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Do it yourself air to water cooler brain storming.

TurboReef

TurboReef

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I want to make a do it yourself chiller of sorts. I ordered four Noctua 140mm NF-A14 Industrial 24v fans.

my plan is to pump water through a closed loop system and have a fan blow on a heat sink.

my first choice was copper but it’s incredibly toxic to inverts.

is aluminum safe ? The heatsink would have to be something they conducts heat very well. I can use pex or really anything else for the rest.

I may also do some version of this using a mini fridge and some sort of heatsink in the fridge to
Maximize cooling.
 
Srt4eric said:
Any metal you use will get broken down by the saltwater.
Click to expand...

@Srt4eric I looked inside a jbj chiller and basically what they did was coiled the pipe with the coolant around a stainless steel pipe. That stainless steel pipe is what the aquarium water flows through. It appears the heat exchanger has copper line.
 
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TurboReef said:
@Srt4eric I looked inside a jbj chiller and basically what they did was coiled the pipe with the coolant around a stainless steel pipe. That stainless steel pipe is what the aquarium water flows through. It appears the heat exchanger has copper line.
Click to expand...
Most likely the coil is Titanium; this metal has been in use in marine chillers for a long time.
Stailess steel in order to resist corrosion, has to be of certain grade.
 
xcaret said:
Most likely the coil is Titanium; this metal has been in use in marine chillers for a long time.
Stailess steel in order to resist corrosion, has to be of certain grade.
Click to expand...
Even 304 or 316 will eventually corrode in salt water. They are just more resistant to corrosion due to the chromium bonded into the metals to take away potential for free ions to escape. Salt water is so corrosive, and conductive that even a decent distance away from each other, dissimilar metals will still corrode. Same reasons why boats put sacrificial anodes of zinc on their hulls.

Polyurethanes or silicone are the best choice as they last forever and just need the proper ductility specified. All that being said, pointing a fan at the surface of the water is the easiest method for cooling and is very effective.

Edit: added a link for more info on 316 in marine settings

 
H2OPlayar said:
Even 304 or 316 will eventually corrode in salt water. They are just more resistant to corrosion due to the chromium bonded into the metals to take away potential for free ions to escape. Salt water is so corrosive, and conductive that even a decent distance away from each other, dissimilar metals will still corrode. Same reasons why boats put sacrificial anodes of zinc on their hulls.

Polyurethanes or silicone are the best choice as they last forever and just need the proper ductility specified. All that being said, pointing a fan at the surface of the water is the easiest method for cooling and is very effective.

Edit: added a link for more info on 316 in marine settings

Click to expand...

thanks michael. The only reason why I would consider a home made chiller method is it also will be my live food doser .

I’ll try out these industrial fans first. I have four of them Comming and they are ip67. If I like the results I will custom mount them in the light canopy and provide the proper ducting .
 
Srt4eric said:
Why don't you just come to this and build one of these?

Canceled- Automation discussion and Reef Nutrition 8/28/2021

[Edited 8/19] Ok so since those available for the new date (8/28) are not planning to make the feeder fridge, our plan is to change this event to another idea @Scott Sweet had- He has set up a bunch of automations on his system (canopy, feeding, water changes, top off, testing, trace elements...
www.bareefers.org
Click to expand...
Who says I’m not.
 
TurboReef said:
I want to make a do it yourself chiller of sorts. I ordered four Noctua 140mm NF-A14 Industrial 24v fans.

my plan is to pump water through a closed loop system and have a fan blow on a heat sink.

my first choice was copper but it’s incredibly toxic to inverts.

is aluminum safe ? The heatsink would have to be something they conducts heat very well. I can use pex or really anything else for the rest.

I may also do some version of this using a mini fridge and some sort of heatsink in the fridge to
Maximize cooling.
Click to expand...
The simple fan on heatsink will not work.
Key to cooling the tank with a fan is EVAPORATIVE cooling.
As water transitions from a liquid to a gas, that phase change removes a LOT of thermal energy from the tank.
About 8,700 BTUs for every gallon evaporated.
That really helps cool the tank.

If you simply blow a fan over a heat sink with liquid inside a pipe, there is no evaporation, so it simply slowly drives the tank
water temperature toward the temperature of the air.
If the air is < 80, that helps, but you probably do not have a problem in the first place.
If the air is > 80, it makes it worse.

Running a pipe inside a mini fridge would work.
But it is unclear why that would be better or simpler than buying a normal chiller.
 
rygh said:
The simple fan on heatsink will not work.
Key to cooling the tank with a fan is EVAPORATIVE cooling.
As water transitions from a liquid to a gas, that phase change removes a LOT of thermal energy from the tank.
About 8,700 BTUs for every gallon evaporated.
That really helps cool the tank.

If you simply blow a fan over a heat sink with liquid inside a pipe, there is no evaporation, so it simply slowly drives the tank
water temperature toward the temperature of the air.
If the air is < 80, that helps, but you probably do not have a problem in the first place.
If the air is > 80, it makes it worse.

Running a pipe inside a mini fridge would work.
But it is unclear why that would be better or simpler than buying a normal chiller.
Click to expand...
www.ck12.org

Specific Heat and Phase Change ( Read ) | Physics

Students will learn big questions concerning our environment like why San Francisco is almost always at the same temperature year round whereas Iowa's temperature fluctuates wildly throughout the year. Students will also learn to solve problems involving specific heat and phase change.
www.ck12.org www.ck12.org

Flashbacks to undergrad chemistry!
 
Well, if you're assisting the fresh food DIY workshop you might want to consider adding a plastic coil of some sort attached to the fridge where warm water goes in and cooled water goes out; of course you need a way to control flow as water temperature rises beyond the set point. Perhaps a peristaltic pump to prevent continuous flow.
 
thesassyindian said:
One option you could investigate, is to use a peltier cooler.
Which in essence, would be a mini fridge.
Click to expand...
I ran one of those when I had a smaller 50G tank. Worked so-so.
I think it was icecap. No longer being built.

A normal sized mini-fridge uses a compressor to pump heat, which is a lot more energy efficient.
Only the really tiny mini-fridges (usually labeled as car coolers and such) use a peltier.
 
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