DIY chiller?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I've been researching building a wort chiller for my home brewing [wort = unfermented beer] as you need to crash cool it as fast as possible after boiling it. 15 metre lengths of 12mm copper pipe used in refrigeration are fairly easy to get hold of, and it doesn't take much to curl it into a coil that could be immersed in a container or oil (or something that won't freeze) to chill your tank water. Whether the copper would affect your fish I'm not sure. Here's a pic, if you google "DIY wort chiller" I'm sure you'll find instructions.

3761-WortChiller001.jpg


You may want a thermostat to control it though, depending on the fish you're keeping and their temperature tolerances.
 
What are the water pipes in your house made of? I certainly wouldn't use it for a sw tank.

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Well... what temps are you trying to run. The pressures are pretty much the same on R12 as they are on 134A do unless your trying to run the condenser into a tank that needs heat you'll be struggling to get the condenser pressures down to acceptable levels.

Drew

NO GOOD DEED SHALL GO UNPUNISHED!
 
Sounds like an interesting project.
But if u only need to drop a couple degrees, just use a fan on top of the tank blowing in. You can easily drop 3° to 5° .
Then because of evaporation, just top off with cool water.
This works for me

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Those temps are a bit to high if you ask me for your application I think you may have more success buying a compressed air dryer and applying it to your application. Just my 2 cents.

Drew

NO GOOD DEED SHALL GO UNPUNISHED!
 
Not a good day on the heating issues of the tank.
While i was at work today I got a text from my wife saying my lima shovelnose had died. when i got home and opened the stand of the tank to pull the shovelnose out I got hit with a wall of heat. I checked the temps in the tank and it was up to 98 degrees!
There was no air conditioning coming through the ac vent, I unclogged the vent and I now have ac going to the tank again but I had one casualty so far and I am just hoping for no more.

Yes,I do plan on doing a waterchange tonight.
 
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