A new Chiller Project! 11,000 BTU

[JWB]

Ok so I've been reading the chiller forums for a while now and have finnaly gotten around to building my own! I'm going to be taking pictures thoughout the build so hopefully it can inspire people to build their own or help them during their own build

Ok first I had to decide how I was going to go about it. I had the choice of either custom making the unit part by part or buying an airconditioner to modify. As the aircon is the most simple and easy to obtain and as this is my first project i'm going to do that. Most people choose this route too

So now I have the choice of which to get. Aircon systems are rated in power by BTU. Basically it means the higher the BTU the quicker the system will pull down the temperature more and it will be able to hold more load. So basically a 12,000 BTU unit could handle more water blocks, like multiple gpu and cpu blocks. Whereas a lower powered unit like 6,000-7,000 BTU unit would be more suited for fewer blocks like single gpu and cpu blocks or even just a cpu block. Although a high BTU system will draw quite a lot of power from the wall and be louder too, so there are drawbacks too. A high powered aircon can pulldown the temperature of the liquid more quickly but would probably be more noisy too, so you have to decide what is best for your needs.

To learn more about refrigeration and to learn what BTU measurement actually is then this is a great link!

http://www.refrigerationbasics.com/1024x768/rb1.htm

Ok from here on I'll explain what Ive done and hopefully people will gain something from seeing what problems ive come up against and how my project has progressed. Chillers are such a useful thing to have as you can just swap out waterblocks and loop really easy and thee should be alot more chillers out there!

I've decided to go with an 11,000 BTU aircon mainly because it was very cheap, around half the price of every other store I went to!! So enough with the boring stuff bring on the pictures!

[JWB]

Ok here is the beast lol.





Top is evaporator cover and bottom is the condensor cover.



Sleep function, normal air blower, air con and 54L day dehumidifies



First look at the Evap!



Thermometer for the thermostat



My unpacking helper LOLOL



Ok so can't wait to tear it down tommorow! Lol it reminded me and my friends of a cheap scifi robot lol. The vents open and close by motor I think when its turned on and off which is pretty cool and it is awesomely powerful. The things on the other side of the room were getting blown around! Quite sad because the fan must be really powerful...pity I'm going to have to take it off. actually maybe I can put it on the condensor instean although its soooooo loud!!

[Stewie007]

You need to look and see what the evap temperature at which that system is running. The BTU rating is not static. While most folks look at a 1 Ton unit and say, "Oh that's 12,000 BTUS! I can cool A dozen chips with that!"

Suddenly, its like the price of right moved into your living room, and the mountain climber just fell off the top of the mountain. *Insert Price is WRONG buzzer!*

Anyways, all kidding aside. The amount of heat that unit will be capable of removing will depend on your evap pressure which results in a particular evap temp (you can look it up on a chart). The less refrigerant running through your evap, the lower the capacity for absorbing heat. At 40F, it might surely remove 11,000 BTUs in one hour from air, but at say..... 15F it might only remove 5,000. But that's from air..... Water is different.

[JWB]

Ok a little more info

Rated voltage: 220-240V
Rated frequency: 50hz
Comp. LAR: 24A
Cooling capacity: 3200W
Input Power: 1400W
Rated Power: 1600W
Rated Current: 7.8A
Dehumidifiying Capacity: 53/L Day
High side pressure: 3.8MPa
Low side pressure: 1.2MPa
Sound Pressure Level: 58.5DB
Refrigerent Charge: R410a/0.53Kg

[Stewie007]

So what kind of modifications do you plan on making? What kind of evap temp are you going to run? That one is pushing out 60F/15C or so. I'm assuming that for the intent of chilling, you want to drop it way down.

You'll have to drop some of that charge. Otherwise that space heater.... er condenser is going to warm you up some....

[JWB]

Yep exactly, first I've got to strip it down and get to the goodies inside. Then just to show people on here what to do I'll run it for a while and record the temps at the evap. Then the same with a bypass on the thermostat and finnaly without the fan too. So hoping for about -20C there. Then get the resovoir built and get the liquid. Show a quick insulation guide and test the whole setup runningas a chiller. At the end tune the charge inside the system because my total load wont be as high. Oh and make a case for the whole thing

[JWB]

Ok have done quite a few hours work on this thing now. First all I can say is what an absoulute beast. When I set the thing to 16C the air temp it pumps out is actually around 3C! Damn thing sounds like a Harrier jump yet on full fan lol. Had to find out what was going on inside.

First look at the evap and condensor. The condensor is the type that bends around on both sides in to a U shape.



I had some real trouble getting the top of the casing off where the controls were as it had a special type of screw on the top. It took me a lot of swearing and manpower to get the things off. Had to put as screwdriver on one side and push them around lol.



Ok first look at the system fully undressed. Evap is top, Condensor at the bottom and the compressor inside of it.



Other side.



Casings off.



At first when i saw the electronics I thought it was going to be a real headache but fortunately everything is just plugged in and can be pulled out really easily. So after having a look things seem alot more simple than the picture suggests.



I also got really lucky and once I put the compressor model in to Google, I found my Prem-I-Air unit is a much more expensive (by factor of 3x!) Sanyo unit just in a different case. Everything else is the same

Compressor is a Rotary Sanyo C-RV133H1B

This guide is great because it shows how to dismantle it, tells me whateverthing is and has exploded views too!!

ahi-carrier.ae/download.asp?frm=docs/cm_013.pdf

[JWB]

Ok went shopping and bought some supplies. managed to get most of my insulation for the piping and some heat wrap for my future res. I havent actually got the res yet but I plan to put a layer of wrap around the box insulation tape and then duck tape it and do that for about 4 layers. I also have some neoprene wrawp i can do a layer of too.



Also I got really unlucky or lucky it depends. I couldnt find denatured alcohol anywhere, not in any major diy/building/plumping stores, but I did managage to go to a car place and score some -65C freeze pint screenwash!!!



I bought 4 litres of the stuff to test.

http://www.commaoil.com/productsguide/view/6/305

[Johnmark]

Does that screen wash have an MSDS sheet? I'm a little leary of what it might actual contain, you don't want to get it on yourself if is contains any methanol or several other nasty chemicals. Personally I wouldn't even use "denatured alcohol" unless you know what was added to make it unfit for human consumption. Why not just use plain old ethanol and distilled water ?
Unless of course your worried you might get thirsty one night and drain out your system for a drink lol

I'm interested to see how this all comes together for you

Best of luck!

John

[PaganII]

I have 1 of those portable room ACs. Duct taped a dryer exhaust duct to the vent on top and ran it to the side fan on the case. Used 1 of those florescent ducts made to connect CPU fan to rear case exhaust on the side and dryer duct fit right inside.

[JWB]

Hi Guys,

First let me apologise for not posting any progress on this build. recently I had a bad football (soccer) injury and have totally snapped my Anterior Crucicate Ligament in my knee as well as rupturing/tearing my cartiledge. So right now I'm looking at two operations. I havent given up on the build and its currently upstairs (where I cant go lol). So once Ive recovered I'm going to finish this thread and hopefully it can aid other people trying to build a chiller!

JohnMark: Don't worrk my coolant resovoir will be totally sealed and its right next to a window and has great ventilation. I'm not going to go blind just yet

PaganII: Well I have tried subzero air cooling before at -4C on the CPU and about -6C in the whole case. well the whole room actually lol. But I found I culdnt clock much higher because the cpu would heat up alot more than with it being cooled by a liquid because the liquid will be transporting the heat away alot more effectively. Although I could use a lot more voltage the cpu didnt want to go much higher than normal air cooling.

James

[JWB]

Ok I found a few more pictures of a little more progress I made before i had to stop.

I turned the thing on (still dismantled like in the pictures) and I was really suprised how quick the pulldown is. Pulldown for those who don't know is hpw quickly the unit brings down the temperature. For example my unit pulls down to -26C in around 3 minutes, which is very fast! Although once in the resovoir full of liquid it will take longer because there will be quite a few litres of coolant to bring down to its lowest temperature. The temperature of the liquid will be alot colder though, I'm expecting at least -40C

[ny_driver]

I just built a chiller yesterday with a 6500 BTU a/c It's awesome. The coldest I have gotten 5 gallons of coolant down to is -32c, but my evap is only 3/4 submerged right now. Still have to move the unit.

Can't hook to my system yet as I have not insulated.

Good luck bro.

EDIT: I shut it off for 8 hours and it only got up to -15c with the lid ajar. You will be amazed.

[JWB]

Thanks NY_driver that looks a great system! Bet you cannot wait to get it hooked up . I'll have to wait quite a few months for mine though. After my operations I will have to have a few months physio to get my balance back and be able to walk again. But I've really got the hunger to start benching right now, cant wait to my system is ready!! You should post some results to let us know how you do

[ny_driver]

Dude...first of all get well soon! I really wish you the best of luck!

Thank you very much for the compliment. And your darn right I can't wait to hook it up. I'll definitely drop back in here with some results. Hopefully next weekend, but I am doubtful....probably 2 weeks.

Cya

--Dave

[JWB]

Hey NY what are you using as coolant? was 5 gallons hard to get for you??

Thanks

[ny_driver]

Hey NY what are you using as coolant? was 5 gallons hard to get for you??

Thanks

I'm using mostly -25F windshield washer fluid and a little antifreeze. Easy to get as anything.

[ny_driver]

Here is a picture of it in action. Getting a digital thermometer tomorrow.

EDIT: going to also replace a couple gallons of the washer fluid with pure antifreeze.

[JWB]

Thats looking really really good NY! The way youve got the block mounted with the plywood and the four holddowns looks perfect . Only thing I can see is your suction line going back in to your compressor still needs insulation?? the pump looks a really strong one too, where did you find it?? yep looking forward to your temps and finding out what hardware your cooling!

James

EDIT: Your systems is in your sig right? lol

[ny_driver]

Thanks. I plan to insulate that too. And the pump came from an old veterinarian trailer.

[Sn0wm@n]

good job to the both of you


cant wait till i try my take at sub zero cooling


keep posting frosty evap pics jwb i love that kind of thing like many others will probably

[JWB]

Lol I won't be able to post any progress on my chiller for a while I think. I've hurt my leg and cannot get upstairs to it :S But dont worry when I do make progress I will post it here. If you need any help with building a chiller just post in the chiller section and I'll try and help you if I can

James

[JWB]

Ok managed to get upstairs and do a few things like tide and sort out the electronics and control panel and also fill her with coolant. the coolant is the windshield fluid you saw above

Heres a shot of the unit as it was when I left it.



A shot of the opening made for the capillary tubing and suction lineto enter the res. The waterblock hoses that go to the computer will enter here too. Luckily I only had to cut a small opening here as a bigger one might have needed to be sealed again which is very difficult to do. If you have to reseal one yourself then silicone sealant is the best thing to use. Make sure it is in fact silicone sealant and not bathroom sealant and that is only water resistant and not waterproof.



I tried to use computer case fans here to cool the condensor so I could just hook them up to the psu I was just for my pc but they arent powerful enough. As you see later I'm using desktop fans at the moment as a makeshift measure.



A peek inside of the resovoir. Unfortunately I couldnt get the res in diagonally. That would have been the best way since it would have made the res in to two compartments which would mean you could put the hoses on different sides of the evaporator and the liquid would be forced to go through it and not around it making it a lot colder .



A shot of the electrics nicely taped out of the way with the controls (the green panel just above them.



Here's a look at my coolant. you can see two weights at the bottom of the res. This is because the evap has about an inch underneath it I put something there to support it and also to take a bit of room up so i wasnt wasting coolant. The coolant is actually a lot higher than the picture suggests. Theres 13 litres in there.



As you can see though it does need somemore in there



Next for some temperatures!

Thanks, James

[JWB]

Ok now for the important bit.....The temps!! Well let me say i am a little disappointed as i thought they would be colder, but i'll see what you think lol. the temp of the liquid was 17.5C when I started.

Ok the temp after 15 min.

-10.2C


After half an hour.

-20.4C


After 45 min.

-27.7C


After the full hour........-30.7C



So what do you think guys?? -30.7C good after an hour, wonder what it would be after 2 hours?? would love to hear other peoples temps and how long it took to pull down to them. Thanks guys,

James

[hello im sean]

You say the case fans weren't enough? Are those the fans you have in the picture or are those 200mm fans your remedy?