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Another cooling system

  • #61
Let's put it this way... IF your room is cooler than mine (you strike me as one of those lucky New Yorkers that has A/C in their apartment), AND cost is not a factor (judging by some of the plants in your collection, I'd say it isn't ;)), then this cooler + rad setup would be fine. If it doesn't work, you can switch the cooler out with an aquarium chiller easily.

My rig has no problems dropping temps 10-15 degrees below ambient room temps. How warm is your room? Subtract 10 degrees, and that's a good worst-case idea of how cool you can get your terrarium with this setup.
 
  • #62
hmm.. with a combination of my AC :nana: and this cooler setup, I think it should work fine.
 
  • #63
I just realized that the water cooler also has a mini fridge.. anyway that I could use it for my setup?

---------- Post added at 12:25 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:24 AM ----------

Also, how would I set it up with this cooler since it doesnt have the front nozzles? I am a little confused about it.

---------- Post added at 01:13 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:25 AM ----------

Ok, so I made a list of things that I plan on getting, do you think it will work?
http://www.amazon.com/Little-Frog-S...p_return_1?ie=UTF8&n=2972638011&s=lawn-garden
http://www.amazon.com/Radiator-1x12...7X0C/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335503275&sr=8-1
http://www.amazon.com/Cooler-Master...3?s=electronics&ie=UTF8&qid=1335503352&sr=1-3
For the radiator im not sure which size barbs to get.
 
  • #64
Heli - all that stuff looks perfect. I might actually switch to a 120mm rad & fan too; pretty sure my dual-fan 80mm rad doesn't have enough surface area. Turns out a 120mm single-fan rad with one fan has more surface area than an 80mm dual-fan rad (120mm * 120mm > 80mm * 160mm)! Look at that middle school geometry in action.

Anyway, to your questions:
1) Without the front nozzles, you'd just run the lines to/from the rad directly into the reservoir. The 'out' line would be hooked up to the pump, which would sit in the reservoir; the 'in' line would come directly from the rad and spill into the reservoir.

2) Get the rad barbs to match the OD (outer diameter) of the fitting on the pump. I noticed that particular model you linked doesn't list one. It's usually either 3/8" or 1/2" size. Make sure you know the size of the fitting on your pump before you buy the barbed fittings for your rad. Selecting the fitting size was easy for me... my pump comes with a 1/2" or 3/8" adapter, and the standard size of the nozzles on any water cooler is 3/8" NPT, so I just got everything in 3/8" size. Frankly it doesn't matter; just pick one and go with it, as long as all your equipment matches. I prefer 3/8"... it's smaller, and you don't really need a super-thick hose for this application.

3) The mini-fridge in the base is very cool. Not sure how powerful it is, but I'd try to make use of it. If I were you (and I had the right equipment) I'd try and put a coil of copper tubing in there to help cool the water down on its way back from the rad. You'd likely have to drill holes in the side to feed the tubing through. But the system would look like: cooler --> rad --> coil --> cooler.

One thing that might cause issues: using the setup described above, you might run up against the limit of the pump. Each pump has a "maximum lift" metric... usually 2 or 3 feet for low-powered pond pumps like this. So make sure that the pump you get is powerful enough to lift water from your cooler, up to your terrarium, then from the coil back up to the reservoir. Here's the pump I use... it's 120GPH (a little more powerful), supports 3/8" or 1/2" fittings, and it's got a good 4' maximum lift. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000VMF3N6/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00

Chew on that for a while! Looking forward to seeing what you do with this setup.
 
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  • #65
Thank you for the help. It is a lot less confusing now. I was hoping to use the fridge for a UHL setup.. Maybe stick them in there at night. Or maybe I could drill a large hole and use a fan to move the refrigerated air into the terrarium?
 
  • #66
Just picked up the water cooler and it looks like it works, including the fridge. When I get a chance I will look at its innards.
 
  • #67
So I got the cooler today, it seems to work well.. the water that comes out is very cold.
IMG_0079.jpg

I took the top off and im not sure what to do :lol: any tips?
IMG_0080.jpg
 
  • #68
Oh Heli - one thing I forgot to mention. That round plastic thing at the bottom of your reservoir. Take it out. It's some sort of spacer that matters one way or another when you've got a big 5 gallon jug sticking out the top of this thing... but for our application it's just a waste of space. If your unit is anything like mine it should lift right out with a bit of fussing.

@rob - I asked you a question about the thermostat in my own terrarium thread, but since this thread deals specifically with the cooling mechanism you can answer it in here if you prefer. Basically... how'd ya do it? What kind of temperature control unit did you buy and how hard was it to open this cooler up and bypass the stock thermostat?

Also rob - you've got a pair of 120mm fans each with 130+ CFM of power, running on reduced voltage. Your tank is 4 x 4 x something (read: huge).

I've got a pair of 80mm fans, each with 34 CFM, wired in parallel and running on full voltage. It's a nice little breeze, but if I stick my hand on the other side of my 2' x 2' x 18" terrarium I can hardly feel it. Do you think upping fan power would help achieve better heat transfer over the rad?

Finally - and this sounds like a dumb question, but I gotta know... do you have your fans configured to blow air through the rad, or to suck air through it? I can't decide whether or not this makes a difference...

Sorry for all the questions LOL. This was an awesome idea, thanks for the inspiration.
 
  • #69
Im having trouble removing it. :scratch: It doesnt seem to want to come out
 
  • #70
Twist and jiggle! You may have to take a pair of pliers to it and grasp that protrusion in the center.
 
  • #71
OK, so I found a Rad with 3/8" ID barbs. I need to getting tubing with an inner diameter of 3/8" as well right? Also, how do you cut the tubing? Last question, and this is a dumb one :lol: How do I power the computer fan?
 
  • #72
1) The barbs are 3/8" size, meaning their *OD* is 3/8"; they fit a 3/8" ID tube.
2) PVC tubing is easy to cut with a pair of scissors. Just make sure you cut straight across and not diagonally
3) Do you have a 12V DC computer fan? The answer is probably yes. Head on over to radioshack and get yourself a 12V DC wall wart. Make sure you get one that can handle the current draw of a fan... usually 200mA. To be safe I just get 1,000 mA wall warts. This way I can run multiple fans in parallel without worrying about overloading the power supply. Cut off the connector of the PC fan and the connector of the wall wart. Ignore the yellow wire on the PC fan (if there is one, it's for speed control) and only use the red and black wires. Use solder, electrical tape, or some wire caps to join the red and black wires to the wires on the wall wart. It doesn't matter which color goes to which wire. If you hook it up backwards, the fan spins backwards!

There are plenty of step-by-step guides with pics on this forum and elsewhere to teach you how to wire the fan. Read up and get crackin'!
 
  • #73
couldnt you also use an ac.dc charger as well?
 
  • #74
As long as it outputs voltage to match and current to match or exceed the specs of the fan, so 12V and probably 200mA. Unless you want to run the fan on, say, 5V and have it run slower/quieter... then use a 5V adapter.
 
  • #75
It doesn't matter which color goes to which wire. If you hook it up backwards, the fan spins backwards!
... which will reduce the fans efficiency.
 
  • #76
If you don't have a voltmeter, Heli, check the fans, they usually have arrows on the sides ponting to rotation of the blades and direction of the air. This can help you figure out which wire goes where.
 
  • #77
... which will reduce the fans efficiency.

You won't blow it up or anything... that's all I was trying to get at haha. But yes, thanks for clarifying!
 
  • #78
Woot! I just finished mine, here it is:
IMG_0114.jpg

The reservoir is a little cramped :lol:
IMG_0116.jpg

IMG_0117.jpg

IMG_0118.jpg

Any tips on how I can make it better would be awesome, I am running it now to see how cold the air gets.

---------- Post added at 09:07 PM ---------- Previous post was at 08:47 PM ----------

I also seem to have an issue of not enought air movement. Should I try to get the fan pretty much directly into the tank?

---------- Post added at 09:11 PM ---------- Previous post was at 09:07 PM ----------

Also, i got this stuff.. not sure whether I could use it
IMG_0119-1.jpg
 
  • #79
Nice work! Let me know what kind of temperatures your cooler gets the water down to. Do you have a thermometer you can stick into the reservoir? My cooler gets water down to about 40 degrees, and I'm curious as to whether your larger cooler also gets the water colder.

Anyway, you only need antifreeze if you can get your water below freezing when you max out the thermostat. My cooler doesn't. Yours might. I suppose you could also use the eyeball test... if there's ice in the reservoir, you need antifreeze!
 
  • #80
I am kind of having some weird air movement. It doesnt seem to push the air all around the tank. Is there some way I can make the water cooler constantly running.
 
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