cooling tank info

[Hill]

just wondering if you would need to have an ibc under shade, looking at putting one at the side of my house and it is in the sun all day.

[bayshine]

Mines in the sun mate and can get over 30 C in summer , so some shade wouldn't hurt :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[EziTasting]

Hah! If you get some shade cloth over it that'll go a fair bit to reducing the effects of the sun. Then, when it's time to use it, you add ice to the water ... Summer time I'd suspect be the only time you'd need to do that.

I live in Port Hedland and, like you, will be using an IBC, but I will need to use ice because it gets a little warmer up here than in Perth. :D

[Hill]

Thanks guys, I'm lm looking and running the water through a spare plate chiller in a ice bucket, it should bring the temp to where I need but will look at shade cloth over the top as well

[Sam.]

I wonder if an IBC would handle being buried? Or if the weight would crack it :think:

[EziTasting]

I wonder if an IBC would handle being buried? Or if the weight would crack it :think:

Interesting question... I know they stack them 3 to 4 high, fully loaded... By that says little about the side inwards pressure! Could be like it is with car Windows, hit them top down (vertical) and the are strong as but it them side-on (horizontal) and the cave in easily... I've not dug one in as yet.

Other issue would be the top only has 2 brace-bars so you would need cover that up because it is very easy to cave-in the plastic bladder! We used to clean them and dispose of them a few years back...

[scythe]

You could probably dig a big hole and put one in there but probably not cover it with a ton of dirt.
Why do you want to burry and IBC?

Just so that it does not take up room?
Keep temp low?

My idea would be to excavate a nice deep and wide hole to fit an IBC, reinforce the sides of your hole, drop your IBC into the hole, fill it and drop your pump in, then put a nice thick bit of marine ply on top to cover the hole.
Extra credit if you put a bench over the top so you dont somehow accidentally fall in.

Manually digging out a cubic meter of dirt is not my idea of fun so borrow a little excavator if you can.

[warramungas]

Manually digging out a cubic meter of dirt is not my idea of fun so borrow a little excavator if you can.

Was Gunna say, good idea but would be a bitch to dig without machinery.

[the Doctor]

I once used an IBC which had a burlap/canvas blanket over it...we would wet the blanket to create an evaporative cooler (Coolgardie cooler) it worked fine. was only running a 4 inch plated off it...struggled a bit on heatwave days ..but did the job.
Doc

[Hill]

thanks Doc, ill look at some shade as well but my plan was to have a 5 plate cooling block inside just before the still in an ice bath, I'm hoping this should work ok.

[Sam.]

Burying would keep it cool but yeah it would be outside the realm for most people.

Putting a little lean to over it for shade should make a signicant difference :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[scythe]

A sheet or 2 of ply wood will give you some good shade and thermal protection (just plop it on top), especially if you paint the wood white to reflect the sunlight.

[Doubleuj]

Over thinking things abit are we? From the stigs calculator it would take around 26hrs of full summer midday sun to heat 1000L of water from 25 deg. to 40 deg.

image.jpg

So, unless you live somewhere that gets 26 hrs of sun every day I think you'll be ok :laughing-rolling: 8-}

[1 2many]

Over thinking things abit are we? From the stigs calculator it would take around 26hrs of full summer midday sun to heat 1000L of water from 25 deg. to 40 deg.

image.jpg

So, unless you live somewhere that gets 26 hrs of sun every day I think you'll be ok :laughing-rolling: 8-}

It will heat up in a few hours with the additional hot output from the still...this refers to passive heat I think.... My experience is that in summer an IBC can reach temperatures of 40 degrees in a few hours when you combine the gradual rise due to environment with the hot water from the cooling system... I have tried a heat exchange plate in an ice slurry before the return to the cooling tank...but found it useless after 1/2 hour or so...It was a 1000 litre tank with a large 6 foot wine heat exchange plate. But it struggled to keep up... I now think that the best idea is two reservoirs one for the line out cool water and one for the line in hot water ...the tanks can be interconnected to allow the cooling water to slowly re-integrate with the cooler water in the line out tank.
Doc

[scythe]

I doubt the sun is only 650watts.
But i get the point your making, the shade is more to protect the plastic that holds the water as even UV stabilised plastic still gets brittle over time.
But if you could use sub 30°C cooling water you would wouldnt you

[Doubleuj]

Over thinking things abit are we? From the stigs calculator it would take around 26hrs of full summer midday sun to heat 1000L of water from 25 deg. to 40 deg.

image.jpg

So, unless you live somewhere that gets 26 hrs of sun every day I think you'll be ok :laughing-rolling: 8-}[/quote

It will heat up in a few hours with the additional hot output from the still...this refers to passive heat I think.... My experience is that in summer an IBC can reach temperatures of 40 degrees in a few hours when you combine the gradual rise due to environment with the hot water from the cooling system... I have tried a heat exchange plate in an ice slurry before the return to the cooling tank...but found it useless after 1/2 hour or so...It was a 1000 litre tank with a large 6 foot wine heat exchange plate. But it struggled to keep up... I now think that the best idea is two reservoirs one for the line out cool water and one for the line in hot water ...the tanks can be interconnected to allow the cooling water to slowly re-integrate with the cooler water in the line out tank.
Doc

Yeap agreed totally, it would be the continual heating from the still that would increase the temp before the suns effect.

[Hill]

Over thinking things abit are we? From the stigs calculator it would take around 26hrs of full summer midday sun to heat 1000L of water from 25 deg. to 40 deg.

image.jpg

So, unless you live somewhere that gets 26 hrs of sun every day I think you'll be ok :laughing-rolling: 8-}[/quote

It will heat up in a few hours with the additional hot output from the still...this refers to passive heat I think.... My experience is that in summer an IBC can reach temperatures of 40 degrees in a few hours when you combine the gradual rise due to environment with the hot water from the cooling system... I have tried a heat exchange plate in an ice slurry before the return to the cooling tank...but found it useless after 1/2 hour or so...It was a 1000 litre tank with a large 6 foot wine heat exchange plate. But it struggled to keep up... I now think that the best idea is two reservoirs one for the line out cool water and one for the line in hot water ...the tanks can be interconnected to allow the cooling water to slowly re-integrate with the cooler water in the line out tank.
Doc

Just wondering doc was the reason it didn't work well because the ice wouldn't last that long? my plan was to have a line in block and a line out block bringing the temp down both ways and the ice bath was only a temp solution I planned to have them sitting in my cool room with a small tank of glycol recirculating through both.

[Doubleuj]

I doubt the sun is only 650watts.
But i get the point your making, the shade is more to protect the plastic that holds the water as even UV stabilised plastic still gets brittle over time.
But if you could use sub 30°C cooling water you would wouldnt you

Just did a quick google search admittedly, says the sun is about 600-650watts per square metre after it enters the atmosphere. Gotta love google

[Psykamaholik]

I'm going to be implementing some fan/radiator type cooling for my recirculated water soon (fingers crossed for next week) using a 200L barrel. I'll post some results in here along with some pics for those interested.

Basically after the water has been through the still it will pass through a cooling radiator I re-appropriated from a water fountain/bubbler with a 200mm computer fan for assistance.

The plan is to monitor:
- cooling water going into the still
- cooling water out of the still
- cooling water after radiator

I have enough temperature sensors to watch 2 more points if there are any requests?

[the Doctor]

Over thinking things abit are we? From the stigs calculator it would take around 26hrs of full summer midday sun to heat 1000L of water from 25 deg. to 40 deg.

image.jpg

So, unless you live somewhere that gets 26 hrs of sun every day I think you'll be ok :laughing-rolling: 8-}[/quote

It will heat up in a few hours with the additional hot output from the still...this refers to passive heat I think.... My experience is that in summer an IBC can reach temperatures of 40 degrees in a few hours when you combine the gradual rise due to environment with the hot water from the cooling system... I have tried a heat exchange plate in an ice slurry before the return to the cooling tank...but found it useless after 1/2 hour or so...It was a 1000 litre tank with a large 6 foot wine heat exchange plate. But it struggled to keep up... I now think that the best idea is two reservoirs one for the line out cool water and one for the line in hot water ...the tanks can be interconnected to allow the cooling water to slowly re-integrate with the cooler water in the line out tank.
Doc

Just wondering doc was the reason it didn't work well because the ice wouldn't last that long? my plan was to have a line in block and a line out block bringing the temp down both ways and the ice bath was only a temp solution I planned to have them sitting in my cool room with a small tank of glycol recirculating through both.

Definitely ate through the ice...and we have quite a big Ice machine...but no chance of keeping up...I like the idea of some sort of radiator...It does make sense. For us we have decided that water mass is the answer and so we are putting another 25000litres of tankage in to assist the current 13000 litres...the cold will come from the 25000 tank and the hot return will go into the smaller tank...they will have a 2 inch hose for slow equalisation..... I think that should do it to cover the three stills.
Doc