DIY window AC Chiller new Version

[deemon113]

@budly, I am currently trying to build a water cooled system as well.
I saw that you mentioned that you run a circuit/line through the water cooled lights. Do you have a manifold setup so they are each run seperately? If you don't, this may help you with efficiency, as the water will be cooler coming out of a single lamp, rather than from three.

I just registered, and so I can't send PMs as of yet, but am curious as to the make of the coil as well. I found some industrial coils online, but those were upwards of $300.

I definitely love your posts as they are very informative. Keep them coming.

 

[budlydoright]

@budly, I am currently trying to build a water cooled system as well.
I saw that you mentioned that you run a circuit/line through the water cooled lights. Do you have a manifold setup so they are each run seperately? If you don't, this may help you with efficiency, as the water will be cooler coming out of a single lamp, rather than from three.

I definitely love your posts as they are very informative. Keep them coming.

Thanks!

Yes, I run a 3/4 manifold with 4 1/2" outlets with a 1" return manifold. I am running the 3 lights and a heat exchanger on my dehuey to remove some of it's heat.

I got my first coil at a salvage yard. i do have a source for them now, 300 sounds right if it's close to a 2 ton unit. Mine is only 1/2 ton.

 

[deemon113]

What did you take the coil off of at the salvage yard?

 

[budlydoright]

What did you take the coil off of at the salvage yard?

Actually it was a surplus lot not salvage. I live in an area with lot's of military surplus yards. It was new, unmounted. What size are you trying to do? They can be used for a condensor or evaporator. I'm planning on building a watercooled airconditioner soon, or a bigger chiller (2ton) and a large air handler when I upsize my space soon.

 

[deemon113]

I wouldn't need over a 1 ton version. Only running 2200w and a CO2 burner. Should be more than enough to chill the room and lights. I already have the CO2 burner on a seperate circuit anyways. So I don't even need to add that.

 

[budlydoright]

Yea, a 1 ton would be nice. My 1/2 ton handles 2k pretty well but in the heat of the summer, it runs hard. I think a 1 hp coild was arounf 2-225 when I sourced out my second coil.

 

[HiTimes4Me]

Hmm...interesting...

 

[budlydoright]

I guess I don't understand where the heat exchangers in the room are. Ice Boxes? That cold of liquid in your lines in going to cause lots of condensation.

I don;t think heatsinks in processors can handle high volumes of cooling which is why the fluid needs to be so cold. Out of that 2 gallon rez, I bet it circulates very slowly. This also explains the de-icer.

 

[budlydoright]

So, an AC unit with the coil submerged in de-icer in a 2 gallon container. A Plate heat exchanger also submerged in the cold fluid has water from your lamp rez pumped through it to remove its heat?

Seems like it would be easier to just submerge the coil in the water. You don't want the water in your ice boxes or water cooled reflectors running below the dew point tempurature or you'll have a wet mess. You then have direct contact. i think if you maintain a clean rez with some form of metal protectant, the coil will last for years.

I made the mistake of putting mine in RO water for the clarity in my frsca sols. I wasn;t aware at the time that RO water would eat the metals in both the lamps and chiller coil.

 

[budlydoright]

Sure I don;t see why that wouldn't work, I just done understand the need for the heat exchanger. Take your AC coil and submerge it in the water rez that's feeding your icebox and be done with it. 1 pump. What are you gaining with this extra step?

 

[budlydoright]

You can't make the cooling more efficient that way. If it is a 5kAC that's all it can remove. Your cpu cooling simply doesn't generate the same level of heat that a 1k lamp does. Even if it runs hot, it's still only a 2" square and probably only utilitzes 10% of the ac's available capacity.

However if you do figure out how to cool a 16k load with only 6k, I want t piece of the action!

 

[budlydoright]

6 600's will heat up 90 gallons of 50 degree water to a critical point in a couple of hours I imagine. My 3 600's will heat up 90 gallons in much less than one cycle, I would guess 2-3 hours before I'm in the 110 degree range.

Plus you need to control the water temp, you don;t want it swinging. right now mine is at 75 degrees which helps buffer the cold nights. In the summer I run my lights 5 degrees under what my desired room temp is. This keeps the condensation at bay.


With no load on my chiller it will bring things to a freezing point in a matter of minutes as well. With 3 600's active, The lowest I can get it is in the low 60's in the summer.

 

[budlydoright]

My goal is to have a water chilled air handler in my room. My current design (in my head), uses off the shelf heat exchangers. One in the room itself and one up on my rooftop.
I only need 65 degree water to make this work. It is cold enough in my neck of the woods probably all but 3 or 4 months out of the year. Especially since the load would be applied mostly at night. I would also have a compressor based chiller servicing the same rez that runs on demand.

All three components will be on a single pump circuit powered by a single inline pump. I would however need the ability ro remove the rooftop exchanger from the circuit during the heat of the summer.

 

[bishs]

hey budly,

how much heat would a 10k btu ac give off? Would I be able to place this indoors? or does it need some form of venting?

 

[budlydoright]

hey budly,

how much heat would a 10k btu ac give off? Would I be able to place this indoors? or does it need some form of venting?

It puts out more heat than cold! So if it cranks out 10k of cold it probably puts out 11k of heat.

I run an 8k indoors, in the summer it is an absolute bitch even with good airflow, but it works.

there's a good DIY on this site for converting a window ac for indoor use. Looks nice.

 

[bishs]

thats horrible..

currently.. i have no access to the outside as i am stuck in between other buildings.

i need to somehow keep this thing in a ventilated area.. what would be the best way to increase the range for this type of cooling? extending the copper lines on the ac? or extending the cold water created from the ac?

sorry i'm a complete noob with ac cooling. I'm assuming that the cooled water should be extended.

 

[budlydoright]

thats horrible..

currently.. i have no access to the outside as i am stuck in between other buildings.

i need to somehow keep this thing in a ventilated area.. what would be the best way to increase the range for this type of cooling? extending the copper lines on the ac? or extending the cold water created from the ac?

sorry i'm a complete noob with ac cooling. I'm assuming that the cooled water should be extended.

Water lines are used to extend. much easier.

 

[kanye20]

A typical chiller for air conditioning applications is rated between 15 to 1500 tons.One of the newer developments in industrial water chillers is the use of water.

 

[Hvac]

So I have been readin up on alot of chillers threads the last week thinking about doing the water cooled sealed room with Co2. I was gearing toward using the 2 ton window unit and then I realized I have a ice machine that I picked up for 50 bucks from a factory that I do business with. I run a small Hvac and facilities maintenance business by the way. Anywho they said it had a bad compressor and I was just gonna use it for parts but the other day I started tearing into it and realized that everything worked fine on it except for the auger gearsbox was leaking a bit of oil and probably was making a noise when it was shoving ice up.

I think it is going to be perfect for a chiller because it has a heatsink with the evap coil wraped around it and the condenser is water cooled! My grow is in a utility room with a floor drain and access to well water that im not using. Im not sure how many btu's its throwing because I dont have any specs on it but the compressor pulls a 1000 watts and it freezes ice.

I been runnin dwc for a year now and currently running 1400w in a 4x4 using a portable a/c and venting through scrubber - air handler - basement which works fairly well until the summer comes around then my temps get up to mid 80's - 90's and the last couple weeks the smell is slightly noticable. So my goal here is to set this up with as little as cash possible and using the resources that I have. In the last 2 yrs I have dropped about 3000 at a min. in equipment and different grow rooms and my wife has been up my ass about spending cash on it and has been pressuring me to shut it down. So with that being said I think if I can do a totally enclosed room with some rez automation I will be good to go. I currently run 2 plants in dwc and pulled 20 zips last round and am looking at increase this round do to getting my feeding schedule down.

I have the refrigerant, tools and knowledge but lack the creativity lol. So I am asking for some ideas to implement this into my grow. If im gonna go water cooled I want everything water cooled but I would like to fabricate as much as possible and still keep things reliable. I was thinking of using cheap heater cores to cool my hoods or maybe a radiator or wood burning coil with an airhandler blowing straight at my bare bulbs. I have an airhandler with 800-1200cfm blower sitting in my garage and some other small blowers, 2 sealed hoods and shit ton of other shit laying around and lots of space. Sorry for the long post but I have alot on my mind lol. and not a alot of time to get it all out. I have pics but it seems I have to upload them first. Dont see an attatchment button

 

[Hvac]

Here is some pics of the ice machine and my biggest cola