DIY WATER CHILLER

[Desert_Flower]

Ok so if you dont want to spend a ton of money on a chiller... and worry about venting more heat this is very easy to set up. This chills 30 gallons. Been running now for 12 hrs.. stuck 6 bottles in at 10pm .. removed at 530am and replaced with 2 fresh bottles.. should last 3-4 hrs. If you can put 4 at a time you should be good for roughly 6 hrs.. not perfect but better than constantly opening your reservoir and placing frozen bottles in there like every hr or two.

 

[LuckySeedCo]

I've seen people convert a cheap dehumidifier into a chiller by placing the condenser (i think) in water. Seemed to work alright for them and dont have to keep changing bottles.

 

[Hellbent60]

Ok so if you dont want to spend a ton of money on a chiller... and worry about venting more heat this is very easy to set up. This chills 30 gallons. Been running now for 12 hrs.. stuck 6 bottles in at 10pm .. removed at 530am and replaced with 2 fresh bottles.. should last 3-4 hrs. If you can put 4 at a time you should be good for roughly 6 hrs.. not perfect but better than constantly opening your reservoir and placing frozen bottles in there like every hr or two.

A much easier way to keep your RDWC water temps down. Buy a used water cooler off kijiji or facebook market place ( $15- $35 ), one that you would normally put a 5 gal jug in the top. Now tear it apart so that you are left with the compressor and the cooling coil. Some of the cooling coils are coated in a protective plastic and some are not. If the one you have doesn't have a protective coating on it just wrap a plastic bag around the coil so you don't get any oxidation in your nutrients. Place the coil directly into your nutrient reservoir. Buy a device that will monitor your water temp. I use the Inkbird ITC-308 ($50). Plug the compressor into the cooling plug on the device and set your water temps at desired temp. I set mine at 67 F and have the cooling compressor kick on a +2 deg.

 

[Smokey0418]

I've seen people convert a cheap dehumidifier into a chiller by placing the condenser (i think) in water. Seemed to work alright for them and dont have to keep changing bottles.

Glycol and water works best through a coil and it works very well.
I use an old air conditioner as dehumidifier is a bit flimsy and doesn’t have as much give to it so I broke mine bending the coil out.