RDWC undercurrent in ice coolers/esky containers

C

Cboyhehe

Member
Hey guys,

I live in a place with a constant high temp. Ive just bought a 2nd hand water chiller and im trying to minimise condensation and also insulate the water from the high ambient temps.

I come across people using ice coolers I think you guys in the USA call them, here we call them eskys or chillybins. So have decided to use 3 icecoolers for my RDWC Grow.

I want to use 2 grow chambers and a control bucket.

I have found the heath robinson way of using no air pumps and want to use like a high flow to keep the DO up in the water.

My question is... How do you guys plumb 3" tubes between your coolers without being rediculously expensive?

I have only found 2" bulkheads here where I live and they are almost $80 each.
Is there a cheaper way to do this?
 
myke

myke

Well-Known Member
Your hardware store should sell shower drains meant for the fiberglass bases/floor.From those you can glue ABS pipe.
 
D

Distortionist

Well-Known Member
Yeah my next setup I won't use bulkheads or flexible tubes. Headaches is all they cause. Uniseals I think they are called seem better and easier to work with, along with pvc pipe.

When ever I feel courageous enough to try building something that is what I will be using.
 
myke

myke

Well-Known Member
Distortionist said:
Yeah my next setup I won't use bulkheads or flexible tubes. Headaches is all they cause. Uniseals I think they are called seem better and easier to work with, along with pvc pipe.

When ever I feel courageous enough to try building something that is what I will be using.
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Ive used bulkheads and flexible hose for years,never an issue.
 
D

Distortionist

Well-Known Member
myke said:
Ive used bulkheads and flexible hose for years,never an issue.
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It depends i guess. I have a small space and I've upgraded to 1.5" because 2 was insane expensive and I'm running into issues. The 1.5" I got also sucks and is pretty flimsy. The second was too rigid and too lose. Maybe 2" would have been a bit better but I'd run into issues too. It would work of I had 4 smaller plants in 4 buckets so they won't grow so big. So it depends on your setup. I would rather 4 buckets piped with pvc tight close to each other so I can handle it all as one unit. Big 3" pipes for strength and flow. Nothing will move or leak or clog or get pinched. I'm probably gonna get lazy and just run the same setup again after fixing my leak not that I have a pipe flushing system. But I would LOVE to pvc a good setup.
 
D

Distortionist

Well-Known Member
rkymtnman said:
wow! a local guy was selling his rdwc setup: 6 55 gal drums all connect by 3" pvc. with a massive control res, not ever sure how big it was. he must have been growing in a warehouse with tall ceiling
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Yeah that is crazy big! I could only imagine a good hydroponic grow in a tree that actually needs that big of a "bucket" lol I am sure you can pull of 4lb, I have seen some outdoor plants that are huge bushes, I can't really say what's the biggest hydroponic weed plant I've seen. Its something to google lol.
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
Distortionist said:
Yeah that is crazy big! I could only imagine a good hydroponic grow in a tree that actually needs that big of a "bucket" lol I am sure you can pull of 4lb, I have seen some outdoor plants that are huge bushes, I can't really say what's the biggest hydroponic weed plant I've seen. Its something to google lol.
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could you imagine the size of the root ball? lol.
 
C

Cboyhehe

Member
The biggest bulk heads I can find is 2".
I might just have to get super inventive and weld up some stainless steel flanges and bolt them into the coolers and then seal them all up with silicone.

I'll be using silicone intercooler pipe to connect them with hose clamps... Would've been nice if there was something off the shelf.
 
rkymtnman

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
Cboyhehe said:
The biggest bulk heads I can find is 2".
I might just have to get super inventive and weld up some stainless steel flanges and bolt them into the coolers and then seal them all up with silicone.

I'll be using silicone intercooler pipe to connect them with hose clamps... Would've been nice if there was something off the shelf.
Click to expand...
how many gallons are these coolers/ chilly bins?
 
J232

J232

Well-Known Member
If I could redo my build, I would use 3” pipe. How are you going to seal the void/air space in a cooler? I say 3” because I can restrict a 2” enough to raise the level. Did you abandon the other thread you made on this subject?
 
C

Cboyhehe

Member
J232 said:
If I could redo my build, I would use 3” pipe. How are you going to seal the void/air space in a cooler? I say 3” because I can restrict a 2” enough to raise the level. Did you abandon the other thread you made on this subject?
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No, no abandoning?

Was just trying to get some ideas on how to get a 3" outlet into an esky/ice cooler haha
 
C

Cboyhehe

Member
If im going to have a big ass long icecooler that houses two plants and just one reservoir do you think 2" would be enough??
The ice cooler im look at is 100l which is about 27gallons
 
myke

myke

Well-Known Member
For sealing up these bulkheads ,Polyurethane the kind that eavestroughers use works well.Just apply onto the threads.How thick are these coolers?Totes wrapped in insulation is another idea,easier bulkhead install.
 
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