Well it was nice while it lasted... LOL Seems that a submergable pump is not going to operate long in temps between 35-40F.... I also did not know something could catch on fire under water... LOL This morning I went down in the basement and smoke was lingering in my control center... As I got closer to the chiller so I can flip on the control center's exhaust, smoke was coming from the chiller res... Then I reach for the plug to unplug it from the outlet, as SOON as I touched the cord, POW!!! Sparks flew and the breaker popped with a LOUD SNAP... I about shat myself... Even though the dam thing was unplugged, do you know how fucking scared I was to stick my hand into water... LOL I tried to just pull the pump out by the cord, but was not happening, I had to reach into the water to free it up.. So thinking on my feet, I called out, "Honey, can you pull this pump out of the water for me"???? ROTLFMFAO I have a pump on it's way............ Going with the MAG Drive pump, which is the pump that the computer overclockers use in their systems... And their chillers reach -40 to -45 that they pump through their processor chiller blocks......... I'm also looking at turning this into a REAL chiller with a twist... I want (or need) to be able to cool different nutrient mixes down, but it's going to use a SS tank as the real chillers do.. Stay Tuned!!
Well what gets me, it's on a 15a power bar, then a 15a ground fault outlet, then the 15a breaker.. I guess it was not pulling 15a being shorted internally... But right now I have a spare in there and the chiller res temp set to 55-60F
What type of pump? It's possible being it wasn't ment to pump in colder temps the fittings of the pump shrunk thus creating rotor rub within the stator. Once there's rotor rub it's only a matter of time before it pops. Smoke will be the first thing and the slightest bump (grabbing of the cable) moved it just enough internally to pop. Was it pumping before you grabbed the cable? Funny thing, I work on Water & Waste water submersible pumps anywhere from 1/4hp to 600hp every day. Currently working on a pump called a Flygt 2400 HT, this mother fucker pushes 300ft (models vary per impeller) @ 3200 gallons a minute. We have a full water test tank in our shop and a few years back we used to use 8"x1/2" hosing to allow the pump to run full out. Anyways everything tested out right, the one guy at the power panel just tapped the 'start' button and in that split second it had blew off the hose (NO IDEA how) cut threw 12' of water and shot up 45ft to our shop roof and let me tell you, there was probably 100gal of water threw out the general area of the tank. Just a funny story to go along with ours lol.
Not sure if it was pumping or not... It was like, Oh SHIT smoke then as I walked over to the exhaust switch I seen it was coming from the chiller res, so I just reached over and grabbed the cord to pull it out, and POP, then shit.... LMFAO All happened in a millisecond.. LMFAO Unhinged says to the boss, "Not sure how that happened" ...
[quote name='"jakesterjammin"'] LMFAO Unhinged says to the boss, "Not sure how that happened" ... [/quote] Dude! My boss was the one who attached the hose! Lmao and he got fucking soaked in the process! Lol
Ya, should have known..... Boss always got to come stick their nose in your job and fuck shit up.... And why I do not have a boss..... Well, other than the wife.... LMFAO
[quote name='"jakesterjammin"'] Ya, should have known..... Boss always got to come stick their nose in your job and fuck shit up.... And why I do not have a boss..... Well, other than the wife.... LMFAO [/quote] Lmao, guess who my boss is......... That should tell you everything...
Here a 88hp submersible waste water pump out of this tank I'm working on as I type this. High head, high pressure pump value and impeller with a six inch discharge. Also that hole is 30ft deep to the top of the pumps where this fucker sits all it's life except for days like today lol. Sorry for jacking your thread JJ, figured you'd like to see a REAL pump lol. Edit: forgot to mention, this pump creates so much pressure the water inside the valute, water boils and literally burns the impeller and in side the valute.
What exactly causes or can cause cavitation of the pumps?? I thought it was from sucking air or air bubbles... Like when I first setup my res, the return was splashing into the res right next to the pump, so I added a pipe so the return is under the waterline..
[quote name='"jakesterjammin"'] What exactly causes or can cause cavitation of the pumps?? I thought it was from sucking air or air bubbles... [/quote] This is also correct, with smaller pumps they'll most likely heat up and just die if the cavitation is to much, kinda like running the pump dry. These pumps cannot create high enough pressures to produce high pressure cavitation. The pumps I deal with, right at the intake of the valute (mouth of the impeller chamber) there is EXTREME pressure do to the suction of the impeller and the minimal gap in between the impeller and the valute intake or mouth if you will. When this happens the inside of the valute becomes extremely turbulent with the high pressuresa and WILL cause the water to literally boil thus creating air bubbles with in the valute which causes extreme wear on all the parts. This is nearly impossible to to stop so we try to use metals or materials that will resist the sandblasting effect of the boiling water. Such metals we use is Marine grade Stainless Steel or a product called Belzona. Belzona is pretty much a thick brush able ceramic we use to fill in the cavitation burns to lengthen a specific parts life. Also different fluids will do different things inside the valute, such as paper mills that have effluent settling ponds. They have massive Stainless Steal Mixing pumps that are used to keep the ponds moving. The reason being is there are uber tiny biological bugs with in the effluent that breakdown all the bad shit with in the pond... This fluid is among the most corrosive liquid I've ever seen short of Acid. Anyways this shit will eat the entire mixer blades in a matter of a few months. Sorry kinda went off on a tangent there. Ask more if your still perplexed love teachig
Thanks man, now I know that I have nothing to fear with cavitation of my pump.... Wish I could teach........ Shit I'd teach my wife to balance my beer on her head as she blows me.... I tell her, come on, the Russian bears can balance stuff on their heads, she says they are animals... So I said what about them women you see carrying water jugs on their head.... She looks me dead in the eye and says, "those are BrothaGrow women"....
[quote name='"jakesterjammin"'] Thanks man, now I know that I have nothing to fear with cavitation of my pump.... Wish I could teach........ Shit I'd teach my wife to balance my beer on her head as she blows me.... I tell her, come on, the Russian bears can balance stuff on their heads, she says they are animals... So I said what about them women you see carrying water jugs on their head.... She looks me dead in the eye and says, "those are BrothaGrow women".... [/quote] Lmao! BrotherGrows women! Bahaha dirty fuck
OK wanted to UPDATE this A/C to Chiller Conversion... So I was having a hard time keeping the new chiller's res within a reasonable temp.. What was happening was the chiller would pull it's res down into the 30s and start freezing, and I want to stick with water in the chiller res because of it's heat transfer properties... If I were to run the coils through the chiller's res as opposed to the nutrient res, than I would not have a problem using something like an ethylene glycol (engine coolant), or even window washer fluid (a methanol based ethylene glycol)... Reason being is because if the coils were in the chiller's res, I'd want to drop that as low as I can and as quickly as I can, that way with such an extreme difference in temps the heat transfer from the fluid in the chiller's res to the fluid running through the tubing is a LOT more rapid than the chiller's res temps being in the low 50s.. So I want to stay with water in the chiller's res, and therefore cannot have the res temp drop below 40 or the evap start freezing up, and then soon becomes a useless block of ice, that can and will cause chiller damage... What I'm doing now: I'm just controlling everything (chiller, chiller's pump, and circulation pump) via a CAP TMP 1.. The sensor tip is stainless, so I just hung that in the nutrient res, and it's SPOT ON too.... The chiller comes ON @ 67F and OFF @ 70F... The cool thing, it takes about 6hrs for the nutrient res to climb back to 70F, so when the chiller comes on, its res is already in the 50s because it held the 50 temp and only rose maybe a degree if at all... When the chiller kicks back on 5-6hrs later, it just picks up where it left off at the last cycling and it does not have to pull down its res, before it can start chilling the nutrient's res.... So it takes around 5hrs for the nutrient to go from 67F to 70F and the DIY Chiller drops that back to 67F around 10-12 minutes, then shuts off completely... During chiller off time its res stays in the upper 40s to lower 50s. THIS DIY A/C to NUTRIENT CHILLER IS DONE AND WORKING AS EXPECTED WITH AT LEAST A $250 TOTAL SAVINGS OVER BUYING A 1/4hp Chiller, and a $350 over buying a 1/2hp Chiller..... This DIY Chiller can remove up to 5,000 BTU of heat which is just under 1/2hp Chiller... But really you can make a Hillbilly chiller that you have to reload only 1 a day for like $60.... Don't know???? Ask....
Oh I forgot to recap expenses...... I spent more than I needed to get this going.... But what someone would need to make this happen..... 5,000 BTU A/C unit = $100.00 25 feet of 3/8" 304 Stainless Steel tubing = $34.00 Two of the 185 GPH Ecoplus Submersible Pumps = $24 (+ ship 1 can of "Great Stuff" = $4 1 piece of sheet metal from local hardware = $3 1 old tool box = $20 (but was a gift so cost me nothing) To do this DIY A/C to Nutrient Chiller you're looking @ $185.00... Skill level between 1 and 10, with 10 being the highest, I would give it a 5..... S0 let's say $225 just for any taxes or shipping costs and then you have just under a 1/2hp nutrient chiller....
ok i must say this is the most interesting diy ive seen in a while. infact it came up in a search for cooling a small closet. ive read through the 3 pages here and you all are some smart people. if i might bother you with a question? what can you think up to cool a small 2x2x5 closet? it gets nice and hot in there(90s) is there something you can build that can effecently cool that? i know this contraption has a completely different purpous but its the same area of thinking right? ive searched for hours and i dont feel confident in anything ive found so far.
[quote name='"Littletoast"']ok i must say this is the most interesting diy ive seen in a while. infact it came up in a search for cooling a small closet. ive read through the 3 pages here and you all are some smart people. if i might bother you with a question? what can you think up to cool a small 2x2x5 closet? it gets nice and hot in there(90s) is there something you can build that can effecently cool that? i know this contraption has a completely different purpous but its the same area of thinking right? ive searched for hours and i dont feel confident in anything ive found so far.[/quote] Your cheapest and easiest option would be a portable/window ac unit... It gets 90F in your bedroom and you don't have ac in your house?? I would say a blower for exhaust but if your sucking in 90F air it won't get colder then that. I think ac would pretty much be your only option.