Dehumidifier Conversion To Chiller

  • Thread starter AverageJoe
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A

AverageJoe

9
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Having to soak coil in CLR to remove rust so I can paint the ends.

Chiller managed temp of 2 separate reservoirs. Worked perfectly.

My DIY tip if you do this is to prime and paint the ends of the coil while it is still nice and clean. As you can see in my photos, the ends are metal and will rust like crazy, thus turning your chiller water a nice rust color and stain anything it happens to touch.

If you want to know details as to how I actually ran the unit, let me know. Purpose of this posting was recommendation to paint the ends of the coil before first use.

FYI. Made a corona box funnel and vented heat out of the room where my tents were.
 
Dehumidifier conversion to chiller
Dehumidifier conversion to chiller 2
Dehumidifier conversion to chiller 3
Dehumidifier conversion to chiller 4
Jack og

Jack og

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So what are we making here??dunno without more details, what size? Gas? Etc etc
 
A

AverageJoe

9
3
Hey Jack.

Instead of purchasing 2 seperate hydroponic reservoir chillers for maintaining proper nutrient temps I converted this dehumidifier into a chiller.

Electrical requirements for hydroponic chillers sold for this purpose (which are expensive) would double my chiller electrical usage and double the heat being generated when running. Store bought chillers run more often as when they shut off, the cold stops being generated and reservoir temps immediately begin to rise causing the chiller to come back on. Remember, my chiller only runs 4 times a day for 15 minutes each run.

My chiller supported 2 reservoirs and only ran 4 times in a 24hr period, drastically reducing electrical usage and heat.

My grow requires 2 separate 15 amp circuits so smart power management is required.

This chiller will also support my 50 gallon RO reservoir in summer months eliminating algie growth.
 
A

AverageJoe

9
3
Jack,

To use this chiller...
I place/submerge the chiller coil seen in the photos into ice chest filled with water. The 2 silver coils you see which are also submerged in that same ice chest are stainless steel coils. Each coil is connected to a water pump submerged in my nutrient reservoirs and controlled by a temperature control unit. When my reservoir temp crept up above a preset target temp, that reservoirs pump would circulate the nutrients through the stainless steel coil, thus cooling my nutrient reservoir.

Each res also had a second pump which feed the plants.

Each res has: 2 water pumps, air pump, temp control unit and aquarium heater. In the winter, chiller is not used very much, so I rely more on the aquarium heater.
 

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