first chiller

[NipSo]

hy,

I told a friend of mine what I wanted to do with a refirgerator unit and shortly after he gave me one *yay* :banana:
it's a danfoss unit, can't make out the exact model number so I can't give you the specs of this unit ...

what I can give are some pics :)
not tested yet cuz I have a couple of questions first some pics tho:

http://www.quakers.be/acstuph/M4110008.JPG
http://www.quakers.be/acstuph/M4110009.JPG

three more but they're too big so just the link:

pic1 (http://www.quakers.be/acstuph/M4110021.JPG)
pic2 (http://www.quakers.be/acstuph/M4110022.JPG)
pic3 (http://www.quakers.be/acstuph/M4110023.JPG)

this last one I have a question about:
http://www.quakers.be/acstuph/M4110010.JPG

there are 2 wires connected to a part of the evap? don't get this? two wires both going in 1 kind of tube? don't get this...

my questions:
what is it?
what is it used for?
and should I remove it for optimal chilling? :confused:


greetz nip

[Tonic]

Try to rotate condenser 90 degrees, it will give lower temperatures,
and add fan to compressor (if you didn't it)

I can't imagine that how looks these wires connected with
evaporator .. so, can you shoot few other photos?

[kayl]

definitely rotate that condenser you want gravity to work for ya, a fan blowing air across condenser and onto the compressor will healp.
alot of heat will be produced for pull down and want to keep the condenser below 30C so it condenses to liquid
not sure about the wires
but if you really carefully roll the evap up to make it small you will require less fluid to fill the res, result quicker pull down time
and lower overall temps

[kayl]

also with the compressor connect that green wire (ground) to the metal of the compressor
if there is a fault with the compressor (shorts) the compressor will become live and if you touch it will get a boot of electricty
this will save ya life

[NipSo]

ye, electricity 101 :)
that's done already, thanks for the input tho ...
gonna look into that condenser
the fan will be added soon but I still have to get some anti-freeze or smth to fill the res
about me rolling the evap I'm not gonna do that :) I just bought a new errm res-thingy and it costs a lot :) so just gonna leave this one be, ye I know it's huge 42liters but ha well :) think it'll do ...

in previous tests, my hands got stuck on the evap and it was just running for 5 minutes :)
think I'm gonna let it run for a couple of hours when I fill the res and try to shoot some pics of ice :)

pics coming soon
ermmm

another question:
what fluid should I use? I thought of water/anti-freeze mixture ? 50/50 or 40/60 ? good enough?

greetz nip

[NipSo]

on second thought ...

if I used thesame res (so 42l) but did roll up the evap, would the temps be lower?
or would the temps be higher ? or thesame ?

I'm thinking it'd be higher cuz when you roll it up, you get a small evap, for a big res, so the evap can't cool all of the liquid fully
or am I wrong? :rolleyes:

[kayl]

smaller the res the quicker the pulldown
y
gets to coolest temp faster

[koensa]

nice
you are already closer to a working unit then me

[NipSo]

kayl ye, I get your point but what if I used thesame res, and rolled up that evap?
what would it give? even slower temp-pulldown ?

[NipSo]

here's a pic of the 2 wires & the tube I was asking questions about ...
maybe some other info
this unit came from a fridge that was part freezer part fridge, this tube with the wires was the fridge part ...
the white plate you see it attatched to is ofcourse the evap for the fridge :)

http://www.quakers.be/acstuph/better%20pic.JPG

greetz
nip

[Tonic]

Where these wires are going?

[Epsilon]

That looks like heating (to prevent condensation on the side) :)

[Reflex1]

if its heating ...then you can rip it all off :D u don't want it to be a water "heater"

[kayl]

Originally posted by NipSo
kayl ye, I get your point but what if I used thesame res, and rolled up that evap?
what would it give? even slower temp-pulldown ?

basically by reducing the size of the evap when you put it in the res you require less liquid to completly cover the evap.
less liquid requires less heat removal on cooling.

[kayl]

Originally posted by Epsilon
That looks like heating (to prevent condensation on the side) :)

id say that epsoilon is correct
take the evap out of the res and place on the ground/bench or something and run the system.
if the element at the top gets hot.
turn it off and cut the cord that goes to the element, wait a few minites and then turn it back on, if it works the if you can remove it.
if it doesnt reconnect the wires and there might be a little more involved to disable the heater element.

[NipSo]

well I was thinking thesame ...
as two wires in 1 tube are unlilely to make cold
and another thing that makes me feel that's a heater
I've seen that fridge work and around the fridge-evap part there was all ice ...
today I looked at it, and there were some cracks in it (pic not very clear though)

so, I'm gonna cut them off :banana: (love to bash things ...)

http://www.quakers.be/acstuph/cracks.JPG
http://www.quakers.be/acstuph/evap%20up%20close.JPG

the unit :x
http://www.quakers.be/acstuph/tadaa.JPG

this is a pic of how I'm gonna test-run the sys
http://www.quakers.be/acstuph/testing.JPG

fun pic:
http://www.quakers.be/acstuph/liquid.JPG

ye, I know, I'm a pic guy :c

greetz
nip

testing pics & how it worked out will follow

[NipSo]

The evilist thing of all destroyed of course >:-)
http://www.quakers.be/acstuph/heater.JPG

http://www.quakers.be/acstuph/isolated.JPG
Had some troubles isolating, I thought it was 12mm but seems my tubes are smaller, so just used this atm, gonna go downtown for some 10mm or 8mm if it exists

YAIY, it's drowning:
http://www.quakers.be/acstuph/drowned.JPG

the sys is running atm, so gonna play some quake first, then gonna see if there's any ice

see www.quakers.be/acstuph/ for some more pics or smth

greetz
nip

[NipSo]

got one prob tho ...
thermometers busted :s
he's measuring 10°C outside and it's over 18°C so :'(
holding the probe under hot or cold water gives thesame readout :(

[NipSo]

just bought a new temp probe aaaaand
I saw it was 5°C or smth I was like :(

so, I just turned the turning thingy erm a resistor which you can turn to increase or decrease resistance (potentiometer in dutch) the other way, and see what gives ...

have a question though:
a normal fridge is supposed to be equiped with some kind of temp probe?
a PT100 - a-like sensor?
well I got one (pic follows battery's dead of my camera)
would this probe hold the fridge from cooling? I mean, now it's out in the open, so it should read high temps? wouldn't this mean that the compressor has to work 100% all the time?

just kind of disapointed in the temps :(
some other info around that pot, there's a sticker, that says: 5°C -27°C ...
I presume a normal fridge + freezer is larger than 42L so why don't I get these temps?
cuz I've seen this fridge with ice in it ... a LOT of ice

[NipSo]

so now I've put that probe-like thing in the reservoir, and I got below 0 around -2.5°C ish ...
wanna go lower tho :)
gonna wait for a little while to see how low it goes ...

erm does anybody have a clue of how this probe-thing works?
should I put it in the res like now this game me -2.5°c from 5°c
or should I put outside near a heatsource?

another thing: the compressor is extremely hot below, is that normal?

[Tonic]

Cool compressor, or he will be destroyed.

In fridge he works in cycles, in your chiller not and it's
why he's very hot.

Turn 90 degrees, condenser must be horizontol - it will give
you few *C less

[NipSo]

will try to place the condensor horizontal tomorow see what it gives ...

how do I cool the compressor?
Just put a fan in front of it or smth ...
it's really hot, can't hold my finger against it for over 1sec, is that causing my temps to be high?

I got -5°C when placing the Tprobe in the middle of the res so I thinks that's reasonable atm wanna go further tho

I noticed that if I put a fan in front of the condensor, or if I don't ... the temps don't make a difference
thesame goes for that turn-thingy ...
I thought it was supposed to be for setting the desired temp or cooling intervals but it doesn't seem to work ...
It stays -5°C no matter what I do ...

[kayl]

touch the condensor is really hot at the bottom.
also a 120mm fan or even an 80mm just infront of the compressor should be enough to cool it

[NipSo]

so new morning, new start

even MORE pics

new test method:
http://www.quakers.be/acstuph/new%20testing%20method%20II.JPG

and what are these things?
what do they do?
and how do they work (together or not):
http://www.quakers.be/acstuph/pipe%20and%20pot.JPG

[kayl]

i pritty sure its the thermostat control.
i was thinking about the rolling of the evap.
if you did that to your particular evap it wont fit in the res you have there, i had to do this to mine to fit it in the cooler.

another idea you could try is to place some plastic milk bottles, or anything that takes up space in the cooler as well to reduces the volume of coolant in the cooler, but still making sure that the evap is covered.

[NipSo]

well
I got some weird :banana: :banana: :banana: :banana: now ...

the liquid temp would be around -10.5°C

BUT
I have ice around the evap
he whole evap is covered with it ...
this is weird imo
I used 50/50 demineralised water/anti-freeze

[NipSo]

hmm I think I'll try the evap-rolling thing
cuz I was kind of noobed by my liquid ... sux
misread the label
it said -26°C (saw a lot of bottles like that in the store, they were all 1:1)
but I had from very cheap to very expensive, so I bought a couple of the midways ...
conclusion I didn't have to mix it with water, this was already 1:1 :(
so kind of screwed
ha well .. guess my parents can use it when it's winter for their cars :c
I'm gonna roll the evap up then, buy me some other coolant and gonna try it again
I was at -12°C when there was a lot of ice in the res ...

anybody know any good reasonable priced coolant, that is sold in belgian stores? :p

[kayl]

how long did you have to leave it on to get to that temp

[Epsilon]

The last picture is the thermostat control indeed. I have one laying around here (danfoss makes them too).

It is pot that you connect to the compressor (the little box attached to it), and the wire has to be in your reservoir. This way you can set a fit temperature. If you leave it out of your res, well, the compressor runs constantly :D.

[NipSo]

well to get -12 it had to run for 3hours or smth ...
then I shut it down, no use of forming ice is there :)

well, I tried that, leaving the wire out of the res ... liquid temp stays fixed at +5°C so it doesn't take heat off ... that's weird imo