DIY Chiller

[foxunlimited]

Hi unclerobin, I'm thinking of DIY-ing a chiller too. Hope you can guide me on this.. I'm not familiar with the drilling/coil/piping works and would certainly need your expertise on this. Hope you still look up this thread.. cheers and happy may day!

[Evilsands]

Hi All, I would like to tag along to learn/DIY my own "Mini Chiller" too.
Hope more brothers share their making of DIY chillers

[xuan87]

Well instead of creating a new thread, I'll just update this one:

My situation is kinda similar to the TS's original situation, with my tank's ambient temperature very high at 31C. Hence I've been looking at different chiller options. My tank is quite small at 15gal, 2ft, so I can either get a small chiller, or diy my own using a mini fridge. The diy process shouldn't be too hard, drill two holes (either through the door for less chance of damaging crucial components, or maybe even through the magnetic seals?), run a long tube in and out of the holes, with the bulk of the tubes in the freezer component of the fridge using a water pump. Alot of trial and errors will be needed to get the right flowrate so that water won't freeze in the tube and the temperature in the tank won't go too low too.

My main concern is: will using a mini fridge over a chiller really consume less electricity? A fridge will be running 24-7, while the chiller won't be. Though the fridge should be cheaper than the chiller, if the operating costs add up over the years, it may be better to just get the chiller. From reading the entire thread, it seems like if you use certain fridge models, it will be more economical to use the fridge over the chiller. But with my tank being so small (and hence chiller being small too), I'm not sure if that will still apply to my situation.

Any input will be welcomed. Thanks.

[BFG]

I think the one done by Timebomb should be good enough. A coil of hose in a container of water in the small fridge. The fridge chill the water in the container which in turn chill the hose, which cool the tank. The fridge would shut itself off while the chill water prolong maintaining the lower temperature.


During the monsoon season, you can get away with a coil of hose in a pail of water whereby the hose is connected in a close loop to the tank. But nowaday, the monsoon season is short and in between rainy period, the temperature would rise again.

[qngwn]

My dad is in the refrigeration business, and time to time, they received quite a few refrgeration units where by people have tried to DIY their own stuff, and accidentally drilling through the pipes which contain the refrigerant fluid.

Be it installing a lock, or drilling holes for DIY as such, we gotta be careful if not the fridge will be as good as in the bin. It will be good if hobbyists try out this method on a mini fridge that has been used by a fellow hobbyist and has succeeded, and drill at the same place. Pipe layout differ from models and brands, so unless you're familiar with the pipe layout, you would be taking a risk by randomly drilling holes through the casing.

Save the risk and buy a chiller where you can set the temperature you would want, and it would not fluctuate given the changing weather conditions we experience throughout the year. Afterall, by having a certain length of pipe inside the fridge and coldness setting of the fridge will remove certain amount of heat, the temperature would fluctuate more than that of a chiller.. By using a fridge, the amount of water in the tank will also play a role in the final tank water temperature given the relatively fixed rate of cooling.

I would rather pay a little more for the convenience that I can achieve my desired water temperature with a few presses of the buttons rathering than monitoring the temperature of the tank over an extended period of time.

But well, it certainly will be a great learning experience and a weedend project!