Anyone have an idea about this?

daveb

daveb

Member
I was at a big hardware store today, the one that starts with an L.. and I saw this 5000 BTU room air conditioning unit that is selling for $22.00, YES you read it right, $22.00... I bought it, how could I not?
Anyway, does anyone have any ideas about how this might be made into a Chiller of some sort? I am looking at it closely, and if I come up with anything I will post it. It seems to me, that there must be a way to turn the evaporator coil into some sort of useful Chiller. After all, a Chiller is nothing more than an air conditioner that allows water to flow over the evaporator coil....
Dave
 
daveb

daveb

Member
I knew there would be someone who could come up with something!!
Actually, what thinking about doing, is getting a stainless steel evaporator coil with a flexible hose fitting, and replacing the aluminum coil that comes with the AC unit. It will then become a drop in chiller.....
The stainless steel evaporator coil and fittings will cost $120.00, and I will need a dual stage temp controller which I need anyway to run any chiller and heater combination, another 150.00 and I will have a drop in coil chiller for about $300.00. It will actually be a bit more, because I will have to recharge the system with refrigerant and braze a fitting for the new coil to attach to, where the old evaporator coil comes out. Also I will have to make some sort of box to put it in, and suppress noise. But it will certainly be a lot less than what a 1/2 hp chiller costs.
That is the plan anyway... I have to do a little more research to make sure it will work, but I think it will...and if it does, I will have a very powerful chiller that will work on quite a large tank when I expand..
Even if none of that works out as I think it will, I could actually do as you suggest, and mount the unit in a window, and duct the output to the enclosed area where my sump is and keep the temp in that area where the sump is cool enough to keep the tank temp down where I want it..
The bottom line is, I could not leave without buying this thing for only $22.00, and somehow I am going to make it work..
Dave
 
nas19320

nas19320

Active Member
FWIW- Drop in chillers are very inefficient. I would think that you would spend a great deal of money in elec. costs just to keep the tank at temp. The other problem with drop-in's is that they must be placed close to the tank which means the unit itself will heat up the room.
 
daveb

daveb

Member
this unit will be able to have a much larger stainless steel evaporator coil than the drop in chillers you can buy, which would make it very much MORE efficient than those. The drop in type chillers available on the market have very small coils. The coil I am looking at getting would be much larger and would sit in the sump in such a way that the water would flow across it much the same way air goes across the coil in the AC unit. As I continue to research this, I will keep posting.
Dave
 
squidd

squidd

Active Member
Yeah I agree....But...
In that case, don't forget thermostatic control, monitoring tank, to keep from "over" cooling the tank...or having large temp swings...:yes:
 
daveb

daveb

Member
a stainless steel evaporator coil matched to this system is not made.... won't work..too bad I liked that idea. but
I did just set it up this afternoon, and ducted the output to the sump cabinet. This AC unit is super quiet, not any louder than a fan. it cooled the tank two degrees with the metal halides on, more than enough to solve my problem. I just have it on a timer to come on when the metal halides come on, and go off then the metal halides go off. The tank is stable again between 81.5 and 82.5. It was getting up to 84 when the metal halides were on for a couple hours. So for 22 bucks, I am quite happy with the outcome. If any of you have the room to try it, it is a 5000 BTU Goldstar, and is not much bigger than a good sized chiller. So if your sump is in a cabinet that you can duct the AC output too, for $22.00 you can't go wrong.
Dave
 
thangbom

thangbom

Active Member
umm dude.. i think u sould do what squidd said and plop that thing into the wall or window.. whay u can do for a chiller my friend is go and buy a really cheap mini fridge.. drill to hole in it.. then branch your retune water line to a 1/2 tube through the fridge through a the clear hose that u winded up into a coil like inside the fridge suubmerged in a bucket of water (bucket to harness the could air and to keep the temp more constant) ... and there u go.. cheap quiet and not too hott for the house.. and u can also stor nice beer inside for when u do your husbantry..that way u dont mind it too much... u can do many more modding to the fridge (like changeing or wraping the tuble around the ice part but be careful not to freeze the water/hose) but thats somthing els... have fun...:D :D (i see 1.000.000 reefers running to buy a mini fridge now) hehe....
 
daveb

daveb

Member
work , I have seen that too, but this little window AC unit is actually much less half the size of one of those. This is not some huge window AC unit. It is in a corner next to where the cabinet my sump is in. My sump is not below my tank, it is in a cabinet next to my tank. Actually, I did not start having the temp problem until I put the sump in that cabinet. Being enclosed caused the heat buildup. So this small AC unit blowing some cool air into the cabinet did the trick. LMAO, I can see how this might look if you are picturing some large window AC unit, but this thing is actually very small. Remember it only cost $22.00 , it can't be too big.. LOL For those of you who have a fish room, this would also make a great dehumidifier at the same time it cools the fish room..
Dave
 
daveb

daveb

Member
This is the first time since I added the metal halides and sump that I have been able to have the MH lights on for more than four hours.. the tank is holding steady at 92.7 degrees, only up from 92.3 this morning when the PC Actinics first came on. Now that I know this is going to work like it is, I can plan a way to mount the AC unit semi permanently.
The dimensions of the AC unit are 17" wide x 11" tall x 12 " deep...
Of course it puts out some heat into the room, but nothing that my house AC can't overcome, after all, I live in Southern Utah where we have days in the summer of 115 degrees, so my home AC won't even notice the little bit of heat this thing puts out. I am sure it is probably not much more than what a 1/2 HP Chiller puts out.
An Aqualogic 1/4 HP chiller has dimensions of 19 x 12 x 11, and their 1/3 HP Chiller, which only puts out 4000 BTU's, 1000 less than this AC unit... is 24" x 14" x 11"...
All in all, I am quite happy with this $22.00 investment....
Dave
 
daveb

daveb

Member
That should read 82.7 not 92.7 , LMAO, but I am sure you all realized that I am not having a fish fry here .... LMAO
Dave
 
daveb

daveb

Member
I am still going to keep doing some research to see if I can somehow plumb this thing so that I can run the water over the evaporator coils... if I can figure out a way to do that, this thing becomes a real, even more efficient actual chiller.. there has to be a way, because the reality is , a chiller is nothing more than this AC unit plumbed to flow tank water over the coils...
Dave
 
thangbom

thangbom

Active Member
he he ohh man.. when i read 92.7 i was like whoa!!!!!!!
but hey congrat that your lil thing works... now u have a new toy to tinker with....
 
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