I posted this in another forum a while back and I haven't built it yet....so this is all theory....but i think it's a great way to get a chiller and save 500-600 bucks doing it
1. get a lot of 3/8 to 1/2 tubeing - like 50 -100 feet
2.get a small pond pump or small return pump - like one designed for sumps
3. get a small "apartment" or "bar" refridgerator - -saw a 2 foot by 2 foot one at lowes for 89.00 bucks
4. a can of great stuff expanding foam and or a tube of silicon
drill a couple 1 inch holes in the side of the fridge......make sure you don't drill through any coolant lines or electrical stuff
run the tubeing in loose coils in the fridge
put the pump in the sump or in the tank if you don't have a sump
plug in the fridge.................plug in the pump
you are now pumping water from the tank through the coils in the fridge back to the tank
If the water is to cold........take some of the coils out of the fridge......this will make the exposure time shorter and the water won't cool off as much
if the water is to warm ...make more coild in the fridge....again this will make the exposure time longer and the water will cool more.....
you have the temp controller in the fridge as well to play with and a ball valve could be added to the tubeing to slow or speed up the water as well......
if you have room buy a little bigger fridge and keep you frozen food right by the tank and a beverage of choice to drink while watching your babies too !!!!!!
I plan on building one someday but any one who joins in my madness and builds one please post and let us know if my idiocy works.......lol
I love this idea! If you have a fish room it would be perfect. Keep your food in there....and chill the tank at the same time you should pitch that to one of these companies!
Sounds like a great idea. Would you need to keep the temp of the house constant, or could you regulate this thing with some sort of valve/thermostat?
PS: Hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha......I just got banned from a fascist forum of whose name I won't reveal publicly. I really am impressed how this forum works without a moderator. At least ,if there is one, he/she's not a control freak.
and they do have temp controllers for chillers and heaters... it would work just as well on the fridge... but... if the fridge has a freezer, it will make a mess as the freezer will need to defrost everytime the fridge turns off...
oh and i'm sorry to hear that peter... this is the weakest fish forum i visit... the people are cool... but that doesn't make it less fail/aids...
I don't know if those little fridges have temp controls, probably do, but I wonder if an air conditioning unit wouldn't also work?
If you're talking about this forum I like it. Something about the way it's set up, the absence of any moderating fascism, and the people here make it good for me. It's sped up a lot in the last few months too.
the fridge i saw had a temp controll on it...i don't know about a mess or not...i've got one in my office and it's been running for three yrs....i don't see a difference in cans of soda or coils of tubeing as far as makeing a mess????? the freezer part is very very small ....it even came with miniture ice cube trays its so small - -but as i stated...it seems like a logical contraption .....but i haven't built one
might i ask what the statement "fail/aids" means Gumbii?
