Building a Liquid chiller

[DoGMaN]

I want to put together a liquid chiller for a watercooled system. I am thinking of either using a mini fridge or a dehumidifier. Any ideas on which would work better? I built a small on from scraps but it never did fly. thing kept leaking and finally the compressor blew out. I've seen many chillers made from both, but never seen any temps. Any help would be appreciated

DoG

[sjohnson]

I see dehumidifiers setting on peeps curbs for free several times a year. Got a Sears de that way, plan to play with it this winter :)

[|PuNiSh3R|]

Problem with picking up any old refrigeration system is it's going to use r-12 or r-22.. These freons are not easily obtainable unless you are HVAC cert or know someone who is..

Secondly they can be very dangerous to work with. R-22 I believe turns into a deadly gas when you add large amounts of heat to it.. they used it in WW2..

Your best bet is to use an r-134a system.. easy and cheap to get the freon.. and easy to work with.. minimal hazaards..

It's not easy to build a good system.. trust me.. I am going through the hell of it all now..

[DoGMaN]

I've been thourgh the route of building my own machine. All though it was fun and I did learn quite a bit, it was a big waste of time. Thats why I am looking to mod an existing sytem to my needs. I.E. a dehumidifier of mini fridge.

[ssjwizard]

ok mini fridge will work as long as you dont have one of those pos compressors like pun has 1/20hp is extremly to small for a cpu cooler. ok now if you can find a R134a mini fridge with a 1/12 or larger compressor your set. now the thing is you hope the thing has an air cooled condensor if it doesnt you need to build something to act as one. it doesnt matter what your compressor ran on before let me say that if you get one that ran on r22 the change over to r134 is EASY cus you can get R134 in pure cans which means NO OILS so it cant :banana::banana::banana::banana: it over by mixing with the mineral oil and become wax. if you have an R134 compressor howervre you CAN use R22 or other but its more diffacult as most older freons came pr mixed with oil so you have to suction the compressor and get all of the ester oil out then fill it with mineral oil. then there is R290(propane no addatives) thats obviously not got any oils mixed with it.

so in short you need to find a compressor, a condensor(radiator), and some copper tube for an evaporator.

[DoGMaN]

@ssjwizard

I've already gone the route of building one myself. It never really worked. It was running HC-12a. Something much nicer than R134a. The compressor was too old and just couldn't handle things. It was a 1/5th HP Embarco. I'm looking to build something WITHOUT haveing to actually put the cooling system together. i.e. a mini fridge or dehumidifier. I would just like to know which would have better performance.

[|PuNiSh3R|]

Mini friges WILL NOT WORK..

And there is nothing wrong with older compressors.. they usually work hell of a lot better then newer ones..

Mini friges have 1/20HP to no greater then like 1/8HP..

Most of your up right refrigerators with the freezers on the top will have a 1/4HP compressor.. that is what you want to shoot for.

I just picked a compressor up last night from this ladies frige that was in the garbage.. I guess she got a new one or something cuz this thing was still charged.. so no leaks in it or anything. Still haven't tested the compressor.. I just yanked the compressor and took the frige body back to her yard where she had it.. heh.

The nice thing about getting a compressor from a frige or a freezer is the fact that it will be powerful.. but small.. Get a compressor from an AC unit .. it's going to be tall.. not very space efficient..

It's simple to build a condensor.. and an evaporator.

You could use a heatercore for a condensor.. I used my dangerden supercube as the condensor.. even though it has the large 1/2" lines.. It had the threaded ends on it.. where the elbow fittings went in.. So I just got a flare fitting and put them in their then I soldered around the threading to make sure it was nice and leak proof.. Takes me less then a day to build a system.. a few hours.. that's with making my own evaporator and condensor if needed.

So go get a frige out of the garbage :) yank the compressor.. take the condensor if needed.. take the cap tube and dryer if needed.. remember.. it's illegal to release R-22 in the environment unless you are HVAC cert.

Also.. when charging your system with whatever refrigerant you use.. Remember this

You use less freon to achieve lower temps on the evaporator

You use more freon to achieve a higher heat capacity on the evaporator.

When you start putting in more freon.. You start to get higher evaporator temps.. For instance.. My mini frige was charged with 2oz of freon.. that's nothing.. But it did what it had to do.. get the evaporator really cold.. The thing didn't need to handle a heat load.. Mini-Friges have :banana::banana::banana::banana: for compressors in them.. Your regular friges ont he other hand will have a larger charge in them because they need to handle a heatload.. It's going to be really hard to fill your system to the exact amount of freon.. to get the coldest temps and the best heatload. The larger compressor you use though the more freon you can use and still maintain a lower temp. That is why I'd suggest using propane to fill your system.. it's dirt cheap.. and relativly safe to work with. You just have to make a valve of sorts to go on it.. using a flare valve with a shrader valve works great.

PM me if you need help.. I'll be happy to help you out.

[|PuNiSh3R|]

Oh, about your question.. neither a mini frige or dehumidifer will just "work"

You can't just buy one and have it work.. that doesn't happen.

Get yourself a 1/4HP compressor.. that will take around 200w of electricity.. and work really good for a chiller.

It will take you a day or 2 to build a good.. compact chiller.. You'll be happy with it.

[DoGMaN]

I beg to differ. Do a search on overclockers for freon, user ol' man or check in project X. Mini fridges work quite well. If you don't think a dehumidifier will work talk to #Rotor. 3rotor.dyndns.com
http://www.overclockers.com/tips777/ Tigers mod

http://3rotor.dns2go.com/images/customers/B_P/index.html

1/4HP is a ton of power Steve Foster built his with 1/16thHP his site is currently down www.wizard.com/~scfoster

Propane is cheap and would work fairly well, however HC-12a is probably better as it performs very close to R22.

[|PuNiSh3R|]

Let me tell you something about Steve Foster.. He uses peltiers too.. Or else he'd have hot processors..

1/16HP iS NOTHING .. it can't handle a load worth :banana::banana::banana::banana: for water chilling.. My 1/20HP system couldn't even handle my 172w peltier.. the temps on the water in my 1/20HP water chiller just went up.. and up and up.. into the 90's.. the second I'd turn the peltier on.. the temps went up.

1/4HP is nothing.. It's perfect for water chilling.. it doesn't use much electricity..

Mini friges don't work if you want REAL water chilling.. sure.. You can wrap some copper tubing up and put it in a mini frige.. big woop.. You just spent 80 dollars on a mini frige that gives you 5C cooler water.. I was involved in the Project X thread.. I read it.. I posted a lot of stuff too.. I even posted my rant about using a mini frige.. It didn't work for :banana::banana::banana::banana:.. Then I took the compressor out of the frige and tried it like that.. using my own condensor and evaporator.. still didn't work.. You can use any compressor UNDER 1/8HP and expect to get good temps.. it's just a waste of electricity to use a anything under 1/8HP. Trust me dude..

IF you are going to get a prefab setup.. get a dehumidifer.. YOu will have your best work with a good 65pint unit..
When I talk about water chilling.. I'm not talking about having 60F water.. 50F water.. I'm talking about having 10F water.. I don't mess around with 50F water.. if you are going to do it.. DO IT.. Not like it's going to cost you more then 50 dollars to get everything you need to build a DIY system.

[|PuNiSh3R|]

Like I said.. get yourself a good R22 compressor.. stick propane in it.. a dab of 134a if u want.. Propane is cheap.. and you are going to use a lot of it trying to get the exact fill.. Specially if you use an under-rated compressor.. like a 1/16.. hah..

Oh, and you know what compelled me to waste my money on a mini frige with it's 1/20HP compressor? Steve Foster.. the jackass.. He gave these really great looking temps but never posted any temps on his water.. I figured if Mr.Foster could use such a compressor and use peltiers.. so could I.. didn't turn out that way for me.. Don't believe what these sites tell you.. I know from expirence.. Besides why waste money on a frige or something? When You could get it free.. I mean.. do what you want.. I am just trying to help you build a good system for cheap.. so u don't go blowing all of ur money like I did my first time around.

[DoGMaN]

Just picked up a 2/3HP R404a condesing unit :D was pulled from a restaurant walkin freezer. Just need to build a nice evap and I'll be set. I do hear what you are saying chief, I was one of the first people in Project X. I had built a system from nothing and I just don't want to do it again. I have a pretty decent grasp of what needs to be done, and how to do it. Just bending and soldering all the crap up again is too much of a PITA. :toast: Anyhow thanks for the input. I'll see you when I hit -40 C :smileysex

[|PuNiSh3R|]

Oh my jesus 2/3HP! There goes the electric bill..

I have nill trouble with the bending and soldering.. takes me 30 seconds to solder a line..

Good luck man.. sounds like you got a beast on your hands! Remember not to let liquid freon back into the compressor at the end of your evaporator!

[|PuNiSh3R|]

Oh and unless you have R404a .. I would just put in propane.. but that's up to you.. I don't know what kind of access you have to these wonderous products :)