Massive Water Chiller

[Stewie007]

Not as much as I was hoping to get done. But there is always next week.

[Stewie007]

Got my gases... after structural works is done I hope to create the heat exchangers.

[Stewie007]

This stuff takes a lot longer than I thought. I drilled the compressor table lets and bolted them to the table. After this I got to the shroud pieces. This time I got an appropriate blade and cut the plastic pieces and used contact cement to assemble. I didn't get a heck of a lot more than that done. It took quite some time to cut the pieces, drill the holes, and then I had to hit the hardware store.

All in all, I still have to get the shroud finished and then the large radiator stand.

[Stewie007]

I was disappointed that I didn't get more done, but I had to go to the store and get some things so it took longer than I thought. Plus, it took a bit to plan and cut pieces...

[Buckeye]

Looking good so far Stew !

That Rad box looks really nice

[runmc]

Yes rad box and orange looks cool.

[Stewie007]

Thanks... I'm pretty much addicted to orange.

Tomorrow I'll get to see how well the contact cement worked and hopefully get some more foundational work done.

Went to Lowes to buy some supplies.. Mostly screws and stuff. But I got two of those push-on fittings for the pump inlets given the locations and the hard installation to the reservoirs. That way I can remove the pumps somewhat easily if need be. Unfortunately, I they didn't carry 1" mueller prolines (which I think are more trust worthy than gator bite)... but we'll see.

[Stewie007]

Got the final work finished on the tables and supports today. Once again I didn't get pictures of much of it... but it is what it is.

I started by drilling the .25" alum bar in three spots. The outside for the spacer to connect to the support rails and the center for the leg. This was a bit of a pain to start but once I got the screws tightened enough it behaved a little better. I was pretty satisfied with the fit up. It went almost exactly as planned. Skip ahead to the other side and things were looking pretty good. I placed the radiators to check to fit and it turned out to be right on.

[Stewie007]

This is where I forgot to take some pictures. The entire second leg set was not photoed until I got it done. Measurements are decent to spec as far as the legs go. What really got me excited was the overall fit with the radiators once done. I tediously adjusted and measured and readjusted this for as close a fit as possible. Before placing the radiators for one final test I used electrical tape to cover the metal in order to protect the radiators from scratches. Did one, then the other. The final pieces were attached via contact cement. I used the MDF which I cut and grooved to fit over the screw. I then used some rubber washers to make up for the extra distance. Had to use two of them on the smaller one as the aluminum angle was thinner than my bar.

[Stewie007]

Then came the time to test the radiator fit. This is where I would be wagging my tail if I had one. The fit was perfect! The radiators took only a very minor bit of muscle to set in place. The one obviously easily while the other required a little force due to the imperfection of the radiator cover. Needless to say they fit with no strain, and sat level. I think its probably the first time something I did went almost completely to spec. The only difference is that the plastic isn't as smooth as I wanted it to be hehe.

[Stewie007]

After completing the radiator stand I moved on to the rad-box and condenser table. This one was somewhat simple. I assembled the legs as I did with the compressor table. Drilled holes, then created an inset so that the screws would sing into the support bar seen in the first pic. The screws were something like #8. The hole I'm drilling there is the inset. I didn't take a ton of pictures as its pretty self explanatory what I was doing. Don't need to go ALL out. The support beams simple are screwed into place using the same inset method as the legs. Although, what completely baffles me here is the fact that I didn't take a picture of the final product very well.... hehe

[Stewie007]

I set the compressor on its table for stability while I drilled the hole for the oil sep. It was easy enough to secure with the supplied nut on the bottom. By the time this was done it was already quite late, so I didn't get to do a lot more work. However I accomplished my goals, and that was to finish all of the tables. So far I'm pretty happy with the work. I've followed my drawings pretty closely and so far its working out mostly as planned.

[Stewie007]

Finally, I leave you with some progress pictures to show what I've accomplished so far.

[Buckeye]

Stew that thing is huge, it's like the Cascade of Water Chillers

This is for cooling CPU/GPU's ?
Or your house ?

[Stewie007]

Hey, the thread is titled MASSIVE water chiller..... hehehehe

In reality, I didn't lament size too much for a few reasons. I was including everything on the same footprint, and I want it to be "serviceable." If something breaks I don't want to have to bend everything up just to get to it. But it was the inclusion of the radiator shroud with the cold coil that it sized up quite a bit.

The cold coil helps regulate the leaving air temperature as well as add additional cooling to the condenser water. I also didn't want to place my big 180 x 3s sideways because of airflow issues inside the chest.

Lastly, given that I was going to include everything on the same platform I wanted to give it a larger footprint to spread the weight out. The parts would be the same regardless of size, so I would have built the chest the same size regardless. So why not give myself some room to work.

[Buckeye]

Makes sense in a Stewie kind of way

[Stewie007]

Yeah, I do tend to go overboard.... :-p But its fun that way !

[Stewie007]

No work on the project this past weekend unfortunately. This weekend coming up though..... Hoping to get started with the HEXs >=)

[Ivanlabrie]

Wow! This is an amazing project indeed...I always had a certain fascination for water chillers, and this definitely peaked my interest
How exactly will that thing work and what temps do you expect to achieve? Rads act like the condenser of a fridge or what?

[Stewie007]

No, the radiators will cool the condenser water. Its going to be a water cooled chiller. I'm hoping to be able to maintain a lower condensing temp for better capacity. Will require quite a lot of patience to tune the system, though.

I'm going to try for a -5 to 0F coolant temp. More likely to be 0 - 5F; but acceptable.

[Ivanlabrie]

5f would be absolutely amazing...I get it now, I like the casing and design.
Godspeed!

[andressergio]

Man thats so clean build and selfmade its amazing congratulations !!!

Sergio

[Stewie007]

Thanks.

[Stewie007]

The only thing that bums me out is that my 1/2 coil is sitting in the garage and now I have to buy another set of coils because I can't use it... I hate wasted money... :p

[Stewie007]

Redesigned the coil for the evaporator. It will b an interlocking design of 3/8" coils with a 3" coil radius. Should work out the kinks. The pictures are general representations of what it should look like.