Compressorless Chillers are Cheap and they ROCK!!!

ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
This might be the best reason yet to get in on the new trend to water cool your grow; in cool weather, you can extract excess heat from your op without using a compressor unit at all; that's real, useful, substantial cooling capacity for the forty watts it takes to run the extraction fan- instead of 2000 watts for a typical 2 Ton chiller or AC unit.

I went to the junkyard and got a radiator, in my case one from a Mitsubishi Lancer. I did try to use the electric fans anyway mined in place but converting between AC and DC power is a much bigger pain in the ass than it's worth- so I just rigged up a good floor fan to do the very same job.

I got a well fitting fan shroud while at the junkyard, that helps with airflow management immensely. The air must be pulled through the radiator; if there are any gaps, seal them up with duct tape.

It's not coincidence that I'm also using a junkyard radiator for an air handler in my growroom- but here, I'm pushing the air through the radiator.

This saves major bucks; I built the whole thing for less than $125. It might save that much in electricity cost in just the first month of operation! Anytime the outside temperature is lower than your cold water threshold- mine is 50f- it can provide effective cooling. The colder it gets, the more cooling it can provide.
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
Big Nugz said:
Anyway to explain this a bit more or pics? Are you using this to cool res water also?
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I'll get pics today.

My chilling circuit cools RDWC water, cools and dehueys growing spaces, and even heats my home with the heat rejected from my normal, compressor driven chiller.

The compressorless chiller is simply a radiator fed with cooling circuit water that sits outside. When it's cold enough, about 18 out of each 24 hours lately, I plug in a fan that pulls air through the radiator, cooling the water passing through it.

Part of the attraction is its simplicity.
 
GrowerGoneWild

GrowerGoneWild

Well-Known Member
Yeah, I've toyed with the idea of a heat exchanger. I'll have to fab up something like that in the spring/summer.

Nice thing about your cooler is not using much electricity for cooling, so you could run more lights. :)

Would you be better off using a temp control trigger?.. instead of manually plugging in the fan?
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
GrowerGoneWild said:
Yeah, I've toyed with the idea of a heat exchanger. I'll have to fab up something like that in the spring/summer.

Nice thing about your cooler is not using much electricity for cooling, so you could run more lights. :)

Would you be better off using a temp control trigger?.. instead of manually plugging in the fan?
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Of choose I'll put it on a thermostat in a bit. For now it's fun to play with it.

Waiting until spring our summer would be a total waste of time; they work better the colder it gets, so now is the ideal time.
 
GrowerGoneWild

GrowerGoneWild

Well-Known Member
ttystikk said:
Waiting until spring our summer would be a total waste of time; they work better the colder it gets, so now is the ideal time.
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I dont really need more cooling power now.. I'm fine.. but I do see your point.

I should be able to use the heat exchanger during the alaskan summers, I run my op at night so I can use the cooler nights more to my advantage.

Anyways... love the idea, I'm all about using the least ammount of power to operate a grow. Any "green" concept or ways to conserve are very welcome.
 
butsack

butsack

Well-Known Member
wtf.:cuss: its supposed to cool up to 55gal of liquid. One guy says he freezes 5 gallons using 4 of them?:confused:

idk i thought it was like what u were describing... lol:mrgreen:
 
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eebbnflow

Active Member
yes its a great idea! anything that's free wins. its 15F where I am now . the colder the more cooling I know but can it be too cold even with glycol ? I was wondering if typical steel cage floor fan would freeze up outside
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
eebbnflow said:
yes its a great idea! anything that's free wins. its 15F where I am now . the colder the more cooling I know but can it be too cold even with glycol ? I was wondering if typical steel cage floor fan would freeze up outside
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The secret is to keep the water flowing constantly and run the fan to boost cooling only as needed. Outside, when you're trying to cool the radiator, PULL the air thru- which means fan and motor are downstream of the radiator and will be kept warm by it.

In the growroom where you're trying to cool the air, PUSH air thru the radiator for best effect.
 
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eebbnflow

Active Member
ttystikk said:
The secret is to keep the water flowing constantly and run the fan to boost cooling only as needed. Outside, when you're trying to cool the radiator, PULL the air thru- which means fan and motor are downstream of the radiator and will be kept warm by it.

In the growroom where you're trying to cool the air, PUSH air thru the radiator for best effect.
Click to expand...
thanks . I might try this out with a 6inch icebox nd fan I have laying around and stick it outside . even to help cool a res. to play around with it
 
pop22

pop22

Well-Known Member
I'm surprised there's not more interest in this. i hate running my air conditioner all year.

How cold does your winter get? we get to -30F sometimes here. 15 to 20F much of the winter. How do you control res temp when running passive? Would a smaller radiator, say a heater core work effectively as a passive unit? I suppose that would really depend on the total system capacity though. What do you use for a heat exchanger in the res?
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
pop22 said:
I'm surprised there's not more interest in this. i hate running my air conditioner all year.

How cold does your winter get? we get to -30F sometimes here. 15 to 20F much of the winter. How do you control res temp when running passive? Would a smaller radiator, say a heater core work effectively as a passive unit? I suppose that would really depend on the total system capacity though. What do you use for a heat exchanger in the res?
Click to expand...
Use the water in the res as your heat exchanger. Use a fan sucking through the radiator outside to reject heat. Make sure the waterpump runs constantly, to control water temp, put the fan on a thermostatic switch so that when res temps are cool enough, it shuts off.
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
eebbnflow said:
thanks . I might try this out with a 6inch icebox nd fan I have laying around and stick it outside . even to help cool a res. to play around with it
Click to expand...
I played around with a box fan and a junkyard radiator from a Mitsubishi Lancer, lol It was worth three Tons of chilling at 32°F!

I may run it again this winter to help reduce power consumption of my new heat pump- but since I'm using the heat it generates as well, I won't want to help it too much, lol
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
If the weather is cold enough during the winter where you live that it spends a lot of time below the forty five to fifty degree target temperature of your chilled water circuit, this approach can save a great deal of money.

It will save me money this winter by allowing me to reduce the overall load my heat pump sees. Less load means less power consumption means saving money.
 
pop22

pop22

Well-Known Member
I'm going to give it a try. My 10k BTU air conditioner draws 1000 watts I could be using for that pump and fan, and 800 watts more of LED!
 
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