how do i cool my water ??????

i am running around 40 gallons of water through my sys
i am having trouble keeping my water temp below the 90s
any ideas thanks
 

BloodShot420

Well-Known Member
they are pretty involved... i've made a couple versions of them before... but i think its cheaper to just do it right... instead of fucking up mini-fridges.

you'll end up spending lots of time trying to fabricate a chiller, and lots of money buying the parts, and it wont work nearly as well, or reliably, or for as long as a real chiller with a digital temp readout...

if you scour ebay and stuff, you can find one for under $400... it also requires an extra water pump... but a chiller changes the game... makes everything work so much better.
 
could i just replace my black rubber hose that connects my submerged pump to my aeroponic sprayers with a bendable (metal) coiled hose to allow the heat to dissipate as is runs through the coils into my system.
 

greenearth5

Well-Known Member
also dump some ice in there... or refreezeable ice packs.. or frozen bottled water.. this is a hassel but it will give you time to figure something else out.... or u could allways throw in dry ice to cool the water off and get a nice fog system goin lol
 

BloodShot420

Well-Known Member
i doubt that would work...

that metal coil wont be able to cool the air any less than ambient temp.. which is still usually too hot..

you dont really want to have your nutrient water running through a metal hose, unless that metal is stainless steel, which is not very bendable.... i think titanium might also be safe, as that is what they use in chillers.. other metals will screw things up and poison your plants...

i tried so much stuff - i've tried running a coil of hose into a mini-fridge, i've torn apart a mini-fridge and put the cold coils (which usually make up the little "freezer" part) in the reservoir... i've broken the hot side of a mini-fridge after i got it torn apart, and had to braze a schrader valve onto the compressor and braze the hot side back together so i could refill the compressor with refrigerant... i've gone through enough mini-fridges to pay for a good chiller... but ultimitely changed to a system that was less dependent on reservoir temperatures. Still dont have a good chiller... ;-)
 

BloodShot420

Well-Known Member
ice is a pain in the ass... if you have real temp probs... (water is above 80) it will take 5 gal of frozen ice in a 50 gal res to cool it down... (not raw ice, but frozen bottles) about every 12 hrs...
 

greenearth5

Well-Known Member
the ice is a pain in the ass but it might buy you time (temporarily) until you can figure something else out... I ran a DWC setup that was much smaller then yours, 3 gallons, and my water temp use to get hot because the room was hot and the light was close... i solved this by venting the room better to get the room temperature down plus i put in frozen bottled ice.. it worked and prevented me from furthuring my root rot .... good luck
 
or maybe move the res to a room out of the grow room
my pump is beasty it could def handle the extra tubing to pump through
what does everyone think ?
 

greenearth5

Well-Known Member
If the other room is cooler then the room it is currently in and your pump will handle it then its totally worth a try and i beleive it would work better then your current condition... just dont spill the bong water lol
 

leftreartire

Active Member
use a dorm room fridge you can pick one up used on do for close to nothing all you do is drill a hole the size of you hose. coil it up in the fridge and use foam to seal the holes. the ridge even had a temp control so you can dial it exact temp you arelloking for
 

greenearth5

Well-Known Member
i dnont remember what it was but it was in the ball park of 85 degrees... it was a small grow that i had going.. i do remember that the water felt warm too the hand.. above normal room temerature and i started to get root rot until i addressed the issue and then the root rot went away on its ow

what room temp did you get yours to greenearth?
 
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