for a chiller... Here's one that I put together
> last night with this
> > freakin' hot spell we're under (It's too early for
> this crap! Sheesh!)
> >
> >
>
http://www.farmertodd.com/nanfa/reefle/052906/cheapchiller.jpg
> >
> > One is blowing down, the other is blowing out.
> Lost the temp on the temp
> > gaugae last night (which meant it was in excess of
> 86 F). It's down to 76
> > right now. Also lost about 3 gallons of water
> lol. Gas exchange can get
> you
> > out of a bind in a hurry :) You can do the same
> on smaller systems with
> a
> > little clip on fan. The only time you get into
> trouble is when it's
> dagnasty
> > humid and you can't get a single drop more into
> the air. However, by doing
> > this in combination with AC, you'll make the AC
> run a lot more efficiently
> at
> > cooling the tanks.
>
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=== message truncated ===
John Cox of Cumberland Killifish
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