My first chiller
 

hy,
a while back I was talking to koensa, how cool a chiller would be ...
so he got one a while after that ...
and to top things off I got one too :x

so, now he's out so he can't help me :p

I got some pics and some questions :)

The setup not running not in the water:


the evap in the liquid and the res :c


the sys running:


well, I got the temp down to -5°C but I have a feeling this thing can go further ...
it's a unit from a fridge-freezer thingy, you know, small freezer on top, rather large fridge

There used to be a lot of ice on it ... and now, no matter what I do I don't get ice :'(

anywayz, I got some hints on placing the condensor horizontal, and cooling the compressor, cuz it gets REALLY hot (can't hold my finger on it for over a sec)
so gonna try that, and see how far this baby goes that way ...

I have some questions tho:
1) There's this sensor like thing ... it's prolly a temp probe, but how does it work? does it need to be in the reservoir for optimal cooling or does it have to be near a heatsource?

2) there's this thermostat-like thing in every fridge right? well this one doesn't do jack sh*t I can turn to whichever side I want, the temp stay -5°C ... what does that thing do

picture of both:


and finally the new test method:


I'd like for anyone who has some experience to just share their two cents :ws:

greetz
nip

1st= the sensor normaly is placed behind the evaporator(verdamper)
2nd=if you say its a fridge the thermostat wont do anything because the scale stars lower .
3de=can you please give some more details about the compressor
4de= think your capasity isn't big enough to cool the water properly
you can ask me some questions about cooling because i do that in school

well the evap-part you see is the part from the freezer ... there's a smaller evap part (single plate) that was the fridge part
would be safe to roll up the evap? and put it into a smaller res?

about the compressor ... the label fell off I know it's a danfoss :) but that's about as much as I know ... is there another way to see it?

the capacity of the unit to cool the water?

get over here for the experts :).

so a little bit of good news
when putting a fan on the compressor & putting the condensor horizontally I got -10°C

I'd like to see how it would perform with that compressor running cold ... it's still hot not baking-an-egg-on-it hot like it used to be but still pretty hot

also considering rolling the evap up, so I can use less liquid, but I'm afraid to do , wouldn't wanna break the evap

cut off the thermostat to keep it running

well, when I let the thermostat sensor out of the res, the unit doesn't cool at all ...
when I do, it cools

imo it's something weird, but I'm letting it in the res:D

well
I got some weird **** now ...

the liquid temp would be around -10.5°C

BUT
I have ice around the evap
he whole evap is covered with it ...
this is weird imo
I used 50/50 demineralised water/anti-freeze

*edit*
sooo I'm screwed ... took another good look at the anti-freeze bottle, said to -26°C BUT at the bottom
in very small lettres (yes as usual) said: don't mix with water/anti-freeze ...


one reaction: :chop:

:^D

nice though.

I believe people usually use an alcohol based mixture (that is, as usually, if my memory serves me correctly :/ )

well, I've heared that too, but as you might know, alcohol in belgium is expensive ..
don't even know where to get it in that amount ..

@ gamer :: I know :) I feel like a retard c)
ha well, won't die cuz of it I guess ... just gonna take me a while longer to build a nice case for it and to test it

lol alcohol is cheapo :D

just get it at the pharmacy


*edit* where did you get the stuff anyway? did you go to the dump and got it of a broken refridgerator and fixed it or what?

well, got the fridge from a friend,
his parent renewed their kitchen so I got it a gift :)

but ye, the next chiller I'm gonna make will be from a dump I think ... there's one about a mile or 2 away so :)

alcohol at the pharmacy?
you're kidding right? :)
do you have prices of that?

so if I'm getting it right :
you can buy methanol ?? / ethanol ?? at the pharmacy?

just another question:
what's the freezing point of that kind of alcohol?

ow now you're asking me something :p

Don't remeber what it costed me and howmuch it is exactly but I think it's about 30-40 cl at about 10-12€

dno if it's methanol, ethanol or ...

all I know is that it's your everyday desinfecting alcohol and it's supposed to be close to 100% pure alcohol with something in it so you wouldn't (couldn't?) drink it. I just use it to clean proc's and coolers ...

you're saying not expensive :p

I need around and about 30-40liters of that stuff to fill my res :p
so anybody know of some good coolant that's reasonably priced here in BE?

think i've seen somebody roll it up the evap
but take something to put in the middle
or just take a few meters of copper and roll it together in a reservoir but you need a torch then :s
and some coolant and few other material

try to find some antifreeze that works with water or just use 100% (if your pump can handle that).
Maybe you can put somethin in your res so you won't need that much water (something that isolates, like 'piepschuim')

yeah, got that from a XS member too ...
it's all so expensive a poor student you know ;)

I'm gonna see what I can do ...
that anti-freeze I used was -26 certified ... if you didn't mix with water, kind of expensive tho to buy again, gonna look for some cheaper stuff
thx already guys :)

no thanks thats why a forum is there

Wow I expected a couple of liters but 40 :o


(just a thought but would gasoline work instead of alcohol?)


I've seen in the brico that they had rolls of copper tubing so you wouldn't need a torch unless it requires a more precise shape then just a roll.

Ps: Jort, where do you get your stuff like compressor?

ah i' get it in school
or just go to the junkyard take a tube cutter and take it
or ask around for some dead fridge's
no i mean you have to braze the cappilair out of the evap and the suction tube of the comprr
when you cut the tubing your coulant will fly away so you need a vacuum pump and some coolant(can't buy that in the brico)

yeah I read somehting about that a while ago, in the article, they used a seccond compressor to make a vacuum pump...

yes you can mod a comprr and use it like a vacuumpump
can it be on xterme system forum?

ye, there's a lot of the custom-phase-change building stuff on XS
one guy made a couple of articles about it ...
tho I find the insulating article major overkill, I've seen more effective and cleaner isolating of mobo's than in his article

the rest is first class tho :)

just another question, how could I optimise the condensor?
putting a fan in front of it so it'd cool

| -------->
| --------> = airflow
| ______ = condensor
............. = floor

| = fan
or is there a better way to optimise it?

You got a link to those articles? even the one with overkill insulation :p
and for the "more effective and cleaner" articles too if it's not too much trouble.


I don't remember where I read about the compressor vaccuum pump think but it wasn't on XS.

I know bowman wrote some guides that can be found all over the web.

And there are a lot of articles about phase change cooling on virtual zone. I believe the author is well known and a frequent visitor at XS too but I forgot is nick and the articles aren't signed.

They submerge something to improve performance and probably keep it cool but as usual, I can't remember what component it is they submerge :grum:

the capillary tube ?

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...threadid=34034

are these the ones you're looking for?
LardArse = ace :)

if you really want it chilly, you should cool the condensor the best as possible...
or build a cascade
I've never seen a watercooled condensor tho :) would love to try it x)

yes, those are the articles. No, the author is not who I thought it was. :)

thx for the link though, I didn't have that article about mounting a prom/vapo on a GPU in my favorites yet :)


maybe this can help you out a little too:

http://www.vr-zone.com.sg/index.cgi?i=766

first two articles are about chilling as you can see :)