DIY Chiller

[timebomb]

Hi, folks,

One piece of equipment that has been discussed for years by planted tank hobbyist is the DIY Chiller. I've heard of many methods but none is really effective. The best way to cool a tank, as far as I know, is to use cooling fans. They are cheap but they have their limits. The very most they can do is bring the temperature down by 2 degrees Celsius from the ambient temperature.

James Lim, my good friend and publisher of the Aqua Journal called me yesterday and he sounded excited over the phone. He told me he managed to rig up a DIY chiller for slightly more than Sing $200 and running costs are expected to cost only about Sing $5 a month. He also said it works better than the chillers sold in the market. He said his tank is so cold now there's condensation on the glass. Heck, I was sceptical at first. A normal chiller costs about a thousand dollars and running costs can be as high as $1 a day and I've yet to see a chiller causing condensation.

I woke up this morning to find an email from James. It came with an attached picture. Here it is:



Holy smoke!!! The tank looks really cold, don't you think? James said the thermometer reads 22 degrees C

I don't have the details yet but I will post them as soon as I find out exactly how James does it. By the way, James is also looking for people who are technically-inclined to help him on another DIY chiller project. He hopes Ronnie and Freddy can volunteer but he won't mind accepting anyone into the project so long as they are really keen on this. For his next project, James intend to work on a chiller that can chill large tanks of up to 1000 litres. It's going to be state-of-the-art and although costs can be quite high, it's still a lot cheaper than chillers sold in fish shops.

The thing about James besides being very well known for publishing the Aqua Journal, is that he's very creative and resourceful. Many years ago, he was the first Singaporean to come up with a DIY CO2 system that was so good, it was regarded as the Rolls Royce of all CO2 systems. Till this day, I'm still using that CO2 system. It works perfectly and the fine-tuning valve is so good I never have to tweak it.

Loh K L

[stormhawk]

That's one really cool tank. Condensation at that rate, and temperatures of 22degC? I think even coolwater killies can be considered as a possibility if one gets to know how James DIY-ed the chiller.

[bad_boyz]

Maybe james should patent his chiller. He should also hold a course on diy.

[shortman]

Hmm, I don't mind if it cost double so long that is a DIY and infact I love to DIY.

Anyone wanna team up to do this DIY?

Kwek Leong, would you mind please post more details soon, so I can start the chiller as soon as possible.

Luckly saw this message before going down to get the chiller from the shop near your place.

Thanks you very much
Best Regards

[Green Baron]

That is really cool I have seen the effect of low temperature on mosses and many other plants in my office tank and am considering a chiller for home as well.

I like DIY. Count me in if I can help in anyway. I can volunteer my tank to test the DIY chiller :wink:

[juilian75]

Chk this out on DIY Chiller


http://www.aloha.net/~hqf/indexdonschiller.htm 1999 design

http://www.aloha.net/~hqf/indexjrosechiller.htm 2000 design

[PohSan]

I would like to have such a chiller also. KL, please give more information and let see what parts are needed. Maybe we can organise a mass DIY part ordering also.

Regards,
Ong Poh San

[shortman]

Let me do a count now we have the following

1. Gan C W
2. PohSan
3. A.Rashid
4. Shortman

We have count of 4 anyone else in game? :wink:

JianYang, Ronnie and Freddy should I count you in?

Best Regards

[A.Rashid]

DIY? count me in...

[timebomb]

It would be great if we can group together and do a bulk order on the parts needed but I would say, let me be the guinea pig first before we start buying anything. I don't want anyone to feel let down if the thing does not work out as expected.

Anyway, I went to James' house today and took some pictures of the DIY chiller. The tank's really cold. In fact, it was so cold James had to crank up the thermostat as the thermometer was going to go below 20 degrees C. James keeps some precious show Guppies in his tank and he wasn't sure how well they take to the low temperatures.

The idea's pretty simple really but good ideas are always the simple ones. The DIY chiller involves using either a bar fridge or a small freezer. James is using a bar fridge which isn't as economical in space and less efficient than a freezer. James isn't really interested in building a chiller for small tanks so this is just an experimental DIY chiller as far as he's concerned. His next project, a DIY chiller that can cool large tanks of up to 1000 litres is the one he's really keen on. Anyway, here's a pic of the bar fridge.



As you can see, there's an inlet and an outlet pipe. It feeds directly to and from an external cannister filter which if you look closely, is at the side of the bar fridge. Using a bar fridge to cool down a tank is an idea that has been proposed and discussed many times and those who have tried it say it won't work. James made some modifications to the old idea, one of which is to replace the rubber hoses with something that is more conductive to heat. James uses PVC hoses which are flexible enough to be coiled and conductive enough to make a difference. The other significant change is to immersed the coiled hose into a tub of water. Why so, you ask? Why can't we just simply leave the coiled hose inside the bar fridge?

I'm no scientist so I can't give you the scientific reasons but this is how James explained it. Imagine if you leave a can of beer in your freezer. It will get very cold eventually but it will take some time. But if you put the can of beer in a tub of cold water filled with ice, it will chill much more quickly. The difference lies in the medium of heat transfer. With air, it's much slower. With water, the can of beer cools in double-quick time.

Here's a picture of the inside of the bar fridge:



As you can see, the space below the compartment where the tub of water stands is a waste of space. A freezer would be more space efficient as every cubic inch of the space inside can be used to hold a very long coiled hose. The compartment in the bar fridge James is using is so small the coiled hose can't be immersed fully. James also uses a small powerhead to circulate the water in the tub. Without this powerhead, there's a danger the water in the coiled hose can turn to ice. Circulating the water also ensures every inch of the hose is in contact with the cold water. Besides this, there's another very important piece of equipment too. It's the thermal plate underneath the hose. This is used for making ice in fridges. The thermal plate ensures the water inside the tub becomes very very cold. It isn't very clear in the picture but if you look closely, you should be able to see a white plate underneath the hose.

There's a thermostat inside the bar fridge which can used to be control the temperature. James set the thermostat at a reading of about 4. The scale is such 10 is the coldest and 0 the warmest. I suppose at 10, the whole tank could possibly turn into a block of ice Here's a pic of the thermostat.



I was at James' house in the afternoon at about 4 pm. There was still some condensation on the sides of the tank. James cleaned the front piece of glass as he said he couldn't see his fish and plants with all that condensation. Here's a pic of the side of the tank.



I took a picture of the bar fridge specs. Here it is:



I'm a complete idiot as far as things like watts, volts are concerned so I don't know what the figures say. But you all should be able to figure out that a bar fridge uses much less energy than a chiller and the best thing about it, it does not give out any hot air. I know hobbyists whose tanks are cold because of the chillers that they are using but their rooms become very warm. The fish and plants enjoy but the humans suffer .

All in all, James said it costs only about Sing $200 to build the bar fridge chiller. That would be about USD $115 for American folks following this thread. Is this a great idea or what?

Unfortunately, I will be on a 4 day course tomorrow so I can't go around shopping for the parts until this Saturday. Please be patient. When I get everything, I will post the addresses where to buy them and how to rig everything up. My good friend, Melvyn Seah who also saw the chiller in James' house is going to DIY everything for me. The good thing about having friends is when you're no good with DIY, you can always get someone to DIFY (Do it for you) .

James said this afternoon that anyone who wishes to participate in his next project, a chiller for large tanks, must be prepared to pay for such a chiller himself. In other words, you must be prepared to fork out something like Sing $500. There's some risk that it may not work but if everything works out nicely, you should bring home a chiller that is much more efficient than a bar fridge and takes up much less space. James needs help because he doesn't have the time to go around shopping for the parts. Cost-wise, it will also make everything much cheaper if the items were bought in bulk. James is looking for a team of about 5 persons.

James explained the idea to me but being technically-challenged and a complete idiot, I didn't quite understand him. Briefly though, it involves using a compressor without the need for the fridge/freezer and hooking it up to something called an evaporiser and I can't remember what else. It is something that is unavailable in the market and involves some soldering work and piping. If you're game, let me know through private message and I will put you in touch with James. Please take note that neither James nor I are going to profit from the project. We'll just want something better than the chillers available in the market, that's all.

Loh K L

[shortman]

Wow, 70Watts for a chiller that is so far the lowest rating I could get in the market. The lowest I know for a chiller is around 110~150w.

cheers

[A.Rashid]

Wow, how innovative. Never knew a bar fridge can be converted or rather be use to cool down an aquarium tank. Now it really makes my hand itchy to start DIYing. heheheh fridge could also be use to store BBS eggs, bloodworm, drinks if you guys ever come down to my house for chit chat and etc.. hehehehe

[shortman]

Think we may have to start two different DIY a small scale one and a large scale (1000L).

Anyone know where to get cheap second bar fridge ?

Thanks

[Green Baron]

James said this afternoon that anyone who wishes to participate in his next project, a chiller for large tanks, must be prepared to pay for such a chiller himself. In other words, you must be prepared to fork out something like Sing $500.

I can help with DIY the 1000 liter chiller but not ready to commit $500 to test out a chiller for such a large tank. A 1000 liter tank is beyond my league !

I am more interested in a chiller for 4ft tank. I wonder if we can use those tiny fridge that takes a 6-pack ?

[timebomb]

Think we may have to start two different DIY a small scale one and a large scale (1000L).

That would be correct, Kho. If yours is a small tank (around 200 litres), use the bar fridge idea. It's cheap and running costs are very low. If your tank is large, say somewhere around 400 litres, it would be best if you wait a while and see if the next project is just as good as the first one. On paper, it sounds like a fantastic idea but like my good old teacher used to say when I was in school, "There's many a slip betwixt the cup and the lip".

I forgot to mention in my earlier post that the room where James keeps the tank isn't air-conditioned or anything like that. The thermometer was reading 31.5 before James started the DIY bar fridge chiller working. In less than 24 hours, it pulled the temperature down to 22 degrees C.

Loh K L

[stormhawk]

KL, that's a pretty efficient way of doing things but the mini-bar fridge can take up quite alot of space.

[timebomb]

KL, that's a pretty efficient way of doing things but the mini-bar fridge can take up quite alot of space.

Not much more than a chiller, Jianyang. You have to think of the advantages. Besides being cheap, running costs are also much lower. Best of all, it doesn't blow any hot air. It's also silent. Compared to cooling fans, that's another big advantage. It also does not cause evaporation.

All in all, I think it's a fantastic idea. I would have leapt into action immediately if not for the fact I will be on a 4 day course tomorrow

Loh K L

[stormhawk]

Hmm.. something to think about. But, getting the bar fridge is no easy task, especially 2nd-hand ones.

Off-Topic: There are lurkers discussing this topic elsewhere.

[PohSan]

The bar fridge method should be able to cool down a rack of killies tanks to keep all the fishes and mosses happy.

Regards,
Ong Poh San

[timebomb]

Off-Topic: There are lurkers discussing this topic elsewhere.

Yup, I'm aware of that and there's nothing wrong with it. Just remember, you heard it first on Killies.com

Loh K L