Small fridge as a chiller

[Ippyroy]

I'm wondering if you be able to use a small fridge as a chiller? I would use a small return pump to push or pull water from the sump through the door, coil some tubing in fridge, then back out through the door and maybe use a spray bar to put the cooler water back into the sump. Other than space, what are the issues with this idea?

 

[Billdogg]

Sadly, a whole bunch of things

The compressor for the fridge is not designed for continuous (or nearly) use. It won't last very long. Although you can use vinyl tubing or pvc for the input and return from the fridge, both are horrible heat exchangers so you'll need titanium or other nonreactive metal for the actual cooling coils. Keeping them in a water bath inside the fridge will increase the efficiency but you will almost certainly use way more electricity than an actual aquarium cooler.

I'm not saying this to be mean. I'm saying it because sometime in the early 90's I tried it and failed miserably.

 

[shamrock]

would work in theory, but unless you have a freezer, or bunch of tubes in an ice tub, your flow would need to be very slow to increase the contact time... but i suppose it's doable?

 

[Ippyroy]

Thanks for the answer. I only need to use a chiller for about one or two months at about two hours a day, max up to 4 hours.

 

[tehmadreefer]

There’s been tons of people that tried, Do a search on here and see how it turned out.

 

[Ippyroy]

would work in theory, but unless you have a freezer, or bunch of tubes in an ice tub, your flow would need to be very slow to increase the contact time... but i suppose it's doable?

He brought up using a water bath. I thought coiling them like a wort chiller. But sounds like a no go. Will look into it some more.

 

[Ippyroy]

There’s been tons of people that tried, Do a search on here and see how it turned out.

Thanks

 

[shamrock]

good luck

i'm sure you've done this already... how about keeping your eye out at craigslist... saw a hailea chiller 1000 (1hp) for $350 (or nearest offer) yesterday . i realise you probably want to do it yourself though.

 

[ca1ore]

It actually won’t work .... or at least not on any sizable aquarium. I tried it decades ago. Small fridge simply doesn’t have the necessary BTUs to cool an open system. Reminds me of the LFS years ago that tried to sell me the original lifeguard modular canister system by saying I’d be able to use a 50 watt heater because it only had to heat the gallon of water inside the canister LOL.

 

[Ippyroy]

It actually won’t work .... or at least not on any sizable aquarium. I tried it decades ago. Small fridge simply doesn’t have the necessary BTUs to cool an open system. Reminds me of the LFS years ago that tried to sell me the original lifeguard modular canister system by saying I’d be able to use a 50 watt heater because it only had to heat the gallon of water inside the canister LOL.

Thanks.