Water cooled heat exchange

What are your thoughts on water cooled heat exchange other than its expensive (I've added up a minimum of $600 for a chiller and icebox, not including the reservoir and pumps).

• Has anyone had any success with Ice boxes and chillers?
• Is it worth the price?
• Are leaks any issue?
• Any advice or thoughts are welcome.

I'm not sure what the policy is regarding linking another forum but I'm happy to change it to adhere to the rules. Here's a site that talks about it:
http://www.thcfarmer.com/forums/f8/ice-box-water-cooled-heat-exchanger-anyone-using-these-6347/

Also their website:
http://www.hydroinnovations.com/index.php

Watch some of the videos on their site if you are totally clueless as to what I'm talking about.

Thanks.

Make sure it's 1/4hp chiller and 1 icebox per 1000w and you should be golden child. I was using one on 2 x 600w and it dissipated the heat enough to not have to vent the hoods outside of the room. As far as using it for like a supplemental a/c ...it might be possible if you do as they suggest and put the res and chiller outside of the room.

I'm not sure punching a few holes and running some ducting is offset by the cost of the entire setup. I had everything but the icebox sitting around and the hydro shop hooked the price up so I decided to give it a go.

The tubing was kind of a pain in the ass as far as management. Imagine the height of your hood now and then you have to run two 1/2 inch tubes to it and make sure they don't kink....I ran them up the chain holding the hood and along the ceiling and then down the wall to the chiller/res.

Maybe on a future room I'll start the design with the intentions of using the iceblocks and chillers and then it should be no problem...but, trying to add everything to an existing room was just not worth the effort IMO.

Most efficient way to cool your setup on earth I just couldn't spring for it. I tried a dual hose portable 11,000 BTU and I run my lights at night but that a/c was losing that battle in June, let alone July so I built a 15,000 BTU Window A/C with a butt box and it does work nicely.

But back to the point I watched all those videos and searched hard I was at 1600 to 1800 dollars to get enough cooling power to cool my room. I figured 1 Ton (12,000 BTU) of chiller, 1 heat exchanger per light and at least one for the room itself. I figure more efficient yes so in my comparison a 15,000 BTU window a/c in an 8x5x8 space with 2600w of lights is perfect and I was thinking 12,000 BTU chiller would be a bit over kill and run a lot less. But also I had planned to use a huge ice chest for my water reservoir and keep it in the garage, just run the lines up to a manifold system like in those videos, of course I would need more pump as it would be pumping up one floor, but on the way down it would siphon so it would really just be more efficient there too..

Those are my thoughts on it, I didn't find any heat exchangers besides those ones there. The cheapest 1 HP a.k.a. 1 TON a.k.a. 12,000 BTU chiller I could find was around 1200,I believe. I did my window a/c with a butt box for about 450? with materials and it was done room is as cool as I want it now down to 65F with everything running in the heat of the day if I forget to raise it up. But if I had the $$$$ I would hit it with a chiller + heat exchanger a.k.a. icebox cooling method.

Hope that was helpful, the reason why I would use a large reservoir in a cool place is because it is uber efficient "think cold battery that stores coldness"

One of the main advantages of using this setup over an A/C setup is you can seal the room and boost your Co2 levels.

Also forgot to mention, you put a reservoir heater in there and presto you have a heating solution also!

I'm anxious to try this method out myself, I've priced it at around 600 for me to incorporate it into a 400w light in a DR100. I'm so curious to know what I could get my temps down too in the heat of summer with something like this. I too am using a a/c to combat the heat, but at the end of the year, at what cost? I wonder if buying a chiller and icebox would've been cheaper, plus CO2!

I even have a spare chest freezer sitting around to use for a res... that should be well insulated. I could even just plug it up for 15 min to flash freeze the water. Insta-freeze!

look into a phase cooler, you can hit temps as low as you want and its cheaper for around 400$

pmp13drc13 said:

look into a phase cooler, you can hit temps as low as you want and its cheaper for around 400$

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Hey man, where was it you saw a phase cooler for around 400 bucks? Could you link me to it? I'd really appreciate it. I didn't know what that was until you told me about it just now, that's funny too cause I'm pretty computer savvy.
It looks just as if not more expensive from what I'm finding. but even colder indeed.

well unless your rather handy and can build you own, they are rather expensive. But I seriously suggest you look into this website. it will save you loads of cash and work far better then water cooling anything ever will. Cheap ass Mini AC units

pmp13drc13 said:

well unless your rather handy and can build you own, they are rather expensive. But I seriously suggest you look into this website. it will save you loads of cash and work far better then water cooling anything ever will. Cheap ass Mini AC units

Click to expand...

You linked to a page that sells A/C's bro? The main theme of this thread is that water cooling is more effective and less costly to operate then a A/C. It cost more to get up and running but the efficiency is like 40% better from what I read. I am currently using a 8,000 btu A/C venting it into a DR100 and am looking for a way to move away from it because of how inefficient it is. It runs non stop 24/7. I bet over the course of one grow I could pay for a forth a water cooled system with just the money i'm pouring into just my A/C usage. Besides, once the tent is water cooled, it can be sealed and I can get a water cooled CO2 dispenser, really taking my garden to the next level. Those are some good prices on A/C's though and if I was in the market for one I'd sure consider buying from them!
I don't mind doing a little work in my garden, besides, I like the company and the deodorant they wear

Which is a better chiller, anyone know?
http://cgi.ebay.com/ACTIVEAQUA-WATER-CHILLER-1-4-HP-170-GAL-TANKS-RES-/360173315571?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item53dc00a5f3#ht_620wt_907
or
http://cgi.ebay.com/ECOPLUS-1-4-HP-WATER-CHILLER-170-GAL-AQUARIUM-/400096954201?cmd=ViewItem&pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item5d27a30759#ht_658wt_907

The activeaqua is more powerful. at 3000btus the eco plus is only 2000

pmp13drc13 said:

The activeaqua is more powerful. at 3000btus the eco plus is only 2000

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Good eye, duly noted. Anyone have experience with either? How much can be run on one, for instance, could one run two 8' iceboxes and Co2 Gen Mini? How about two 6' inchers and a mini co2 gen then? thx

Also, the Activeaqua uses less amps (3 compared to 5.4) and weighs 10 pounds less, what's up with that? I know someone out there has done some experimenting with water cooling? Please let your experience help me avoid spending money on something that won't do what I need it too, we're talking like 600 bucks here! Please help!?!

Listen right now I put up 20,000 $ on a complet three room hydroinovations setup with a 3hp self contained chill king chiller that's out on it's own cement pad. The chiller alone ran 6500$ then I added 12 ice box heat exchangers and have 4 1000 watts in my flower room with there newest hydrogen-pro hooked up with there ice cap heat exchanger and I have dehumidifyers without dehu
idifyers it's hard to keep the dew point. There's a dew point caculator you use to tune in your temps based on the RH. Anyways don't get anything but chill king. I wasted alot of $ on Eco plus bull shit. 1hp chiller runs 1559 and it's good to basicly chill a resivor. Another thing I learned the hard way always have the ice box after the heat source. If your running 1000 s I put the six in inline fan staight to one side pushing through to direct ice box on the other and also don't hook up your hydrogen co2 to the manifold because it's presure is to high and will take from your ice boxs . Well there's way to much constant tuning but I think after the summer is over than it will be easy and cheap as hell. I will also say don't listen to this 1/4 hp per 1000 watts bullshit. You need at least 1/2 hp per 1000 and a min of a six in inline fan to make any diff. Especialy if your like me and have to have that 73 at day and 65 at night. if there's any questions. Just pm me

justsmoking said:

Listen right now I put up 20,000 $ on a complet three room hydroinovations setup with a 3hp self contained chill king chiller that's out on it's own cement pad. The chiller alone ran 6500$ then I added 12 ice box heat exchangers and have 4 1000 watts in my flower room with there newest hydrogen-pro hooked up with there ice cap heat exchanger and I have dehumidifyers without dehu
idifyers it's hard to keep the dew point. There's a dew point caculator you use to tune in your temps based on the RH. Anyways don't get anything but chill king. I wasted alot of $ on Eco plus bull shit. 1hp chiller runs 1559 and it's good to basicly chill a resivor. Another thing I learned the hard way always have the ice box after the heat source. If your running 1000 s I put the six in inline fan staight to one side pushing through to direct ice box on the other and also don't hook up your hydrogen co2 to the manifold because it's presure is to high and will take from your ice boxs . Well there's way to much constant tuning but I think after the summer is over than it will be easy and cheap as hell. I will also say don't listen to this 1/4 hp per 1000 watts bullshit. You need at least 1/2 hp per 1000 and a min of a six in inline fan to make any diff. Especialy if your like me and have to have that 73 at day and 65 at night. if there's any questions. Just pm me

Click to expand...

Now this is what I'm talking about, some real world experience with ice boxes and water cooling.... Sounds awesome, but at the same time it sounds incredibly expensive... When I purchase items for my garden I usually like to go big to give myself a little room to grow (no pun intended) meaning if I went with ice boxes then I'd want enough to cool at least one 600 watt light to the point it could be a AC replacement as well as run a CO2 generator... All I have now is a single 400 but I know if I bought just enough to cool that, that it would be inadequate as soon as I upgrade my ballast (which after seeing what 400 watts can do just makes me want to see what 600 can do!) So, what would you say to that justsmoking? Would a 1/4 HP chiller cool two 8" inch iceboxes to the point that it would be a AC substitute, and a CO2 generator? I've got about a 35-40 gallon deep freezer I could use as a res, or I could always get a 55 gallon drum at some point in the future and insulate it.