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Another cooling system

  • #181
im talkin it only has about 6 inches of slack i can get out of it.

this is the whole length of the pipe
IMG_5797.jpg


if i put the water rez RIGHT in front of it it may just reach but would be real real tight
 
  • #182
rob, the pipe connecting the rad to the unit isnt long enough to reach into a water cooler in front. This is where I am confused. I cannot cut into the line and add pipe as it is pressurized with coolant right?

ill take more pics to try n show it

YA DO NOT CUT THE PIPE! lol it is pressurized.

I think you have enough tubing to get it into a cooler. IT's essentially the same as mine. Just lift it up, bend it out towards you and then downwards. Check my website to see how i bent mine. I bent it so that it's not horizontal but vertical which gave me a little more length.

Can you get me a clearer pic? I can then write up some instructions on the pic using paint.
 
  • #183
ill take a few dif angles and try n get em clearer. the hampster wheel does not want to slide off... i may lube it up n let it sit. this A/C is a lil old and been in storage a while. Really appreciate the help
 
  • #185
Hey dude,


Word "till" should be "will" - spelling error. And by box I mean drink cooler :p.

Essentially make the pipe straight. If you look at my walkthrough, you can see that i set the rad in a vertical position instead of it's original horizontal position. You might want to do this too depending on the shape of the drink cooler you're going to use. Mine was vertical, so i set my rad vertically. Let me know if you need more instructions :)

the hampster wheel does not want to slide off... i may lube it up n let it sit. this A/C is a lil old and been in storage a while. Really appreciate the help
You could just lob it off lol. That's what i did, then I cut off the metal pin that it was holding onto. I just ran the AC and held a metal saw on it; came right off. Maybe not the safest option,but i was wearing safety glasses at the time. :p
 
  • #186
how do you straighten the pipes without them dimpling inwards? im trying to do it slowly n gingerly but it keeps happening. i have made a good deal of progress though :) got the hampster wheel off and the styrofoam back together and in place. i rotated the condensor 120 degrees to get the start of the pipe closer to the front. gave me bout 3-4 more inches of length.
 
  • #187
im stopping for the day. heres where im at.

IMG_5808.jpg


IMG_5809.jpg



IMG_5810.jpg


as you can see the pipe didnt enjoy being bent. idk how imma do my final bends but where theres a will theres a way
 
  • #189
I made something similar for a small reef tank a few years back, I had to use all plastic hoses so I wouldnt contaminate the water, but here you dont have to use plastic, you can use copper tubing in the cooler tank to get a much better heat transfer, another idea is to insulate all tubing that is not under water.
 
  • #190
I made something similar for a small reef tank a few years back, I had to use all plastic hoses so I wouldnt contaminate the water, but here you dont have to use plastic, you can use copper tubing in the cooler tank to get a much better heat transfer, another idea is to insulate all tubing that is not under water.

Orlenz,

You should look through the entire thread :)
 
  • #192
thanks rob, i really didnt want it bigger then needed as my a/c is pretty darn small compared to yours.

So do you have any tricks to bend the pipe with minimal dimpling/collapse? im finding it to be the hardest part of the dam project lol
 
  • #193
thanks rob, i really didnt want it bigger then needed as my a/c is pretty darn small compared to yours.

So do you have any tricks to bend the pipe with minimal dimpling/collapse? im finding it to be the hardest part of the dam project lol
My ac is rather small actually, its only 6000 btu.

As for the bending, I grab the pipe with my hands touching each other.then i bend it slowly. I usually try to avoid bending right where the original bend is, I do it a few inches away. You could also buy a pipe bender.
 
  • #194
i think i will grab a pipe bender. this poor pipe aint gunna enjoy its final bend and if i pop a hole in the line, it'll ruin my day fast :p

it looks like you have 4 pipes coming from your evaporator.... i only have two and one is very very thin. maybe its just because mine is over 8 years old?
 
  • #195
A little update on my effort with the watercooler.

I've tried two combinations for the placement of a spare OC radiator (with fan in the fridge and without in water cooler :) ) to see if I can squeeze more juice from the system vs. radiatorless setup. So far pretty much everything I tried gives me the same 15-16F drop from ambient temperature as the radiatorless setup. I took some pics yesterday and will edit them into this post later.
Radiator's location does not seem to make much difference. Crappy radiator perhaps :) I will change the flow order today to run returning water through coils without radiator in refrigerator for greater temp differential and unless I find a bigger radiator I'll just concentrate on insulating the tank.

I'd like to mod the AC sometime (or other similar system such as dehumidifier) in the future.
 
  • #196
A quick question to gurus.

When insulating a tank is it preferable that the insulating panel is in contact with glass or is it acceptable to have 5mm gap? The aquarium has a plastic liner on the top and the bottom so when attaching the reflective foam panel im covering all of the glass and most of the plastic. Then the panel is fastened with tape securely. But that leaves a little gap between the panel and glass walls in the middle (panel is touching glass on the edges though).

20120612_002s.jpg

(it is actually insulated on all sides and bottom, top is covered with reflective bubble wrap)

Well in any case. Insulation allowed to reach an additional 5F drop to a total of 20F drop from ambient temperature. I'm going to try a more powerful fan today to see if that helps.

MylesG how is your AC cooler doing?
 
  • #197
the gap just means more space to heat/cool. 5 mm isnt much to worry about. as long as that 5mm gap of air is fairly sealed up and cant exchange with the room, it wont lose much heat/cold

I havent setup the A/C yet as my plexi for the new tanks is arriving tomorrow. Onc eits glued and then silicone is applied n dried I'll be gettign the A/C system going. With the watercooler, Im only geting to low 60s at night which just isn't good enough. Thats with a much smaller tank as well. Really hoping the A/C does the trick for me cuz my new hamata is gunna be pissed with 60s at night for an extended period of time
 
  • #198
the gap just means more space to heat/cool. 5 mm isnt much to worry about. as long as that 5mm gap of air is fairly sealed up and cant exchange with the room, it wont lose much heat/cold

I havent setup the A/C yet as my plexi for the new tanks is arriving tomorrow. Onc eits glued and then silicone is applied n dried I'll be gettign the A/C system going. With the watercooler, Im only geting to low 60s at night which just isn't good enough. Thats with a much smaller tank as well. Really hoping the A/C does the trick for me cuz my new hamata is gunna be pissed with 60s at night for an extended period of time

Completely agree with the gap issue response above. If the air in the gap is allowed to exchange with the air outside of the gap then it'll be less efficient.

As for the AC setup, mine has proved it's worth. With a scortching day temperature of almost 40c with the humidex yesterday, my tank was a cool 22c. Also as night it only went down to about 25c, and the tank was @ 15 easy. Moveover, I was expecting the AC to turn on a lot more than it actually did. I think it only ran about 4 to 5 times an hour for a 2 minute run time, which is only 2 to 3 times more than it runs on a cooler day. Ac is awesome. :awesome:
 
  • #199
hey Rob, imma be askin you how i should go about cutting holes for the pipes when the tanks are ready. the cooler is rigid plastic so i was thinking of making cuts in the back side and possibly sealing the space around them with a foam insulation or maybe just bunched up foam wrap?
 
  • #200
hey Rob, imma be askin you how i should go about cutting holes for the pipes when the tanks are ready. the cooler is rigid plastic so i was thinking of making cuts in the back side and possibly sealing the space around them with a foam insulation or maybe just bunched up foam wrap?

Post some pics of your cooler and the current bends on your ax tax. That will give me a better idea of what we are dealing with :)
 
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