Running a fridge as a chiller?

[pomme]

Running a fridge as a chiller?

Ive been thinking of the summer months and the heat on the tank.

just speaking out loud here guys but i have just had a thought, how about having a air pump running in a fridge and then pumping the air from the fridge into the sump where it would cool the water. but be controller by a probe and monitor in the water?

i know it sounds stupid but if it works a tiny bit ans stops the tank water changing to much over the few hot days in the summer then brilliant

Andrew

 

[dansemacabre]

I had this discussion on this forum a bit ago, I'll try to relay the info I remember:

It's a very common idea. You wouldn't be able to pump the cold air into the water, it just won't do anything. What you'd have to do is get a small pump that pumped water into the fridge. A fridge is most effective when it is full of stuff, not air. So, on different shelves, (or one shelf if you removed the others, in which case you'd also use a large bucket) you'd need a bucket on each shelf full of regular water that just sits in the fridge. This water will remain chilled, and help the fridge run at optimum efficiency. The tubing would need to come into the fridge, and then be coiled into every single bucket, fitting as many coils as you can around the edge of the inside of the bucket. The tubing would need to be made of titanium for a few reasons. Reason 1, it won't corrode as easily in the saltwater. Reason 2, you need a metal (and titanium is the only one strong enough to withstand corrosion) to be effective at heat transfer. Any other tubing and it probably wouldn't be effective enough at chilling the water that passed through the fridge. Yes, titanium tubing is expensive as far as tubing goes.

For the work and inefficiency involved, you'd probably be better off saving up and getting a chiller. Though I have heard of people making chillers from their fridges. HTH!

 

[pomme]

humm i might think about this some more as ive got a old frige that would work perfectly.

 

[William]

I've had this discussion when it came to water cooling computers.

Same principle tho, all you gotta do is run the water in, get it cold, and pump it out.


I've seen people who use minifridges, They drill two holes into the side, and fasten into place an inlet and an outlet barb [ Hosing connects to it on the inside, and outside. Makes life a little easier then running tube straight through and back out the fridge. ]


Do as dan said above, put several buckets of water in the fridge, and coil as much of your tube as you can inco each bucket.

Then pump it back out into the tank.

 

[pomme]

yeah i will try this by putting a old 25kg salt bucket in the fridge andthen make two holes each side of the fridge which i will attach/run through some plastic flexible piping, which will then be coiled up in the bucket. I know this wont be that efficient but as long as it keeps the water from moving too much ill be happy.

 

[William]

Oh, Just FYI.

To make things efficient in the thermal dynamics area, You want the hot water [ Water to be chilled ] to enter via the top of the bucket, and coil down towards the bottom of the bucket and escape through a hole in the bottom via a waterproof fitting like the barb I mentioned above.


Because heat rises, introducing most of the heat at the top will expell as much of it as possible at the top, leaving the bottom of the bucket to stay cooler, and more efficient.

 

[pomme]

cool thanx for that, ill give it a go, and see it it works, havent spent anything if it doesnt

 

[IMPERATORFAN]

What kind of pump are you going to use for this. I'd think the slower the flow rate ... the better.

 

[pomme]

i was thinking of one taht pump around 500l/h, but have a few lying around and ill see which works best.

and will put a pump in the bucket in the fridge just to keep the water from having warm patches.

 

[liverocks727]

Pomme if you go to "premiumaquatics.com" They have an awesome chiller there for $349.00 that will drop temperature30-degrees in a 75-gal. and 10-degrees in a 110-gal.. Some people are even using them on 150-gal. systems if you dont need much temperature drop. It is a 1000-BTU,1/10 HP 110 volts - 1.8 amps 31-lbs. size is 12-L x 12-W x 13.5-H in inches. 300-GPH min. flow and 600-GPH max. flow. Digital display, and titanium heat exchanger. Awesome unit check it out, "Ron of Triton"

 

[fishfreek]

Are you sure that running fans over the tank will not do enough for you in the way of cooling.

If you put like 100ft of hose in the fridge you should be able to get it cooler than it was before it went into the fridge but you would also need to make sure the flow was slow enough.

 

[fishfreek]

One thing I have heard is that chillers unless they are vented will heat the room's air up as they cool the water. As the air temp increases the need to cool the water goes up. Kind of a catch22.

 

[pomme]

yeah if i was to get a chiller i would have ouside but covered with a small extension at the back of the garage, which is basically a little ally with roof of granate.

i would love to get that chiller but being over the 'pond' is a slight problem