DIY Chiller Plans

[briansmyth]

It's getting warm in my basement, might need to get a chiller going ... here's a useful article about building a DIY chiller:

http://saltaquarium.about.com/od/dyiprojects/l/bldiydonchiller.htm

[sphelps]

Ah yes the famous DIY fridge chiller, very common however very ineffective. I am yet to ever hear of one actually working. Here's why, dorm and mini fridges simply do not have enough power to cool an aquarium. They will have a set BTU rating which will be just sufficient enough to keep the enclosed area of the fridge at a certain temperature provided nothing is creating heat inside the fridge. Your aquarium unless really small will require much more power to keep it cool.



A better solution would be to use cooling fans, place fans over the water surface, best if placed over the sump if applicable. Forcing cooler air into the water will cause the water to cool by evaporation which is actually very effective. For water to evaporate it must reach 100 degrees, so in order for a small amount of water to evaporate it must take heat from the water surrounding it which results in the aquarium cooling. If you want to get technical you could always get a temperature controller from an electrical supply store which could control both your heater and fans consecutively resulting in a nice constant tank temperature.



Otherwise you could always invest a little in a proper chiller; I believe someone is even selling one for around $300, that's about the same you would pay for a new mini fridge.

[stinga]

For water to evaporate it must reach 100 degrees,


I dunno :icon_eek: I think i evaporates any temp. above 0.......

[sphelps]

I dunno :icon_eek: I think i evaporates any temp. above 0.......

for water to evaporate it must reach boiling temperature, not all the water reaches that temp, but what evaporates must reach 100. How do you think a cooling fan works?

[stinga]

for water to evaporate it must reach boiling temperature, not all the water reaches that temp, but what evaporates must reach 100. How do you think a cooling fan works?


THAT"S CRAZY:hystericaI thought that the fan just cooled the surface temp to reduce the volume of water that evaporates.

[jody]

im confused, how does water reach bioling point in an aquarium?, or is that not at all what your saying? :alien_dan

[Jedi]

It cant be at boiling point that water evaporates, If that was the case no one would ever have to top off there tank, the water volume would always be the same. JMO maybe I'm wrong.

[sphelps]

Wow, you guys just are not getting this, one more time:

In order for pure water to become a gas at standard atmospheric pressure it MUST reach 100 degrees Celsius (this is basic knowledge, right?). Now not all the water needs to heat to that temperature but the water that evaporates must. So this evaporating water takes energy from the surrounding water in the form of heat to produce the necessary energy transform the liquid water molecules into gas molecules. This causes the surrounding water to cool.

Now the evaporation rate is actually more dependent on the humidity of the air around the water, for example if the air is at 100% relative humidity no water will evaporate, if the air is dry water will evaporate, the dryer the air the faster the evaporation rate.

So where do the fans come in? If there is little or no air movement in the area above the water surface the air will quickly become saturated and evaporation will slow down. Installing a fan to move this air away and bring dryer air into the area which will keep the evaporation rate up.

Anymore questions?

[stinga]

I'm not buyin for a minute:icon_conf

[sphelps]

I'm not buyin for a minute:icon_conf

lol, look it up dude

[sphelps]

look up "heat of vaporization" which will clearly state a substance needs to reach it's boiling point in temperature in order to change from liquid to gas.

[stinga]

Looked that up and it was like reading french...(!)



look up "heat of vaporization" which will clearly state a substance needs to reach it's boiling point in temperature in order to change from liquid to gas.

[sphelps]

Looked that up and it was like reading french...(!)

It might be a good idea just to take my word on this one :xyxthumbs I have no reason to lie or make this up.

[cary Henderson]

k I'm not arguing but I.M..O.
you are saying that a fan running across the surface of water slows down the evaporation process....
hmm here i have to differ
as i use a fan to dry the floor(with water on it) in my warehouse when it floods...both by aiming at the water and away...to speed up the evaporation ..
am I wrong in my thinking??

[jody]

so is what ur saying " for stupid people like myself" is that inorder for evaperation the water molecules that do evaportate need to reach a temp of 100 degrees, so this may happen but in a very small area where u wudent even notice hot tempreture?

[Jedi]

Do you think that temp is the biggest thing that effects evaporation? Does lighting type and room humity have just as much or more effect on this?

[sphelps]

k I'm not arguing but I.M..O.
you are saying that a fan running across the surface of water slows down the evaporation process....
hmm here i have to differ
as i use a fan to dry the floor(with water on it) in my warehouse when it floods...both by aiming at the water and away...to speed up the evaporation ..
am I wrong in my thinking??

Nope didn't say that at all, using a fan increases evaporation

[sphelps]

so is what ur saying " for stupid people like myself" is that inorder for evaperation the water molecules that do evaportate need to reach a temp of 100 degrees, so this may happen but in a very small area where u wudent even notice hot tempreture?

Yes pretty much

[sphelps]

Do you think that temp is the biggest thing that effects evaporation? Does lighting type and room humity have just as much or more effect on this?

Like I already mentioned, the air humidity around the water will have the biggest effect on evaporation, also the temperature difference between the room and the water in the aquarium will also have a large impact on evaporation, so if the type of lighting you are using is raising the tank temperature then of course this will have an effect.

[jody]

o super cool, i never thought of it like that!, cool stuff

[Jedi]

i see thanks

[stinga]

ok ok i agree...now.:2-cheers:

[jevan23]

yay water.... yay high school chem....:sleep2:
back to chillers, a cheaper way to work it instead of using the ol'bar fridge trick (which should be holding beer!) find yourself an old window AC unit, can usually find one free with a broken fan. buy yourself a cooler and mount the cold coil (not the condensing coil) in the cooler, fill with fresh water, and buy some cheap pool hose and coil it in the fresh water with one end pumping saltwater out of your sump and the other end returning the cooler saltwater to the sump. the longer the hose, thinner the tubing, and smaller the diameter of the tubing the colder the water will get passing through.:crazy:

[Gonefishing]

I have a old hotel style ac unit I would be willing to sell, I will have to plug it in again to make sure its still works its old, heavy & not very nice looking.

By the way about the water evap thing, ice also evaporates in temps at 0 & below even at -40 ice will evaporate ice can change from a solid to a gas skipping liquid but it happens at a slow rate. Just a fyi:yes:

[davidschimmers]

It's true guys. The molecules that enter into the gas phase must have the energy of 'boiling point'. That doesn't mean the water boils, just that the individual water molecules have enough energy to enter into the gaseous phase. They can get this energy even in solution where the overall temperature may be much less than 100 degrees.
-Dave

[briansmyth]

I've been using a fan on my sump since early spring and this has helped, but I will look at purchasing a chiller.