# DIY= Do It Yourself Water Chiller that Works!



## cruzer101 (Jun 28, 2009)

OK Here are the results of my DIY water chiller.

I have been growing in a cabinet for about a year and a half. Pretty good results in hydroton 
Well now I want to try aeroponics. I got a larger cabinet and built a system out of a under bed storage container.

Thing is, I needed a chiller. I use a small res. Its actually the controller from a water farm eight pack I had drilled some holes in.
I circulate the water with a 180 gph pump.

Now I have posted this in my cabinet grow journal but I figured it was buried there and started a new post so people can find it.

First I tried the portable cooler. Low wattage thermal electric cooler.







I ran seven loops of tube inside and back to the res. filled it with water and gave it a shot.







I realize this is with no insulation and I probably could get better hose but I wanted to see what it would do. 
It got maybe 2 degrees cooler. I knew that wasn't enough to continue with this.

I read a DIY using a small refer with tubing in it. Then one where a guy put the cooling tray right in the res.
I wanted to try that so I went on craigslist and bought one for $50

After I got the new small refer home I realized it was different then the DIY I had read. 
The evaporator or grid was not on the back. I figured it was just inside the back panel.

I disconnected the thermostat 







Then used my disk grinder to cut because I didn't have a cutting blade.







Then basically peeled back the case to find the coils were ran around the fridge.







I looked at it and thought "how the hell am I going to get this to work" I went this far, Might as well finish.







After cutting a hole for the cooling unit I slid everything out the front and left the system intact.







The lost my shade so I took a break until sundown. It was 97 degrees.

Then I took the res and set it inside the system and carefully bent the cooling tray inside.
It was still about 93 degrees outside but no direct sun.







Here is the back







I let it run with the thermostat set in the middle for about an hour.

It cooled about 4 degrees. The thermostat was under water and I didn't know if that made any difference but 
I drained about a gallon of water so it set in the air. Then I realized I didn't have anything to compare it to so I 
got a home depot bucket and filled it with water too. I set a thermometer it that as well. 
I turned the thermostat all the way up, kept the circulating pump on and left them until noon today.

Todays outside temps are 101 degrees. 
Here is the uncovered bucket of water temp 84 degrees









I really didn't think this was going to work, well I looked inside,








Then checked the temp. 58 degrees.









AWESOME! 26 degrees cooler without any insulation! 
I am circulating the res with a small 180 gpm pump.

Now that is worth working with. Now I need to figure out out to insulate it. 
I am thinking about sandwiching the coils between Styrofoam and venting the compressor somehow in the cabinet.
It is a sealed system so I cant extend the tube to the cooling unit and set it outside the cabinet. Unless I cut a 4x8 inch 
hole in the side of the cabinet to fit the cooling unit through and then it is not very stealth.

But for those of you who have a grow room this will work well. 
My guess would be in say a 10x10 room you may see a 5 degree increase in ambient temps. 
But in my 2x4 cabinet with 2 foot height in the bottom I am afraid It will be more like 15 to 20 degrees.

I guess there is only one way to find out.


Oh by the way, 
Here is a pic of the upper shelf of the cabinet I built. Totally stealth 48 by 24 and 79 inches tall.
I cut a hole in the floor for intake and made a window box for exhaust. I cover the build in the journal if your interested.








Here I am just starting some seeds. The aerotub is under the red tray. The T5 is just to get them started.
The HID lighting is one of those new Ceramic Metal halide 400w bulbs and Hydrofarm ballast.

The res will go on the lower shelf.

All comments, questions and suggestions are welcome.

.​


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## tip top toker (Jun 28, 2009)

what are the temperatures like if you just turn the chiller off, but keep the water circulating around the insulated stuff anyway. far as i can see the bucket would be no way of working out a comparison. i don't know, i'm really really trashed on something that doesn't look, smoke, smell, taste, effect like weed, yet i'm trolleyed,


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## cruzer101 (Jun 28, 2009)

Hi Toker,

Good question.

It just so happens I turned off the cooling system and left the pump circulating the water about three hours ago.
I just went and checked the temp for you: 

Home depot bucket 91 degrees
res is 79 degrees. 
Outside temp's are 99 degrees.

So we lost about 20 degrees without the cooling tray.​


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## cruzer101 (Jul 4, 2009)

Huh?

I figure out a way to drop res temps 26° and I get one comment.

This must be the wrong category.​


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## Topher89 (Jul 4, 2009)

It probably not that you put this in the wrong place... More that what you did looks rather intimidating. So you gutted the mini-fridge, and took the tray that would normally be for frozen shit, and placed in into the res? Seems simple enough.


Edit - Thinking about it though... The DIY section would be a better place for this.


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## cruzer101 (Jul 6, 2009)

Hum, I hadn't thought of it that way. I am moving to aeroponics and realized I needed a chiller. After looking at prices of four to five hundred dollars I came up with this at a cost of $50 and thought others would be able to use it.

But yea, gut a mini fridge and put the cold shit in the res. with the attached thermostat you can control the temp and get the water colder then any $500 chiller

It really is simple.​


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## snow4aaron (Jul 6, 2009)

F'n Genius! Thanks for the hard work and posting all the pictures. This is going in the vault of great DIY.


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## jrinlv (Jul 6, 2009)

So how are you planning to keep your rez at the holy grail 69 degrees? I just bought a chiller for 140 bucks new and you can set the temp to whatever you need. I looked into a lot of DIY setups but for 140 I can swing that. Good post 

OH are you going to keep the compressor in the grow room? Good luck JR


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## Roseman (Jul 6, 2009)




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## beginningbotanist420 (Jul 6, 2009)

Thats some ingenuity right there...


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## snow4aaron (Jul 6, 2009)

jrinlv said:


> So how are you planning to keep your rez at the holy grail 69 degrees? I just bought a chiller for 140 bucks new and you can set the temp to whatever you need. I looked into a lot of DIY setups but for 140 I can swing that. Good post
> 
> OH are you going to keep the compressor in the grow room? Good luck JR


jrinlv, which model chiller did you get for $140? Do you have a link?

Thanks


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## jrinlv (Jul 6, 2009)

This was a thought i had of not taking the cooler apart but just placing the the reservoir right inside the cooler, sure you might to need to custom make a container. I was also thinking of dropping the chill plate right inside the water also. Maybe figure a timer situation that would work to keep the water at the right temp. But that way the reservoir is insulated already. Just a thought....JR


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## NeoAnarchist (Jul 6, 2009)

that is awesome, i never would of thought to stick the tray for a mini fridge into a rez...seemed simply except for the cutting haha, all that u did was take out the copper wire from the fridge? and the thermostat i guess. thats pretty nifty man


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## cruzer101 (Jul 6, 2009)

jrinlv said:


> So how are you planning to keep your rez at the holy grail 69 degrees? I just bought a chiller for 140 bucks new and you can set the temp to whatever you need. I looked into a lot of DIY setups but for 140 I can swing that. Good post
> 
> OH are you going to keep the compressor in the grow room? Good luck JR


I never found one for $140. I may have gone that route. 
The fridge comes with a thermostat. 
When I turn it all the way up it keeps temps at 42° when it is turned all the way down it shuts off.

I found when I set it at 3 it keeps the water at 68°

In the winter I will shut it off and use an aquarium heater I have.

In regards to the heat the compressor and coils make? I gave that a lot of thought. 
You see I found most chillers are Thermo electric. The deal with that is the warmer the 
ambient temps are the less efficient the system is.

Its like it will cool a certain amount below ambient temps. So the hotter it is the higher the 
water temp is, so you need adequate ventilation. I found with a sealed system (compressor and coils) 
you don't need as much ventilation. It can be hotter and the amount of difference is much less.

I grow in a cabinet. well two cabinets. So thats important.
When I first installed this I measured temps. 

Heres a shot of the setup so far. (not quite done yet)







When I took this picture I turned it all the way up, left the doors closed overnight.

The temp in the res was 40°, temp in the area around the res was 69°, the temp in the area to the right 
around the cooling unit was 96°, The temp in the room the cabinets are in was 85° It was 87° outside.

I found it raised my room temp 2° It actually lowered the temp in the left cabinet 2° so I am cool with that.

I read DIY's on these where people ran a cooling tube through a small fridge and thought this was more efficient. 

Just be careful you don't kink the tubing. 

Thanks for all the kind words, it makes me happy I can help others.

If you would like to see the cabinet build you can check this out. https://www.rollitup.org/grow-room-design-setup/210480-dual-areoponic-cabinet-build.html

If you would like to follow the grow https://www.rollitup.org/grow-journals/210479-dual-areoponic-cabinet-ceramic-metal.html

I am testing out Phillips new Ceramic metal halide bulb.
It should be a pretty good read.

Thanks everyone,

I hope to see you at the journal, Aeroponics are new to me and I could use some pointers.


.​


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## cruzer101 (Jul 6, 2009)

jrinlv said:


> This was a thought i had of not taking the cooler apart but just placing the the reservoir right inside the cooler, sure you might to need to custom make a container. I was also thinking of dropping the chill plate right inside the water also. Maybe figure a timer situation that would work to keep the water at the right temp. But that way the reservoir is insulated already. Just a thought....JR


Hey JR,

I thought of putting the res inside a fridge and drilling holes in the side for tubes but it just wouldn't wok in my case.
Everything I do needs to be miniaturized and the refer would be too big.

Thanks​


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## jrinlv (Jul 6, 2009)

i can't believe I wrote 140 twice and did not catch it, $240 through fosters and smith with a coupon for 25% off I found on line. Sorry to make it sound so low in price. I do like your setup Good luck JR


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## cruzer101 (Jul 8, 2009)

Hey everyone,

I did a little more research and found something for you. 
Its called a nano chiller for aquariums that looks like it would work well for a small res. like 10 to 15 gal. for like $159.00 
So if you don't want to build one or it is a bit intimidating heres the link:http://www.reefplayground.net/aquaeurousa.shtml
​.


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## jrinlv (Jul 8, 2009)

I think those nano chillers are too small to work well by themselves.I think I remember them only being able to cool 10 gallons 3 deg in average situations. So maybe 2 of them would work well but then your a t 300 bones, I do like the idea and how they work. Good luck and thanks JR


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## jrinlv (Jul 8, 2009)

Oh man , I followed the link and that is not what I was talking about at all, those look like a good unit, Good post...JR


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## squirrelfooker (Jul 9, 2009)

A mini fridge will work great for a small amount of water.

I drilled holes into mine and circulate the nute soulution through a coil of tubing sitting inside a bucket of water.






With about a 25 gal reservoir it ran alot, with 40 gals it ran constantly. I was planning to strip it as you did. I tried to use my grinder and hit one of the refrigerant lines. I also drilled through a line on another one. Be careful where you drill. They are only $20 used so not a big deal.

Since the mini fridge couldn't keep up I went with a window A/C unit. It has no trouble at all and only cycles on a few minutes every hour. This is with about 40 gallons.


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## cruzer101 (Jul 10, 2009)

Hi Squirrel,

Burr! 
Now that looks like it will keep temps down in a big res.

Yea I know what you mean, I destroy half the things I try to improve.
Hey, is that water going through copper coils? I hear thats not good.

Great post man.


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## squirrelfooker (Jul 10, 2009)

cruzer101 said:


> Hi Squirrel,
> 
> Hey, is that water going through copper coils? I hear thats not good.


Vinyl tubing. Not the best for heat transfer, but I don't need that much transfer. There's probably 30ft of tubing inside the cooler for the flower, and 30ft for the veg side. With room temps of 80f the water was at 75f with no chiller, now it is at 66f constantly. This just happened to be the coldest setting the A/C thermometer goes down to with it stuck into the reservoir.


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## DjTumbleweed (Jul 10, 2009)

Great info and thanks for the pic's


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## Cuttings2Colas (Jul 11, 2009)

These are great, guys... I'm in desperate need of an economical chiller, and I'll definitely be giving this a shot.

Does the case need to be removed to use the chiller plate, or did you just do that to fit in your cabinet?

With the A/C unit, what is used as the thermostat? Does it just work like the fridge, where you put in on a setting and adjust it yourself, or do you have a temperature switch for the water?

C2C 

(+rep to both of you)


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## "SmokinForever" (Jul 11, 2009)

Nice work pretty cool dude


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## cruzer101 (Jul 18, 2009)

It rocks man.


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## Healing Herb (Sep 16, 2009)

very carefully and took out the componants... pluged it in and it no longer works. I have run down all the electric and cant find a problem...but it no longer fires up when you turn on the thermostat.

any help?


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## Healing Herb (Sep 16, 2009)

Ok so I bypassed the thermostat and now it works great - loud as hell though! Guess I am gonna hafta find a replacement thermostat...


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## newb19547 (Sep 16, 2009)

another loser thats mad he got banned, rofl. Nice pic though


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## cruzer101 (Sep 16, 2009)

Healing Herb said:


> Ok so I bypassed the thermostat and now it works great - loud as hell though! Guess I am gonna hafta find a replacement thermostat...


I don't get it, when I did it the thermostat was attached and didn't see how I could bypass it. The other thing is you mentioned it make a lot of racket... I wonder what that is. Is it vibration from the compressor?
I did leave the mount attached.

One thing I can add at this point, after using it for a couple months in a six gallon res I found it is pretty powerful for that size and with the thermostat at one I get the water about 15 to 20 degrees cooler.

So that means when ambient temps hit 80's I need to shut it off.
If you find a way to attach a more accurate thermostat please post it here. ​


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## cruzer101 (Sep 16, 2009)

newb19547 said:


> another loser thats mad he got banned, rofl. Nice pic though


I dont know who the fuck you think you are but those type of comments are not welcome in my journal.


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## Healing Herb (Sep 17, 2009)

So I figured out how I busted the thermo... when I was cutting thru the thin plastic into the 'freezer' section I nicked the little copper tube that acts as a sensor... not sure if I can resolder it and make it work... but I will let you know.

To bypass the thermostat I just 'hotwired' the two black leads that go into the dial controller - you can ignore the ground wire (green) at the thermo cause the thermo is not getting power now - but the ground would need to be reattached if the thermo was unbypassed...

I am actually using this to air cool my seedling/clone cabnet I just built. I built a little box slightly larger than the 'freezer compartment chiller plate' and am running two small computer fans thru it. Works great keeping the temp a steady 75 lights on 65 lights off (125 EQV CFL) So I am thinking screw the thermostat... ok so 65 a little cooler than I would like for this cab... so I am going to see if I can just have it shut off for night and stay cool enough... I will upload some pics of the setup. BTW you can rebend the tubing to make it more compact if you are VERY CAREFULL and DO NOT CRIMP THE TUBING. I was able to get mine all onto one side of the cabnet exterior. Also I woke up this morning thinking how can I use this to cool the air AND my little 3 gallon res for this set up... I think I might have the answer if I can find a small auto heater core then put that inside the little box and run water thru it....hummm wonder how cheap a small core is...hummm - I will update. 

BIG UPS AGAIN FOR THIS THREAD !!!!!

Looks like the heater core is prohibitive in size and cost ... perhaps I will do a mini tubing spiral in the chamber instead...
Stayed at a perfect 70 during the 'night' so looks like I will run it full for 'day' then just shut it down minus the air moving fans.


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## bicycle racer (Sep 17, 2009)

plus rep for your ingenuity im outdoor now but i grow indoor when i can.


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## cruzer101 (Sep 17, 2009)

Healing Herb said:


> So I figured out how I busted the thermo... when I was cutting thru the thin plastic into the 'freezer' section I nicked the little copper tube that acts as a sensor... not sure if I can resolder it and make it work... but I will let you know.
> 
> To bypass the thermostat I just 'hotwired' the two black leads that go into the dial controller - you can ignore the ground wire (green) at the thermo cause the thermo is not getting power now - but the ground would need to be reattached if the thermo was unbypassed...
> 
> ...


Great idea, 
Glad to be of help. So I get it now. I could replace the thermostat for a more accurate one then. I didn't think I could, thanks.

Oh and yea, you do have to be real carefull with those tubes. I went and bought a tube bender from home depot for like $20 used it and returned it. LOL I can be real cheap sometimes.​


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## cruzer101 (Sep 17, 2009)

bicycle racer said:


> plus rep for your ingenuity im outdoor now but i grow indoor when i can.


Thanks Racer, much appreciated. ​


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## newb19547 (Sep 19, 2009)

cruzer101 said:


> I dont know who the fuck you think you are but those type of comments are not welcome in my journal.



Hey now....calm down. That comment was towards someone who got banned about a minute after i wrote that. His post was deleted. And I'd say its more of a tuturial than a journal


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## cruzer101 (Sep 19, 2009)

I must admit i assumed your derogatory remark was toward the previous post and I didnt quite understand, I may have jumped the gun there.

Well, you are certainly entitled to your own opinion in regards to a journal or a tutorial and I appreciate your explanation. However I myself along with the roll it up moderators believe we are a community of growers, a family if you will, and there is no room for people who insult others.

In other words, Don't talk shit in my thread and we will be fine. We cool?​


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## Healing Herb (Sep 23, 2009)

Yo Cruzer do you ever have problems with your 'ice tray' frosting up or icing up? How often does yours kick on? Is it totally submerged? My air cooling set up works but the problem is it turns to a big block of ice after 2-3 days. How do you keep your box cool? Is it just ambient temp from the house? My apt stays warmer than 80 usually (I lika da heat!) So I need to cool my tiny seedling booth (1'x2'x2'). Thinking I might create a second small cooling RES that the 'tray' sits in that a fan blows on for cooling the air - humidity is not really an issue I would think since this booth is just for starting seedlings and clones , seems like this might cure my icing problem - as long as the 'cooling res' doesnt turn to a block! Whata ya think?


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## Hogdady (Sep 23, 2009)

cruzer101 said:


> In other words, Don't talk shit in my thread and we will be fine. We cool?​


 
is it okay if we smoke sum shit?


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## cruzer101 (Sep 23, 2009)

Healing Herb said:


> Yo Cruzer do you ever have problems with your 'ice tray' frosting up or icing up? How often does yours kick on? Is it totally submerged? My air cooling set up works but the problem is it turns to a big block of ice after 2-3 days. How do you keep your box cool? Is it just ambient temp from the house? My apt stays warmer than 80 usually (I lika da heat!) So I need to cool my tiny seedling booth (1'x2'x2'). Thinking I might create a second small cooling RES that the 'tray' sits in that a fan blows on for cooling the air - humidity is not really an issue I would think since this booth is just for starting seedlings and clones , seems like this might cure my icing problem - as long as the 'cooling res' doesnt turn to a block! Whata ya think?



Well, first to answer your questions. I have a thermostat set at the lowest setting so it comes on for like 20 min. every couple hours. The cooling unit is submersed in the res water about 3/4 of the way so the top about 2 inches of it never gets wet. I have never seen any ice forming on it.

How I keep my box cool, I assume you are talking about the grow area not where the res is. I have cut a hole in the sub floor thats my intake and set the cab on top of it, I run my lights at night starting at 8:8:00 PM and I vent outside up top by going out the back and then out the window. (its in my cabinet build journal)

I think your problem is the humidity in the air is collecting on the tray and doesn't have time to melt off. maybe you need to see if you can solder that hole in the thermostat line and get That working.​


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## cruzer101 (Sep 23, 2009)

Hogdady said:


> is it okay if we smoke sum shit?


Hell ya baby!


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## Hogdady (Sep 23, 2009)

cruzer101 said:


> Hell ya baby!


couldn't wait....already did! 

oh btw, I'm gonna use your idea...thx (but no royalties)


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## cruzer101 (Sep 23, 2009)

Hogdady said:


> couldn't wait....already did!
> 
> oh btw, I'm gonna use your idea...thx (but no royalties)


Aww shucks, Not even a donation to the get cruzer stoned fund?


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## Hogdady (Sep 23, 2009)

cruzer101 said:


> Aww shucks, Not even a donation to the get cruzer stoned fund?


since i am such a generous person, i will take in rip in your honor....


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## cruzer101 (Sep 23, 2009)

Fair enough.


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## Hogdady (Sep 23, 2009)

cruzer101 said:


> Fair enough.


 
in honor of cruzer....


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## Healing Herb (Sep 24, 2009)

Sometimes simplest is best! I removed the insulated box and fans I had put around the ice tray - and just let it sit exposed in the grow box. Now the condensation on the tray evaporates before it freezes!!! My box is a perfect 71 deg now!!!!! Dude you totally saved my girls! I am on such a fixed budget that this $40 DIY (yea craigslist!) HAS SAVED MY HEAD !!!!

BIG UPS TO cruzer101 !!!!!!!!!

Ok I am firing up the Volcano


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## cruzer101 (Sep 24, 2009)

There ya go, 

When I try and think of a way to do something different I think of something I learned many years ago in sales training. 
K.I.S.S. Keep It Simple Stupid. It don't always work out that way though. LOL

Thanks for the props man but I just made a suggestion, you are the one that figured it out. Props to you man!​


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## Healing Herb (Sep 29, 2009)

Hey Buddy,

Thought you might see how it turned out. I used a fliter from a cool mist humidifiier to wick up the condensation dripping from the old 'ice tray'. A computer fan inside the filter blows air up thru it. This compensated nicely for the water being removed from the air by the chilling process, and keeps the humidity around 40-50%. Thanks again for the ideas and the help along the way!

-HH


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## cruzer101 (Sep 30, 2009)

Thanks man, I get a much better idea now.
How did you bend the tray flat without kinking the line in there?







Thats a great idea. I have trouble keeping humidity in a cabinet.

So now by running it when lights on it keeps temps in check. 

Very Cool.​


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## Healing Herb (Sep 30, 2009)

cruzer101 said:


> How did you bend the tray flat without kinking the line in there?
> ​


I bent it almost flat... by hand, still enough of a curve not to kink... I actually bent it twice... the second time I was shitting bricks.... but it worked!

One week in my lights on is 73 deg - 40-50% hum !!!

Of course now I need another one for my res... HA - I feel another DIY commin' on!!


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## cruzer101 (Oct 5, 2009)

Healing Herb said:


> I bent it almost flat... by hand, still enough of a curve not to kink... I actually bent it twice... the second time I was shitting bricks.... but it worked!
> 
> One week in my lights on is 73 deg - 40-50% hum !!!
> 
> Of course now I need another one for my res... HA - I feel another DIY commin' on!!


Cool man (no pun intended) keep us posted.


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## reefplayground (Oct 6, 2009)

cruzer101 said:


> Hey everyone,
> 
> I did a little more research and found something for you.
> Its called a nano chiller for aquariums that looks like it would work well for a small res. like 10 to 15 gal. for like $159.00
> ...


That particular unit will not work too well on hydroponic systems. It's electrical based, and is really designed to keep a system of no larger than 12g in the 77-79 temp range. 

For keeping the temp bellow that on 10-15g systems, you would need to get a refrigerant based chiller, the smallest one being the AE-USA 1/13th HP chiller.


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## cruzer101 (Oct 6, 2009)

reefplayground said:


> That particular unit will not work too well on hydroponic systems. It's electrical based, and is really designed to keep a system of no larger than 12g in the 77-79 temp range.
> 
> For keeping the temp bellow that on 10-15g systems, you would need to get a refrigerant based chiller, the smallest one being the AE-USA 1/13th HP chiller.


Thank you.

That was my best guess. 
I appreciate the correction.


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## volcomrider157 (Dec 23, 2009)

very good info here, I kinda already had my mind made up of how im going to do this but, this is a very sweet Idea. I plan on building radiators with small pvc and tubing. the tubing will be circulating water coming from a small cooler of water with two gatorade bottles of solid Ice in it. then just swap out the Ice as needed. This is all an Idea as of now, I will start construction of the system tomorrow afternoon.


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## cruzer101 (Dec 28, 2009)

Good luck, let us know how it turns out.


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## Ronjohn7779 (Dec 28, 2009)

Nice man. Thats a would make a sweet water cooler for a water cooled light setup! Thanks for the idea.


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## MoN3yb4Gs (Dec 28, 2009)

squirrelfooker said:


> Since the mini fridge couldn't keep up I went with a window A/C unit. It has no trouble at all and only cycles on a few minutes every hour. This is with about 40 gallons.


This might be what I end up doing with my A/C... Any more thoughts on this as a res chiller?


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## cruzer101 (Jan 2, 2010)

From what I understand, copper is not good to use.


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## rascal (Jan 9, 2010)

use stainless steal coils for cold transfer


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## goofygolfer (Jan 21, 2010)

cruzer101 said:


> ok here are the results of my diy water chiller.
> 
> I have been growing in a cabinet for about a year and a half. Pretty good results in hydroton
> well now i want to try aeroponics. I got a larger cabinet and built a system out of a under bed storage container.
> ...


how do you like that c m h bulb


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## cruzer101 (Jan 25, 2010)

goofygolfer said:


> how do you like that c m h bulb


Worked great man. Got loads of trichs. If you are growing for personal I highly recommend it.


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## Hulk Nugs (Nov 2, 2010)

Great work Cruz!! DIY MASTER!!


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## potpimp (Nov 3, 2010)

Cruzer, you never cease to amaze me man; you are the Bob Villa of pot growing!!! If I could give you more rep I would; you are such a great contributor to this site bro.


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## jsgamber (Dec 3, 2010)

Okay I've read this entire thread and I am amazed at the ingenuity flowing through this thread. It's exactly what I've been looking for!

Now let me see if I got this right. We use the portable Air Conditioner to cool the water and we use the ice cube maker to cool the air? Only a fucking stoner can come up with brilliant ideas like this!!   

Here's what I've been experimenting with. Small refrig with the coils and compressor on the very back. I've been playing around with a 1000gph pump and a small 4 qt res inside the fridge using vinyl tubing coils inside my 3-gallon nutrient res. I got uninsulated temps of 65* inside my 250W chamber. My next move was to put the pan in the water to see if I could get better cooling.

The issue is I ultimately want to be able to cool nine 3-gallon reservoirs, all in series, so I'm not sure the fridge is going to have enough capacity to do the job of cooling the water.

However, it does seem that by separating the box from the coils/compressor/pan (shrinking it down) and rigging the pan within the air intake of my grow chambers, 48x36x18, that I can get my summer air cooling situation solved, even if it means buying two more $20 Craigslist fridges for my two other chambers.



Now I think that the portable AC I've been trying to rig up can then become a water cooler!! 


Now a question. I've heard mention that putting the copper coils and fins of the AC unit in water is not a good thing. Is that because of corrosion? If that's the case would attaching zinc anodizing plates (like on the bottom of boats) keep this from happening?

Any advice?


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## cruzer101 (Dec 8, 2010)

Sorry man, I guess I missed this post last week, 
If you haven't already taken it apart you may want to condiser this, The longer the water is in the fridge the colder it gets right?
How about you get like 10 or 15 feet of tubing and roll it up, put it in there and stick the ends through the side of the fridge. 
That way you could circulate water from your res through it like a regular chiller. If you had three different small reservoirs maybe you could put them inline. By using the same size pumps in all three it should work. No?

Actually what I would do is set up sprayers in three different tubs and drain them back to one res. I do it with two now.


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## jsgamber (Dec 8, 2010)

cruzer101 said:


> Sorry man, I guess I missed this post last week,
> If you haven't already taken it apart you may want to condiser this, The longer the water is in the fridge the colder it gets right?
> How about you get like 10 or 15 feet of tubing and roll it up, put it in there and stick the ends through the side of the fridge.
> That way you could circulate water from your res through it like a regular chiller. If you had three different small reservoirs maybe you could put them inline. By using the same size pumps in all three it should work. No?
> ...


Hey bro it's no worries here! Follow the link back to my thread where I have a conversation all about this whole thing and what I've been experimenting with. Please feel free to jump in starting about this point rather than have to read through everything. Again thanks for this thread because this work has been a lot of fun! 

===> CLICK HERE <===


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## MrMoores (Dec 11, 2010)

Wow fuking brilliant. man i love this site sometimes. Well it looks like ill be at the scrap yard soon piles of fridges there, guys at the scrap will be thinking "wot a dirty s.o.b"
thxs guys


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## Danielsgb (Dec 12, 2010)

MrMoores said:


> Wow fuking brilliant. man i love this site sometimes. Well it looks like ill be at the scrap yard soon piles of fridges there, guys at the scrap will be thinking "wot a dirty s.o.b"
> thxs guys


Check out my build journal in my sig link A Medicinal Refridgerator 
 to see another use of a fridge or freezer. They came up with a Creative and effective solution didn't they. A Craigslist ad for a free one works too.
Daniels


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## jsgamber (Dec 18, 2010)

Hey Guys,

I just wanted to do an update on what became of my mini-fridge.






I cut the whole front of the box off, just in front of the compressor. The cut is perfectly flat all the way around and then I use 2 strips of foam weather stripping to seal the entire edge. Then a carefully bent the cooling pan flat and back into the upper compartment above the compressor.






Next step was to cut two 4" holes in the side of my cabinet. One for inflow and one for out flow using a 135 ft3 fan blowing into the cabinet.






Using 4" angle braces to mount the cutoff mini-fridge directly to the side of the cabinet right over the two holes. 






The "notch" is for access to the temp controller inside.






And here's a shot from the inside of the cabinet.






The air temperature exhausting out of the mini-fridge is a constant 64*. This allows me to keep a 400w CMH flowering chamber between 80* and 86* during lights on.






I've got a few tricks up my sleeve having to do heat sinks in order to get better cooling effect to the air flow! More to come!


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## cruzer101 (Dec 19, 2010)

Now I understand what you were talking about. Looks like a good idea.
I assume the unit runs constantly while the lights are on right?


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## jsgamber (Dec 19, 2010)

cruzer101 said:


> Now I understand what you were talking about. Looks like a good idea.
> I assume the unit runs constantly while the lights are on right?


Right now it does. The thermostat in the fridge only senses up to 55* before it would consider to turn itself off...which means never. Gumball led me to look into a thermostatically controlled outlet from Lowes or HD and then use that to turn it on and off. I have one of those outlets on an attic exhaust fan and it works well.


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## cruzer101 (Dec 19, 2010)

Gotcha, Right on man, Sometimes I gotta see something in action to understand.
Thanks for the pics in the post, helped out a lot. I'm thinking how I can do it myself now.


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## jsgamber (Dec 19, 2010)

Keeping the air temps down has gone a long way to solving my water temp issues!  Especially when using well insulated reservoirs!

This setup works great for now but I'm not sure how well it will keep up in the middle of summer when ambient temps in the garage climb up into the 80*'s. I was going to use my portable AC unit to be a water cooler. But now I'm thinking of using the mini-fridge concept I just created but modify the AC unit to work in the same "closed loop" setup I have. The AC unit can also be controlled with a thermostat which triggers on and off between 60* and 99* and the temperature probe is easily placed to control everything. The last consideration is this is what AC units do best!

I have a design in my head and a couple scribbles on paper. I'll put something up when I get something firmed up. Sorry if I "over-hijacked" your thread!


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## cruzer101 (Dec 20, 2010)

Ha! I guess you did, this was about water chillers so hey, be sure to keep us informed on what you do with the a/c unit.


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## AlteredEgo (Dec 24, 2010)

Healing Herb said:


> So I figured out how I busted the thermo... when I was cutting thru the thin plastic into the 'freezer' section I nicked the little copper tube that acts as a sensor... not sure if I can resolder it and make it work... but I will let you know.
> 
> To bypass the thermostat I just 'hotwired' the two black leads that go into the dial controller - you can ignore the ground wire (green) at the thermo cause the thermo is not getting power now - but the ground would need to be reattached if the thermo was unbypassed...
> 
> ...


Quick Comment about the tube on the thermostats for small refrigerators. They actually are tubes, and they contain a small amount of refrigerant, part liquid, part gas, and transport pressure from the sensing bulb to the diaphragm inside that operates a switch. This switch is designed to carry the full load amps of the compressor. They cannot be repaired once broken, but you can get commercial thermostats with remote bulbs that you can wire to the two wires going to the thermostat, which goes where usually does not matter, it is just a switch circuit. These thermostats can be set for temperature, and differential as well. 

Hope this is of some help, and thanks for all the info posted here guys! I have just read Cruz's whole greenhouse grow from start to present, great stuff.


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## Mike Young (Jan 8, 2011)

I read somebody mention copper tubing a page or so back. You're gonna get waaaay better results with copper. I'm not sure about corrosion, as in beer brewing we use copper tubing to chill our wort, and it works amazing. I can take 5 gallons of boiling wort and bring it to 70 degrees in 15 minutes with plain tap water. And a double chiller is gonna give even better results. Basically one coil in a mini-fridge and a second coil in your res. The water is pumped from the cold water in the fridge through to the coil in your res, and back to the fridge. This way your not actually running your nute water through the coil, but cold water is constantly circulating. A timer on your pump can easily maintain temp to your liking. Hope this helps.


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## cruzer101 (Jan 8, 2011)

Hi Mike and welcome to rollitup.
Yea, I considered using copper then I was told the copper would not be good for the nutrient solution, don't remember why but I trust the source. There are peeps lookin to cool lamps and such, it would be great for that. Thanks for the info.


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## talktuumee (May 31, 2011)

Cruzer 101 you are much kind with your wisdom.. I realize this is an old post, but water chillers havent went down much if any over here in the land of the big 3 (almost( and legal mmmp cards with doctors approval. Anyways I luv your mini fridge idea/invention with the freezer plate in the nute tank, I just wanted to ask you what size fridge that was and name brand.. I just dont want to buy anyone, what Im getting at is the one you used in your picture is white coated I guess? but its not metal, and for me thats good cuz I wouldnt want to put any exposed metal in my tank... and I'd like to know size to base off the tank you used to the fridge you used to compare with what Im planning on using.. One last thought.. What do you think of have disconnecting the cooling tray at either the closet point to the back wall or even see if you could cut it off from the condensor and pull it through the fridge back wall then take/break cooling tray off, with connections and thermostat still intact, and leave fridge totally intact and reroute tray from outside part of condesor basically instead of traveling inside the fridge you would reroute to rez even by longer cooling tray tubing/connection themostat as well but thats just wire or rewire (2) I believe but Im no expert but I will ask these questions to my heating/cooling/refridgerant guy )) first thing tomorrow I cant wait.. and you have a blessed one.. wisdom is a gift always best shared then hidden.. hope to hear back.. I invent a lil bit myself ))


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## weedsmith (May 31, 2011)

Nice job if i may say so! I am a heating and cooling contractor, need a job


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## mikadodarkside (May 31, 2011)

Use a sealed cooler as ur res and lose another 10 degrees, you are cooling with no insulation( and less electricity) . So why dont u just air condition the whole god damn neighbourhood. Sweet setup man nao on a previous note. Defs run this shit outside ur cab amd set up a sick aeroponic vertical grow and hit 2g/watt/2months


Also check out temp relays to set it at 65 they are like 30 bucks at hardware plcs


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## BendBrewer (May 31, 2011)

I think this is a really good idea. Makes me think though. Why not have a res that fit inside the fridge?


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## cruzer101 (May 31, 2011)

talktuumee said:


> Cruzer 101 you are much kind with your wisdom.. I realize this is an old post, but water chillers havent went down much if any over here in the land of the big 3 (almost( and legal mmmp cards with doctors approval. Anyways I luv your mini fridge idea/invention with the freezer plate in the nute tank, I just wanted to ask you what size fridge that was and name brand.. I just dont want to buy anyone, what Im getting at is the one you used in your picture is white coated I guess? but its not metal, and for me thats good cuz I wouldnt want to put any exposed metal in my tank... and I'd like to know size to base off the tank you used to the fridge you used to compare with what Im planning on using.. One last thought.. What do you think of have disconnecting the cooling tray at either the closet point to the back wall or even see if you could cut it off from the condensor and pull it through the fridge back wall then take/break cooling tray off, with connections and thermostat still intact, and leave fridge totally intact and reroute tray from outside part of condesor basically instead of traveling inside the fridge you would reroute to rez even by longer cooling tray tubing/connection themostat as well but thats just wire or rewire (2) I believe but Im no expert but I will ask these questions to my heating/cooling/refridgerant guy )) first thing tomorrow I cant wait.. and you have a blessed one.. wisdom is a gift always best shared then hidden.. hope to hear back.. I invent a lil bit myself ))


Well, It's a sealed system. I was afraid if I cut the tubing I wouldn't be able to seal it and charge it again. Same goes for a leak so I tried not to bend it too much.
As far as the brand of refer, I didn't pay attention so I couldn't tell ya. What I can tell you is if I was gonna do it again I would look for an older refer with coils on the back instead of running through the whole box. It was one of those small 1 cu ft deals. Thanks for the complement.



weedsmith said:


> Nice job if i may say so! I am a heating and cooling contractor, need a job


Now here is the guy who can tell you if its possible to cut the tubing.



mikadodarkside said:


> Use a sealed cooler as ur res and lose another 10 degrees, you are cooling with no insulation( and less electricity) . So why dont u just air condition the whole god damn neighbourhood. Sweet setup man nao on a previous note. Defs run this shit outside ur cab amd set up a sick aeroponic vertical grow and hit 2g/watt/2months Also check out temp relays to set it at 65 they are like 30 bucks at hardware plcs


Ya think? Doing it this way, keeping the thermostat intact, with the tray in the res and a small water pump circulating the water I keep it on the lowest setting. If I don't it gets too cold. So I don't think I am using that much electricity. With the thermostat controlling the temp why would I need this relay? 



BendBrewer said:


> I think this is a really good idea. Makes me think though. Why not have a res that fit inside the fridge?


That would be too easy. LOL No, I've seen it done that way. Also just running hose into a small fridge coil it up and back out again.
Honestly I dont remember why I didn't do that, I think it was I couldn't see where the coils were and if I drilled a hole in the side I might hit the coils. besides, the fridge didn't fit into my cab and I wanted it stealth.


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## NEVER OUTGUNNED (May 31, 2011)

FUCK, what a trip. just ran into this post and you did everything i tried to do. i bought a mini fridge a while back thinking i could figure out a way to make it work, eventually i realized that the only thing left was to pull out the compressor, ice tray, etc..planning on eventually dropping the ice tray in the rez i decided it was too much work and backed off. Ive worked the burn unit a few times before and seeing Meth heads, and so forth that resembled Harvey Dent, made me paranoid as fuck. i wouldn't recommend this unless you know what your doing. I would rather be shot it the balls twice by a 38. than to get Freddy Kruegered, that being said awesome work, your outcome is exactly what I had hoped my outcome would be.


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## mikadodarkside (Jun 2, 2011)

The relay is a thermostat, u should be able to set it so ur water is always 62-67 degrees. If ur chiller makes ur water too cold then do u only have a uper temp that turns ur system on? U need a lower temp threshold that turns it off seeing as disolved oxygen delpeats from both sides of 65 degrees. Those home hardware thermostats have both logic functions. 

I think bendbrewer ment using the fridge as a res, not running hoses through a fridge.


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## cruzer101 (Jun 3, 2011)

Oh, I see what you mean. Yeah, the thermostat that came with the fridge I ran to the res also, it turns it on when it gets warm and off when it cools. 
It has settings of like 1 to 5 with 5 being the coldest. What I meant was if I set it above 1 and ambient temps are like 85° the res will cool lower then 68°

So I leave it at one and don't run it unless temps are up there. cause with ambient temps of like 80° the water is 75 then with air and pump I lower it to about 70°


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## riffle87 (Jul 28, 2012)

jrinlv said:


> So how are you planning to keep your rez at the holy grail 69 degrees? I just bought a chiller for 140 bucks new and you can set the temp to whatever you need. I looked into a lot of DIY setups but for 140 I can swing that. Good post
> 
> OH are you going to keep the compressor in the grow room? Good luck JR


Where did u getur chilled for 140 i really need one


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