Your thoughts wanted on retrofitting this lab chiller

[Rockhammer]

I have an elderly Neslab CC-60 immersion chiller in my junk box. It is very similar to this current model cc-65:

http://www.thermo.com/com/cda/product/detail/1,1055,1000001155165,00.html

I used this thing in a chilled water setup back in the very early days of the Socket A CPUs. It worked very well, keeping the coolant at around -30 C running a Duron 600 at ~1100 under full load...I can't recall the voltage used or the watts that combo generated. Anyway, I got tired of fighting the condensation and gave up on it.

So my question is, how feasable do you guys think it would be to replace the evaporator on this thing with the Chilly1 setup? I don't have the spec sheet in front of me, but I'm pretty sure the unit has a ~1/2hp Tecumseh compressor and that it is gased with R 13B1. I know that stuff is pretty damn scarce these days, so I'm assuming it would have to be re-gased with something else. What other hurdles am I looking at...or would it make more sense to start from scratch?

[wdrzal]

please post some pics of actual unit from different angles.

[Rockhammer]

Okay...here are a few. Let me know if you need more details. Links to the full-size pics are below.

The CC-60

http://truenorthyoga.com/xs/case_sm.jpg

Frost on the evaporator...this shot is required, right?

http://truenorthyoga.com/xs/frost_sm.jpg

Top

http://truenorthyoga.com/xs/top_sm.jpg

Left

http://truenorthyoga.com/xs/left_sm.jpg

Right

http://truenorthyoga.com/xs/right_sm.jpg

Unit Nameplate (see the full size)

http://truenorthyoga.com/xs/nameplate_sm.jpg


http://truenorthyoga.com/xs/case.jpg
http://truenorthyoga.com/xs/frost.jpg
http://truenorthyoga.com/xs/top.jpg
http://truenorthyoga.com/xs/left.jpg
http://truenorthyoga.com/xs/right.jpg
http://truenorthyoga.com/xs/nameplate.jpg

Thanks for your help.

[boshuter]

It should work fine..... at least I hope it will :) I have 2 of the Neslabs CC-110 cascade immersion coolers sitting here and a chilly1 evap for one of them. Mine is basicly like yours except mine is a cascade. I'm doing a small chiller now, then a small single stage I'm making out of a Lauda immersion cooler, then I'll start on the cascade. I'm looking forward to seeing how yours progresses.

[gclg2000]

It would be easy. I mean it already has flex line and everything.

I'd PM chilly1 about letting him just braze his block onto it for you. He can put in a really good gas too. May need an oil change, but he could add some oil carrying to it also i'm sure.

:2cents:

[wdrzal]

I'd say put on a new evap and correct captube length for the best load/temp and you'll be good to go.

[Rockhammer]

Okay...Thanks guys. I'll PM Chilly1.

[boshuter]

One of the units I have is a Lauda immersion chiller, it looks exactly like the pic of your Neslab. One thing I see is the suction side needs to be rerouted completely. The way they have it it is impossible to insulate the suction line.

[yngndrw]

Mine is basicly like yours except mine is a cascade. I'm doing a small chiller now

Off topic: Hmm, cascade water chiller ?

[boshuter]

Off topic: Hmm, cascade water chiller ?

Yep..... it'a a Neslab Cryocool CC-110 immersion cooler. Has the wand on the end just like the pic of his above, should be fairly easy to remove the wand and substitute my chilly1 evap. I have 2 of them and they are very well insulated, even has braided sleeving on the flexible line. :D

I'll have a thread and pics of them when I get started converting it to DD. Have to finish my small chiller and a SS DD unit first.

Edit: wrong model number, the cascades are "CC-100 II" units, they are rated to -110c, the first CC-100 (non II) were rated to -100c

[Rockhammer]

Boshuter, do you have any of the service manuals on yours? A lot of that stuff used to be up on www.nessy.net. But when Thermo bought out neslab, they took that site down. I sent an email off to Thermo tech support, but I'm not too hopeful. It would be nice to know the specs on the compressor.

My evaporator is nickle plated brass which should make for easier brazing. The newer ones are SS.

[boshuter]

No I sure don't, and like you said, info is hard to find for the Neslab units. Doesn't your compressor have the tag on it? Or it may have numbers stamped into it that could be used to find out the specs.

[Rockhammer]

It has a tag, but I can't make sense of anything on it. It looks like something Neslab may have tacked on.

[chilly1]

Send it over.. I can make it work easy.. installing an evap and insulation it is all that is needed.

[Rockhammer]

I'm on vacation all next week...and then the holidays...so I'm thinking I'll wait till January at this point. I guess I'm leaning toward letting chilly1 do it rather than a DIY job.

[Comp-Freak]

If this is a Tecumseh compressor, it is only 150 BTU afaik. The number 151 on the label says 15 with one zero, so 150 btu. Am I right?

[Rockhammer]

I just got a bit more information from Thermo. I'll upload it tonight when I get home. Looks like most were Tecumseh compressors but could also be Aspera or Danfoss. Only thing I have to go on is power ratings which are 3.5 amps at 115v which is a bit over 400 watts. Assume we can neglect the condensor fan, that converts to 0.54 HP, right?

[Rockhammer]

This is all I got from Thermo. Some good info I suppose.

http://www.truenorthyoga.com/xs/Evap.pdf

[boshuter]

This is all I got from Thermo. Some good info I suppose.

http://www.truenorthyoga.com/xs/Evap.pdf

Oh man..... that is great :) That pic of how the cascade is laid out will be invaluable to me. Mine are so crammed into the case and so heavily insulated I figured I would have to strip all the insulation to see how it was routed. I have that Cryo Control for one of them, may be cool to use it and have a temperature adjustable cascade :D