Possibility of using an Elkay Signature 21 (R134a) water-cooler?

[hardnrg]

I'm pretty keen on the idea of a waterchiller and am thinking about going the easy route at first and just hooking up a watercooling loop to the inlet and outlet barbs on a drinking-water-cooler...

i managed to track down the service manual on an Elkay Signature 21 and it lists two possibilities for the 240v compressor used (it'll be a UK version)

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/4722/bottlepartservice4770secte66ia.gif

is there any way of finding out the suitabilities of these compressors to a fairly serious waterchilling project? after the initial lazy hook-up i'll probably move on to modding into a suitable custom unit with all the fun of bending cap tube, brazing and w/e...

http://img513.imageshack.us/img513/3637/bottlepartservice4770secte53il.th.gif (http://img513.imageshack.us/my.php?image=bottlepartservice4770secte53il.gif)

does it look doable from both the initial lazy hook-up (will the hx handle the heat load?) and then the further ventures towards sub-zero?

[RussC]

Those compressors are ~300-400BTU compressors. In went an looked at the whole data sheet. There were some Embarco's there also, an EMI30, I know that stands for 300BTU compressor. So all the others are in the same neiborhood. So that means ~1/8hp compressor.

That will cool nicely, but will not give sub freezing temps on a Athlon64 or P4.

Is it worth it, there is a thread here of a gent who did just what you want to do. Check it out.
From this forum, WF chiller to OC forum (http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=65643)
water fountain chiller (http://www.ocforums.com/showthread.php?t=390293)

I wouldn't use those chillers unless you run a large house fan on the condenser, as the convection condenser wont cool very well during continuous duty, they overheat badly and will kill the compressor in no time, not to mention lack luster cooling :nono:

Maybe that can answer your questions a bit :banana:

RussC

[hardnrg]

hmmn, so it looks like i'm gonna have to look into modding a fridge or a/c into a waterchiller for something more worth the effort... thanks for the advice :)

apart from this forum area, do you have any useful links? i'm no hvac engineer lol... but hopefully i can find out enough to design a compact chiller unit and get someone to do the brazing/charging on the cheap...

i'm really looking for near or sub-zero temps without a massive external unit... i'll have a bit more of a browse of this forum area and see what everyone is up to anyway :D

[426hemi]

I believe one of the most popular ones are the kenmore 5150 at Sears for $90.

[RussC]

The cheapest I've ever seen is $79 at Home Depot for a brand I can't remember. It was a 3900btu IIRC. That was a large sale ~1 month ago.

RussC