Anyone make a DIY Chiller?

[Solo McReefer]

Has anyone here made a DIY chiller

Say 40 feet of grade 2 titanium tubing

In a coil

Inside of a cylindrical refrigerator, Rockstar

My AC went out July 3rd, I do not want to go through that again

Fool errand? Or pure hillbilly genius?

 

[redfishbluefish]

I hate to be the negative Nancy, but fool's errand. To begin with, titanium is mucho bucks. I looked into this years ago but with plastic tubing and someone did the fancy pants math where the thermal transfer would require way too many feet of tubing. The second consideration is that refrigerators don't have the btu's (couple 100 btu's) to cool that much water. You'd need to attach that titanium tubing to an air conditioner (couple 1000 btu's) and place the coil in your tank. My simple and cost effective solution was a standard window air conditioner in the window of the fish room.

 

[Solo McReefer]

Found this

Dorm Fridge Chillers? | BeanAnimal's Reef

Can a dorm fridge be used as an aquarium chiller? This must read article sorts out the science from the internet lore, once and for all.

beananimal.com

 

[vabben]

Fans and frozen RODI would be the cheap way.

 

[Solo McReefer]

Fans and frozen RODI would be the cheap way.

Ya, no

I am not doing that again

I had the pleasure, also, of buying a $15 capacitor for $500 on the 4th of July, 104F

The ice in the bag worked, only lost one acro(so far)

Serves me right for scoffing at those who keep their house at 77 degrees, "Noob, poor, buy an AC, ***". "Haha, my AC is at 70 right now, my tank heater just clicked on." Karma

But, I don't believe in Karma of course

And I don't believe in buying a 1000 chiller for the frag tank

For the big one, sure. As soon as I figure out who makes the best one for the least cash

The capacitor money was for some Marketplace reef junk, of which a chiller was included

A Rockstar fridge chiller would be cool, you have to admit

 

[KStatefan]

Ya, no

I am not doing that again

I had the pleasure, also, of buying a $15 capacitor for $500 on the 4th of July, 104F

The ice in the bag worked, only lost one acro(so far)

Serves me right for scoffing at those who keep their house at 77 degrees, "Noob, poor, buy an AC, ***". "Haha, my AC is at 70 right now, my tank heater just clicked on." Karma

But, I don't believe in Karma of course

And I don't believe in buying a 1000 chiller for the frag tank

For the big one, sure. As soon as I figure out who makes the best one for the least cash

The capacitor money was for some Marketplace reef junk, of which a chiller was included

A Rockstar fridge chiller would be cool, you have to admit

Have you priced your 40 feet of titanium tubing yet?

 

[Solo McReefer]

Have you priced your 40 feet of titanium tubing yet?

Is it less than 900 bucks?

The Rockstar fridge is 100

 

[ackshee]

What if instead of a refrigerator, you had a tub full of cool water, and you submerged a coil of tubing in the water? Cold water is going to conduct the heat way better than cold air, and instead of dealing with a refrigerator, you can just plumb an in/out for cold water.

You could also run a water chiller, but I think tap cold would probably be sufficient.

 

[Solo McReefer]

What if instead of a refrigerator, you had a tub full of cool water, and you submerged a coil of tubing in the water? Cold water is going to conduct the heat way better than cold air, and instead of dealing with a refrigerator, you can just plumb an in/out for cold water.

You could also run a water chiller, but I think tap cold would probably be sufficient.

Yup

And a few bags of ice

Like a party keg. Keg is warm, line feeds through ice, ice cold beer comes out the tap. Don't really need 40 feet of Ti with that, either

 

[sfin52]

Pump tied to an ink bird would give you more control.

 

[Solo McReefer]

I don't think I could ever trust a chiller to keep a reef tank 78 degrees

And say, turn off the AC and leave the house

Do people with coral and chillers even do that?

I am trying to imagine what it would be like to not treat a chiller as an emergency piece of backup equipment only, like a generator, UPS, or even Ecotech battery packs

 

[GlassMunky]

I don't think I could ever trust a chiller to keep a reef tank 78 degrees

And say, turn off the AC and leave the house

Do people with coral and chillers even do that?

I am trying to imagine what it would be like to not treat a chiller as an emergency piece of backup equipment only, like a generator, UPS, or even Ecotech battery packs

It’s treated exactly like your heater is treated.
It’s there and it works.

 

[GlassMunky]

This 90G along with its 40G Display Fuge and combined 30G Sump were all kept cool by a 1/10HP Chiller for about 2 years.
Set it and forget it. I dunno what youre so scared of.

 

[GlassMunky]

And say, turn off the AC and leave the house

why would you turn off the AC in your house?

 

[Solo McReefer]

It’s treated exactly like your heater is treated.
It’s there and it works.

I understand the words

I just can't wrap my brain about me doing that in real life

Leaving the house in Summer with the thermostat higher than 78

Leaving, and leaving it set for 86, whatever

I don't understand why I would do that. It would be like me leaving all the doors open and leaving the house

 

[Solo McReefer]

why would you turn off the AC in your house?

I don't know?

Why?

Like I wrote in the other post.

That would be like me leaving all the doors open, and going to work, or whatever

 

[GlassMunky]

I understand the words

I just can't wrap my brain about me doing that in real life

Leaving the house in Summer with the thermostat higher than 78

Leaving, and leaving it set for 86, whatever

I don't understand why I would do that. It would be like me leaving all the doors open and leaving the house

again, why on earth would you turn of the house AC when you leave?

A chiller is there just as an added thing to help negate ~5-10 degrees MAX

Usually when thigs like a light or other stuff keeps the tank just above the temp you want.
You cant just turn on a chiller and then turn off your house AC and think the tank will be ok.

 

[DanyL]

Are you all mad???
No one outside of of the US uses AC 24/7 - gas and oil costs way, way more here and the ratio between income and cost of living is completely different.

But that’s not even the point here.
Chillers are far more reliable than ACs, they usually work for non stop for 10 to 20 years.
ACs are for the very rare emergency when your chiller (usually second and third hand) has finally come to its end after working for that many years, and even than - it’s usually repairable - by the very same guy that will come to fix your AC, because outside of the titanium heat exchanger they are practically the very same thing.

I live in Israel, with pretty hot summers and chillers are the norm here, it’s actually rare to see someone not using one - and those who try, eventually break and get one when the summer comes.

Now about temps - I’m running my systems at 25C (77F), and the avarage high temps here are between 30C to 38C (86F to 100.4F), with the extremes peaking between 40C to 50C (104F to 122F) - a good and appropriately sized chiller (which depending on you geo location, can be bigger than what the manufacturer recommends) can handle that even under the extremes.

Is it cheap? No, it isn’t. But given that you’re running your AC 24/7 - you’ll likely still be able to save money, because it’s tremendously more efficient in electricity.

As for what chiller is recommended, I know you guys have your own local manufacturers and I can’t comment on them, however there are 2 well known companies that I have personal experience with:
1. Haliea - This is probably the most popular and known brand in this field, they are also likely the oldest company in the field. I’ve been using their chillers for around 17 years now and they’ve never failed me. The min delta with them is of 1C.
2. Teco - This is an Italian brand, well known in the field and is considered the leading in quality - they were the first to make the switch to a far more efficient gas, their design is also more compact and less noisy. I’ve been using one of their largest models (Teco TK2000 for systems up to 2,000 liters/528.34g) in the last 3 years, and I’m very satisfied with the results. The min delta with the Teco is of 0.5C.

You also have a third option which many people (or, at least those who are able to do the installation required) people are doing as well - they take a titanium heat exchanger, a high quality Italian controller and the outside unit of an AC. This solution requires an installation like a regular AC does, and should be done by a professional and basically split the chiller into the 3 components that it’s made of with the great benefit of being completely quiet, even more efficient because it throws the heat outside the house, and is also able to heat the tank as well.

Sorry for the rant - I was just shocked to see how you guys view chillers in the hobby, and I hope I was able to provide a bit more info from place where using them is the norm.

 

[Solo McReefer]

how you guys view chillers in the hobby, and I hope I was able to provide a bit more info

I have been keeping my tank cool with my AC for so long, I have no idea how long.

But it's only 34 gallons. I used ice and fans to keep it cool(as best I could) Thursday because of the emergency

It keeps me cool as well

It took hours to get from 86 degrees back to 72 degrees, is why it's on 24/7 for half the year

If I couldn't afford AC, I certainly couldn't afford corals

This thread got detailed

I think it's pretty obvious, that I don't have a cogent view of chillers. I have no idea which ones are good, which ones are bad. The horsepower rating rhey use is utter horse****. They all look like are scammey and shady, considering what's inside them.

Before the big tank gets wet, I hope to figure that out. Better

 

[TokenReefer]

the avarage high temps here are between 30C to 38C (86F to 100.4F), with the extremes peaking between 40C to 50C (104F to 122F)

How do you control (lower) the temperature in your home when it gets that hot out?