Freezer to cool recycled water
Posted: Fri May 07, 2021 4:46 pm
[ I’m not sure if this is the correct place to post, or under reflux stills? ]
Happy Friday all. In preparation for tonight’s hack engineering session where I will attempt to setup a water-cooling system (take 3!), I’m hoping to get some input from the brains trust.
I’m planning to upgrade to a Boka soon but in the meantime, I couldn’t resist - I recently purchased a 2nd hand reflux still (Spirit Maker) that was 5min away, cheap and came with a 25-30L boiler plus heaps of other gear. Not ideal, but it’ll have to do for now, and a step up from the airstill.
I’m currently recycling the water through a standard sized wizbin with submersible pump. I quickly discovered that wasn’t sufficient and the water source was lukewarm after about an hour or so in. I then rigged up a hose coil inside a large bucket inserting a big ice brick in the middle of the coil (replaced every ~20-40min with a fresh ice brick). The bucket water was icy cold, but the water within the plastic hose didn’t cool and so it was still running into the wizbin warm. At the next run I replaced the plastic hose with copper coil – that ‘nearly’ got me through the run, but I had to abort a tad early as it eventually ran too hot (again!). But heaps better. I went through about 8 ice bricks tho!
I claimed an old mini-bar fridge that had been collecting dust at the office for 3 years. The idea was to run the copper coil through the freezer. Despite doing as much research as I could on the fridge model and drilling, I struck the refrigerant line on my first drill hole. Oops! Despite some forum posts claiming otherwise, I can confirm that there are sometimes cooling lines running down the side of a fridge (even a mini bar fridge!).
In a stroke of uncanny good luck, I was given a 2nd-hand mini bar freezer yesterday. It’s a cheap Homemaker brand, but it works fine. It has really thick sides and when I powered it up the outer sides were warm. To avoid making the same mistake I’m thinking the safest entry is via the door. Obviously I’ll need flex in my hoses to accommodate for opening/closing the door. If I get it rigged up and working, I’d probably get the cooling system running before turning on the boiler so my water source is ice cold before I even start the run.
So (after that essay!)… any advice on modifying my freezer? Anyone else using a fridge/freezer to cool recycled water? Will it provide a sufficient cooling system?
And should I consider a power controller instead OR as well?
Thanks in advance!
RR
PS: Hope you’re all enjoying the fruits of your labour tonight. I’m running a little dry until I can sort my overheating problem.
** Cha-chink **
Happy Friday all. In preparation for tonight’s hack engineering session where I will attempt to setup a water-cooling system (take 3!), I’m hoping to get some input from the brains trust.
I’m planning to upgrade to a Boka soon but in the meantime, I couldn’t resist - I recently purchased a 2nd hand reflux still (Spirit Maker) that was 5min away, cheap and came with a 25-30L boiler plus heaps of other gear. Not ideal, but it’ll have to do for now, and a step up from the airstill.
I’m currently recycling the water through a standard sized wizbin with submersible pump. I quickly discovered that wasn’t sufficient and the water source was lukewarm after about an hour or so in. I then rigged up a hose coil inside a large bucket inserting a big ice brick in the middle of the coil (replaced every ~20-40min with a fresh ice brick). The bucket water was icy cold, but the water within the plastic hose didn’t cool and so it was still running into the wizbin warm. At the next run I replaced the plastic hose with copper coil – that ‘nearly’ got me through the run, but I had to abort a tad early as it eventually ran too hot (again!). But heaps better. I went through about 8 ice bricks tho!
I claimed an old mini-bar fridge that had been collecting dust at the office for 3 years. The idea was to run the copper coil through the freezer. Despite doing as much research as I could on the fridge model and drilling, I struck the refrigerant line on my first drill hole. Oops! Despite some forum posts claiming otherwise, I can confirm that there are sometimes cooling lines running down the side of a fridge (even a mini bar fridge!).
In a stroke of uncanny good luck, I was given a 2nd-hand mini bar freezer yesterday. It’s a cheap Homemaker brand, but it works fine. It has really thick sides and when I powered it up the outer sides were warm. To avoid making the same mistake I’m thinking the safest entry is via the door. Obviously I’ll need flex in my hoses to accommodate for opening/closing the door. If I get it rigged up and working, I’d probably get the cooling system running before turning on the boiler so my water source is ice cold before I even start the run.
So (after that essay!)… any advice on modifying my freezer? Anyone else using a fridge/freezer to cool recycled water? Will it provide a sufficient cooling system?
And should I consider a power controller instead OR as well?
Thanks in advance!
RR
PS: Hope you’re all enjoying the fruits of your labour tonight. I’m running a little dry until I can sort my overheating problem.
** Cha-chink **