Using automotive Radiators or inter coolers to cool the average grow room?

Hello R.I.U., Thanks to everybody for the vast amounts of useful information and helpfulness.

During all of my research I haven't quite come by too much information on this. And soon I will need to get some sort of cooling system going.


The idea is basically that you get your squirrel cage fan/ in-line fan .. Whatever it may be, and you channel the air from your grow room into either an air-to-air inter cooler (off of a car) that you have submerged in let's say a large bucked of cold water (changing water when needed). This SHOULD allow great heat dissipation for no cost to apartment dwellers (myself). And this is my attraction to this specific method (no extra electronics).

The idea that is based on the car radiator is pretty much the same. But instead you would pass your air directly through some adaptor from your exhaust fan from your room to adapt to the radiator. Then you just have another running water pump that circulates water through the radiator. And again periodically changing the water to achieve lower temps.

I'm just looking for a SUPER cheap way to cool my room. Electricity cost isn't an issue. but noise and running an AC to cool a grow room is just a little to inefficient for my liking. And it definitely isn't cost efficient going that route because of buying the AC.

I have NO IDEA how efficient either of these methods will be, but there would be at least SOME success.

This is also to make sure that there is no need at all to leave windows open or cause any attention to my apartment with heat or exhaust either. Or to just avoid suffering all day in a hot apartment.

And for me car parts are dime a dozen from old cars.

( please no any information on Air- to Water inter coolers unless someone knows how to make one or get one for next to free)

Any help/suggestions/advice/links will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks again R.I.U

Happy smoking
 

phillipchristian

New Member
You're going to be changing water in that reservoir about every 20 minutes depending on your lights. You'd probably at least want to pick up a cheap chiller cause water has an extremely efficient thermal conductivity as opposed to air and will literally pull all of the heat out of your room 3 times more efficiently than an air cooled unit. Look into using heat exchangers in your room with a fan to remove heat from the air. Good luck.
 
definitely what I was expecting anyway. I was hoping that maybe the water reservoir could absorb more heat. but regardless ill keep researching chillers and heat exchangers until I find what's right for me.

I Suppose you could probably set up an extremely wasteful system where the water is constantly coming in and being drained out. But that is not right even if it is free for me.

I was thinking about the radiator as well. It seems to be very similar in design to a heat exchanger. So could I just use an old radiator instead of buying a heat exchanger? I was almost certain they are the exact same. So I can at least use the radiator idea. ( correct me if I'm wrong please)

The radiator will be set up with properly fitted fans. (again for me the radiator is a FREE heat exchanger if I'm not wrong)

(this still leaves a reservoir heat issue)

Thanks for the reply.

Happy smoking
 

phillipchristian

New Member
definitely what I was expecting anyway. I was hoping that maybe the water reservoir could absorb more heat. but regardless ill keep researching chillers and heat exchangers until I find what's right for me.

I Suppose you could probably set up an extremely wasteful system where the water is constantly coming in and being drained out. But that is not right even if it is free for me.

I was thinking about the radiator as well. It seems to be very similar in design to a heat exchanger. So could I just use an old radiator instead of buying a heat exchanger? I was almost certain they are the exact same. So I can at least use the radiator idea. ( correct me if I'm wrong please)

The radiator will be set up with properly fitted fans. (again for me the radiator is a FREE heat exchanger if I'm not wrong)

(this still leaves a reservoir heat issue)

Thanks for the reply.

Happy smoking
You are correct. A radiater is a heat exchanger. Just make sure it has a very small diffuser. For hydro and water cooling purposes it's ideal to have the water diffused to as small an area as possible when the fan is blowing over it. Makes for a more efficient system. Check out some of the DIY Chiller threads. You can search for them. I've seen some cool designs in there. I need a larger unit (12hp) so I went with a commercial Chillking unit.
 
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