DIY Inexpensive Chiller

An aquarium chiller used on eBay would be good too. You can find 1hp units pretty cheap and most will run as low as 0c

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walked in on a neighbor who was building a super critical CO2 rig about a year ago, just as he was dissecting a $100 Wally World window AC unit to make a chiller. I knew it was fairly simple but seeing it done was helpful.

if you just happen to have a refrigerant recovery pump and vacuum pump lying around, you can even pull the refrigerant out, mod the plumbing, and recharge with the refrigerant you pulled on step one…rather than risk losing the refrigerant and having to go buy more.

Edit: I guess you could upgrade to R600 or R290 if you have that on hand :wink:

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I’ve got a few old ac units and dehumidifiers not in use. I was going to build a DIY chiller out of one. The first one I poped open has a bunch of rust. Should I move on to the next one, or try to clean up as much rust as possible and use it?

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You could at least salvage sum stuff from it @blackie.guess it depends on its final purpose…

We should start learning to make cascade systems with 134a, and a stage of bbq propane. Where’s all the hvac engineers at? I have a few cascading systems… maybe I’ll post pix of the guts…

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I was planning on making a glycol chiller for a 5l rotovap, hopefully using stuff I already have on hand. Looks like the cooler I have is 45 liter capacity.

I’d be interested in trying to make something that can get down to really cold temperatures at some point in the future.

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in case you missed this thread…

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A couple of tips from years of making ac glycol chillers for reef aquariums and overclocking pc’s.

Use the biggest ac you have on hand. Dehueys operate under a different criteria than raw heat removal. They work ok and better than a freezer refrigeration system but they are typically lower btu rating than comparable amperage window units.

Use a cooler as the reservoir to help keep the heat load down. Insulate the tubing lines to your roto condenser. 8000 btu is roughly equivalent to a 1hp chiller this was taken from a beer forum but there are quite a few variables at at play here that make it not so comparable. There’s a thread on here with more in depth information on building glycol chillers

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That looks like a bent coil is that the outdoor unit of a central ac?

I did see that thread. The fluid is more expensive than I thought it would be, that why I am wondering about using the rusty one. I should probably check all the ones I have and pick the best one…not the first one I pop open. Hopefully they aren’t all that rusty.

Was Lucky rusty?

It’s a portable ac unit. I was hoping to use the 6” vent so I could exhaust hot air in the summer.

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@Rowan build

Glycol chiller with dry ice assist reservoir

More diy chiller info

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Yeah that will work fine. drop the cold side in a reservoir, fill rese with automotive glycol, recirculate.

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Got a make and model number?

Any way you could post more detailed instructions, I’ve never really worked with taking apart AC’s or other HVAC gear, worked with lots of other stuff though. This looks like you might know how to do it from start to finish

Are you just looking to use a window unit to make a chiller?

If so, it’s pretty easy and there’s a ton of information already out there.

Google diy ac chiller and there’s tons of vids and walk throughs already.

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i have been, its fairly vague like these instructions

Dunno what to tell you bud, if you need instructions on how to take screws out and bend copper pipe I can’t help ya.

With your shit attitude, good luck getting help.

Edit: it literally took me 15 minutes to build mine. You’re an absolute moron if you need help with this.

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have you looked at
Suggestions for diy glycol chiller fluid? (posted upthread) or Chiller Hack (DIY)

followed all the relevant links in those two?

if you need a better write up, you could always pay someone to create one.

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I just posted pics and an explanation of my build. The idea is simply get the radiator part of an air conditioner to sit inside some kind of container with fluid. How big is up to you, design a build around that.

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maybe check out @Eastcoaststrange’s recent write up…

here are two methods to find that thread 1 & 2

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