DIY= Do It Yourself Water Chiller that Works!

OK Here are the results of my DIY water chiller.

I have been growing in a cabinet for about a year and a half. Pretty good results in hydroton
Well now I want to try aeroponics. I got a larger cabinet and built a system out of a under bed storage container.

Thing is, I needed a chiller. I use a small res. Its actually the controller from a water farm eight pack I had drilled some holes in.
I circulate the water with a 180 gph pump.

Now I have posted this in my cabinet grow journal but I figured it was buried there and started a new post so people can find it.

First I tried the portable cooler. Low wattage thermal electric cooler.



I ran seven loops of tube inside and back to the res. filled it with water and gave it a shot.



I realize this is with no insulation and I probably could get better hose but I wanted to see what it would do.
It got maybe 2 degrees cooler. I knew that wasn't enough to continue with this.

I read a DIY using a small refer with tubing in it. Then one where a guy put the cooling tray right in the res.
I wanted to try that so I went on craigslist and bought one for $50

After I got the new small refer home I realized it was different then the DIY I had read.
The evaporator or grid was not on the back. I figured it was just inside the back panel.

I disconnected the thermostat



Then used my disk grinder to cut because I didn't have a cutting blade.



Then basically peeled back the case to find the coils were ran around the fridge.



I looked at it and thought "how the hell am I going to get this to work" I went this far, Might as well finish.



After cutting a hole for the cooling unit I slid everything out the front and left the system intact.



The lost my shade so I took a break until sundown. It was 97 degrees.

Then I took the res and set it inside the system and carefully bent the cooling tray inside.
It was still about 93 degrees outside but no direct sun.



Here is the back



I let it run with the thermostat set in the middle for about an hour.

It cooled about 4 degrees. The thermostat was under water and I didn't know if that made any difference but
I drained about a gallon of water so it set in the air. Then I realized I didn't have anything to compare it to so I
got a home depot bucket and filled it with water too. I set a thermometer it that as well.
I turned the thermostat all the way up, kept the circulating pump on and left them until noon today.

Todays outside temps are 101 degrees.
Here is the uncovered bucket of water temp 84 degrees





I really didn't think this was going to work, well I looked inside,




Then checked the temp. 58 degrees.





AWESOME! 26 degrees cooler without any insulation!
I am circulating the res with a small 180 gpm pump.

Now that is worth working with. Now I need to figure out out to insulate it.
I am thinking about sandwiching the coils between Styrofoam and venting the compressor somehow in the cabinet.
It is a sealed system so I cant extend the tube to the cooling unit and set it outside the cabinet. Unless I cut a 4x8 inch
hole in the side of the cabinet to fit the cooling unit through and then it is not very stealth.

But for those of you who have a grow room this will work well.
My guess would be in say a 10x10 room you may see a 5 degree increase in ambient temps.
But in my 2x4 cabinet with 2 foot height in the bottom I am afraid It will be more like 15 to 20 degrees.

I guess there is only one way to find out.


Oh by the way,
Here is a pic of the upper shelf of the cabinet I built. Totally stealth 48 by 24 and 79 inches tall.
I cut a hole in the floor for intake and made a window box for exhaust. I cover the build in the journal if your interested.




Here I am just starting some seeds. The aerotub is under the red tray. The T5 is just to get them started.
The HID lighting is one of those new Ceramic Metal halide 400w bulbs and Hydrofarm ballast.

The res will go on the lower shelf.

All comments, questions and suggestions are welcome.

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Hi Toker,

Good question.

It just so happens I turned off the cooling system and left the pump circulating the water about three hours ago.
I just went and checked the temp for you:

Home depot bucket 91 degrees
res is 79 degrees.
Outside temp's are 99 degrees.

So we lost about 20 degrees without the cooling tray.
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Huh?

I figure out a way to drop res temps 26° and I get one comment.

This must be the wrong category.
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Hum, I hadn't thought of it that way. I am moving to aeroponics and realized I needed a chiller. After looking at prices of four to five hundred dollars I came up with this at a cost of $50 and thought others would be able to use it.

But yea, gut a mini fridge and put the cold shit in the res. with the attached thermostat you can control the temp and get the water colder then any $500 chiller

It really is simple.
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I never found one for $140. I may have gone that route.
The fridge comes with a thermostat.
When I turn it all the way up it keeps temps at 42° when it is turned all the way down it shuts off.

I found when I set it at 3 it keeps the water at 68°

In the winter I will shut it off and use an aquarium heater I have.

In regards to the heat the compressor and coils make? I gave that a lot of thought.
You see I found most chillers are Thermo electric. The deal with that is the warmer the
ambient temps are the less efficient the system is.

Its like it will cool a certain amount below ambient temps. So the hotter it is the higher the
water temp is, so you need adequate ventilation. I found with a sealed system (compressor and coils)
you don't need as much ventilation. It can be hotter and the amount of difference is much less.

I grow in a cabinet. well two cabinets. So thats important.
When I first installed this I measured temps.

Heres a shot of the setup so far. (not quite done yet)



When I took this picture I turned it all the way up, left the doors closed overnight.

The temp in the res was 40°, temp in the area around the res was 69°, the temp in the area to the right
around the cooling unit was 96°, The temp in the room the cabinets are in was 85° It was 87° outside.

I found it raised my room temp 2° It actually lowered the temp in the left cabinet 2° so I am cool with that.

I read DIY's on these where people ran a cooling tube through a small fridge and thought this was more efficient.

Just be careful you don't kink the tubing.

Thanks for all the kind words, it makes me happy I can help others.

If you would like to see the cabinet build you can check this out. https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/210480-dual-areoponic-cabinet-build.html

If you would like to follow the grow https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/210479-dual-areoponic-cabinet-ceramic-metal.html

I am testing out Phillips new Ceramic metal halide bulb.
It should be a pretty good read.

Thanks everyone,

I hope to see you at the journal, Aeroponics are new to me and I could use some pointers.


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Hey JR,

I thought of putting the res inside a fridge and drilling holes in the side for tubes but it just wouldn't wok in my case.
Everything I do needs to be miniaturized and the refer would be too big.

Thanks
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Hey everyone,

I did a little more research and found something for you.
Its called a nano chiller for aquariums that looks like it would work well for a small res. like 10 to 15 gal. for like $159.00
So if you don't want to build one or it is a bit intimidating heres the link:http://www.reefplayground.net/aquaeurousa.shtml

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