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nickperkin.com's
DIY CHILLER
You asked for it..... The details for my chiller:
The chiller consists of:
1 bar fridge (found on the side of the road)
40m of irrigation tubing
1 digital thermostat ($40 at Jaycar)
1 Powerhead - 'Atman 104' -2000 L/H (got it on special for $30)
and a few bits and pieces to make it fit together!
The puropose of this guide is not to take the reader step by step through the procces of building the chiller, but rather to show the theory behind the costruction. the reader should then be able to construct a similar chiller with the parts available.
Basically...
Basically the chiller is a bar fridge ('dorm fridge' in the US) that is full
of cooled fresh water that in turn has 40m of tubing coiled through it in
which the water from the tank circulates. It circulates through the coil by
means of a powerhead which is turned off and on by a digital thermostat. The
fridge is on ALL THE TIME and cools the fresh water to around 1 degree C.
Make sense? I hope so.
The Idea
The idea is that the fridge stores up 'cooling energy' (I know that's technicaly
not true, but you know what I mean) in the fresh water. when the fish tank
becomes too hot the water from the tank is pumped through the tubing, dropping
in temperature immediately. The down side is that the tank, on a hot day,
will heat up and cool down a number of times, potentialy stressing the fish.
However, with a good thermostat the variation will be reduced. My thermostat
(AUS$40) allows the tank to fluctuate 1 degree only. I reality, this means
that the tank gets up to, for example, 27 degrees, the powerhead pumping the
water kicks in, and within 10-15 minutes the water is 26 degrees. The power
head then stops and the temperature stabilises.
Why the fresh water?
The fresh water does a number of things:
- it stores up 'cooling energy'
- it is an excellent heat transfer
- it freezes at 0 degrees. This is a great fail safe as salt water freezes at a lower Temperature. Salt water will therefore not get frozen in the tubing unless the fresh water manages to get below 1 degree.
But how did you get the
water in the fridge?
Well, I didn't....
How? (in brief)
My construction began with taking apart the old fridge and discarding the
cabinet and all of the insulation. This left me with just the compressor,
condensor and electricals. I was very careful not to break the pipng as this
would release the gas and render the fridge useless.
Next I placed the 'cold bit' in a polystyrene box (for insulation), then coiled
40m of tubing into the box
I then filled the box with fresh water and turned the fridge on. I adjusted
the fridge's thermostat so that the fresh water stays at 1 degree.
Next I ran the irrigation tubing into the tank and connected it to the powerhead so that it pumps water from the tank through the chiller and back into the tank.
Lastly I connected a thermostat
(with a sensor in the tank) to the powerhead. When the water gets too hot,
the thermostat turns the powerhead on, thus cooling the tank.
The end result?
Happy fish and corals
If you have any further questions or would like to know more detail please email me with your question at chiller@nickperkin.com
