Let's Convert an A/C to a Chiller...

Discussion in 'Do It Yourself' started by jakesterjammin, Jun 22, 2012.

  1. So.. The stainless steel coil thingy I'm putting in my control bucket is going to rust..? I don't like the sound of that. :-( I got the one you suggested from Amazon came with fittings and 12 foot hose..
     
  2. Oh no.....  lol
    Stainless Steel and the Copper coils of the evap does NOT rust....
    Nor will the fins on the evap, they are aluminum, again aluminum does not rust....
     
    I'm talking about the metal which is on the evap's sides (if any)....
    The small amount which does, I want to rust off anyway, so IMPHO it's not a big deal...  lol
    Because this water NEVER comes into contact with the nutrient water, and then the pump's filter will stop any flakes...
    I clean that when I do the monthly change of the chiller's res water, which mine only holds 3 gal of water, so it's not a big deal...  ;)
     
  3. Gotta thank Jake for this. My grow room is loving the sweet temps due to the DIY chiller.
     
  4. OK here is my system up and running.........
    Right now it's cooling two chambers which are both 1800w so total is 3600w or 12,200 BTU of heat....
     
     
    So the DIY Ice Boxes (Heat Exchangers).....
    The pics should be self explanatory...
     
     
    Car Heater Core....
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    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u23gaP6E76M&feature=youtu.be
     
     
     
     
    :gc_rocks:
     
  5. beautiful work
     
  6. PEX Tubing is the flexible material used in Radiant Heat and Hydronic Heating Systems. Hot water passes through the PEX and warms the room. An oxygen barrier is typically required.
    Wouldn't garden hose work for the feed to and from the ice boxes? What was JJ going to use the flex tube for, the main hot rtn.? 
     
  7. I am curious about this set up, is that a ice box attached to a blower? Does this set up need ducted air from outside the room it is trying to cool? I was thinking of something like this,free standing in the room my tent  and cloning set up will be in. So excited found a heater core for f150 for $10. JJ, your stuff is the coolest, thanks for all your great input.
     
  8. I use 6 ply hose....
    There is a garden hose called "Farm & Ranch" hose, which works great....
     
    But any 6 ply will work...
    The smaller ply will work, but tends to sweat which increases the RH in the chamber...
     
     
    Yes, you can attach an Ice Box in front of a blower which will cool the chamber....
    And no, the intake sucks from the chamber, then discharges back into the chamber...
    So you can run sealed chambers and use Co2 injection....
     
     
    My setup intakes 80*f air in one end and puts out 65*f air out the blower's end...
    So it not only deals with the lamp's heat, it cools the chamber as well from the outside heat....
     
     
     
    :bongin:
     
  9. Awesome work jakester. You inspired me to go back to hydro. Winters were great, summer was so much trouble it (nearly) put me off hydro for life.
     
    Wondering if you have any copper bending tips. Window units aren't so popular where I am but portable units are. I've managed to get one cheap,trouble is the evaporator sits 90 degrees above the condenser (allows water to drop, help cool it).
     
    If the refrigerant in/out was higher up I could stick a box around it but they're too low down.
     
    Any suggestions would be much appreciated.
     
    View attachment 119117
     
  10. Get a tubing bender dude.....
    They're like $10 at the local hardware store and worth every penny....
    Because if you want to chill your res along with cooling the light's heat, you're going to need that bender...
     
    Also, do not use copper in anything which is in direct contact with the nutrient...
    The salt in the nutrient breaks down the copper into the nutrient...
    You need to use Stainless Steel in with the nutrient...
     
     
    I see you're doing a portable A/C too  :metal:
     
    What I would do is that metal top where the evap sets on, I'd tilt the evap right there and put a pan or cooler under it...
    Then set your 55gal drum next to the chiller so the water overflows from the cooler (or pan) back into the 55gal drum...
    That way the A/C's temp probe should reach into the res, and that way you can have that control the chiller's on/off....
     
    An A/C's lowest setting is usually 60*f which is perfect because I run my chiller between 60*f to 65*f...
     
    :bongin:
     
  11. Thanks dude.
     
    I'm just aiming to cool my res for now. Once I've got that covered I'll look into cooling the lights.
     
    I have a small box that could fit the evap in up to the lowest refrigerant line. That would mean only the lower 1/3 of the evap will be sitting in water. Is this enough do you think? I was thinking I could cover the rest with poly sheet and spray the water down the rest of the evap. (See my awesome MS Paint skills)
     
    View attachment 119138
     
     
    On a side note, have you looked into silver? Silver beats the pants off stainless steel for heat transfer (Steel:26max, Silver:235, Copper:223). http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/thermal-conductivity-metals-d_858.html
     
    I've heard of people using silver in water to hold off algae and other nasties but not sure how it would cope with nutrient solution. Obviously a 100% silver wort wouldn't be cheap but plating a copper wort wouldn't be so bad for x10 the heating transfer of steel. x20 compared to Titanium, probably cheaper too lol.
     
  12. Ya, you want to submerge the whole evap, or as much as you can anyway....
    Then my res chiller, all I used was a 40gph pump right in the res, that pumped the cold water through the SS coil, and back to the chiller's res, and it simply dumps on the top of the evap....
     
    No need to make a manifold for a res chiller....
    Then I made a DIY Temp controller (link in my sig), put the probe in the nutrient res, so when the nutrient gets to hot, the controller turns on the chiller and its 40gph pump, after it cools the nutrient, everything shuts off...
     
     
    Yes, silver is just to costly though....
    The Stainless Steel works fine and cost efficient....
     
  13. #533 peirman7, Jul 3, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Jul 3, 2013
     
  14. I love this thread! So many helpful ideas. Just wanted to throw my set up in here in hopes it could help someone as well!
     
    I bought a 1/10 HP chiller planning on using it for my sealed room as an air conditioner. My grow room is a 6'3" tall, 8 feet wide and 4 feet deep. So its about 192 cubic feet. I have it sectioned off into a 5 x 4 flower room 6' high and a 3x4 area for veg also 6' high. There are 2 sections in my veg area....1 for clones and seedlings, and the middle section is for veg. It will be a recirculating grow so Im planning on harvesting every 4-6 weeks. I have a 6" inline fan for the flower room and AC and a 4" fan for the ventilation in the veg area. I figured for a relatively small area a 1/10 HP chiller would be more than enough since my reservoir was only 10 gallons. The issue that I ran into was that in order to get the water from my reservoir to my heat exchanger the pump would heat the reservoir to a temp that wasn't allowing the room to cool. 
     
    In looking to upgrade to a 1/4 HP chiller I found out they are about 4-500 bucks......NOT in the budget! haha. So I got on craigslist and found a small 5000btu window ac unit as so many other people have and decided to try it out. Much to my surprise this process was SO much easier than I had imagined. I have an 18 gallon reservoir now with a 1/4 HP pump that runs into my grow room and to my heat exchanger. I have a digital temp controller that I hooked up to a normal outlet. I have the reservoir temp set to 6.6 C with a 3 degree differential. So basically that is between about 45 and 50 degrees F. I lose about 5 degrees when moving from reservoir to my exchanger so my AC will blow out temps between 50-55 F. This set up works out so well for me. The AC only comes on for about 2-3 minutes, if that, to cool the room.
     
    So enough talk.....
     
     
     

    Attached Files:

  15. Could someone update the pics? I can"t see the pics from the autor. Tks
     
    • Like Like x 1
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  17. Ayy dude. IMG_20160513_195630651_HDR.jpg if u have central AC. And ability to EXHAUST your (tent?) Into another room. Secure a box over central AC flute/vent. Cut a 6" hole. Duct. 6" booster fan, more ducting to lead to tent bottom. Of course separate inline exhaust fan at top pulling out.. And as I said, my exhaust leads to another room, perpendicular bathroom w IT'S vent fan on as much as possible.. No recirculation.. Boom. AC cooled active air flow.. Works well on small/medium sized tents. I'm scrogging. So vent is important. P300 model platinum led. CFL supplementally.
    IMG_20160513_201647154_HDR.jpg IMG_20160501_241217704_HDR.jpg
     
  18. would anyone have the original pics of this?
     
  19. so no one else just drops dry ice in the res everyday?
     

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