DIY dwc electric water chiller, under $25

Discussion in 'Do It Yourself' started by gtq838, Jan 11, 2013.

  1. Ok so water chillers appear to be very expensive. If you are like me and you are just starting and have more important things to invest that money on then make this one.

    Basically the only things you need are bubble rap, reflective tape, and a USB powered fridge, available at Walmart.

    Now to the mini fridge part. I have a small 4 plant dwc that takes about 3.5 gallons. The USB mini fridge available at large box store or online for $15-$23 keeps my water at 68-70F. Now if you have a larger system or want to go colder buy an electric cooler available at the same stores. They start at 50 and go up to about 100... Your other option is much cheaper and that is to go to your local thrift stores and buy a wine fridge. They are very common at thrift stores. Just plug it in and make sure it works before leaving. I actually got the USB fridge from goodwill for $2 so my cooler really only cost me $2.

    Whatever fridge you get big or small start to disassemble it. When you get down to just the electronics you will be left with just a few components a power cable, heatsink, and depending on if you got a wine cooler a very handy temperature controller.

    From here you have two options. Personally I'm able to do the easier and frankly better way which is to simply glue the smooth side of the heatsink to the tub then insulate the entire tub around the heatsink and put reflective tape around it. The reflective tape is key though other wise you will be putting a green house on your tub. Plug it in and you are done. Now if you have a round container like a bucket you can build a recirculating system using a small water pump or maybe you could try using a thermally conductive material to basically make a flat area on your bucket, I think you could get away with modeling clay but the trick is just to use the bare minimum to ensure contact with the heatsink and bucket.

    So maybe this isn't a complete guide but the idea I have not seen used before and wanted to share my luck with it. Really it's impossible to do a water chiller any cheaper. I have a couple pics of mine on my grow journal.

    If anybody wants me to I will post a picture guide on making a wine chiller into a water chiller. I'm better I can pick one up today. That's how common they are at thrift stores. It's almost like bread makers, everybody gives them as gifts and nobody uses them. It's like fruit cake.
     
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  2. Without any sarcasm why do you have to chill the water for plants? Thank
     
  3. You should chill your water to around 68-70F because it does not hold oxygen well at all above 70. The way it was explained to me is that the ability of water to hold oxygen decreases exponentially with a rise in temperature. The main problem with this is low oxygen water becomes a breeding ground for root rot. Also the plants want oxygen badly. I don't think there is such a thing as too much oxygen in your water unless you are adding copious amounts of h2o2 in the tub.
     
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  4. Hi, yes could you post those pics, or maybe send them to me,

    thanks
     
  5. Yep I'll get some Pics tonight. I actually broke a solder joint on mine and had to fix it yesterday. So it's currently not connected and will be easy.
     
  6. Here is the mini fridge I used

    image-3273652644.jpg

    Here is the cooler taken out of it

    image-389933304.jpg

    Here is it on the box

    image-1201012188.jpg
     
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  7. It is not the "water" you are chilling, but the "soup".

    If you don't think mixing all those nutes in the water doesn't qualify it as "soup", guess again.

    You confuse people when you refer to the "soup" as the "water".
     
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  8. #8 gtq838, Feb 25, 2013
    Last edited by a moderator: Feb 25, 2013
    Sorry I was just trying to help people lower dwc res temps without an expensive tool.

    Should I remove the thread because its too confusing? I mean I did mention it was for dwc, what other kind of water is there but what's in the res? Also it was only water in the res at the time, lol
     
  9. Well I'm reading this again and I don't see how this is any different than a water chiller. Doesn't a water chiller take the "soup" from the res, chill it, then return it?

    I'm not trying to be a jerk but I don't think I understand what the problem is with this. Is this hurting something? This could be made into that type of device with about $5 of lowes parts and hose... Just a lot weaker I imagine.
     
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  10. In hydroponics, you have your crop in soup or if you prefer, a nutrient solution.

    You add water to this or you water your crop.

    Semantics it may be, but if you confuse the two with each other people don't know what you are talking about.

    I do not water my crop with chilled water, but I do circulate a chilled soup.
     
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  11. Ok well I read up it look like water chillers run a closed circuit with water to cool something. Well whatever I'm just gonna delete the thread.

    I was just trying to help. When I get home I will login and delete I don't know how from my phone.

    This seems like needless criticism and there is a bunch of it on here so from the bottom of my heart may your res temps exceed 100 degrees Fahrenheit lol.
     
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  12. If you can't get your terminology correct, no need to get crappy about it.

    You read nothing on chillers if you surmised they are for just circulating water.

    Maybe you should delete the thread.
     
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  13. I already said I was when I get home. Lol this is a chiller. It has a tec cooler on it. So it recirculates and cools what else does it do?
     
  14. Well doesn't look like I can delete this thread. Which is fine. It's more a reflection of other people's anger problems than my own.

    I hope this information helps some of you and you can understand it despite the self proclaimed semantics of somebody else.

    Just to clarify this device is used to cool the res temps in a dwc setup. This thread was created for people on a budget or like me that have already spent well over a thousand on your first grow and can't afford eccentrics like water chillers especially since I'm not positive dwc will become the regular grow methods for myself.

    If you are a pro grower this is probably not for you. Although I would have assumed you could gather that from the $25 part in the title.

    Enjoy and remember smoke, and be happy. Already enough hate on this forum.
     
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  15. i dont see why your being a dick to O.P. like he said hes just trying to help people with a cheaper way to ool their res..
     
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  16. I think this a great contribution to the micro community. Thanks for sharing.
     
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  17. Thanks!
     
  18. Jeez.

    Sometimes people have nothing better to do. I just have one thing to say:
    If you go onto a forum about cultivation and read "dwc water chiller" as a post, what do you think?

    I would imagine jollyrancher must have some other application for a water chiller with hydroponics.
    C'mon jolly, get a clue. You been smokin too much if this guy was confusing you.

    For the OP: keep up the good work! I like the idea.
     
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  19. That looks like the heat sink from a CPU is it just attached to the outside of the tub?
    I might have to try that I have tempature issues and can't afford the expencive chillers and bonus i think I have probably a dozen CPU coolers.
     
  20. epic idea to use wine fridge!!! Ty op!
     

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