I had been contemplating building some sort of water chiller out of a minifridge. After a bit of research, it became clear to me that this was not feasible. I eventually tried just putting the air pumps in the minifridge with a bunch of water jugs in the there to retain the cold temps. It just injects cool air right into the rez and you get around issues of insulation with poly hose and contamination issues with copper pipe. Just stick your pumps right into the freezer part. It worked for me. Try it for yourself. My res is only 2 gallons, fyi.
Possible solution for water temps in hydro
- Thread starter nsaneone
- Start date
thehappyguy
Member
great idea, how did you get the hoses out while keeping the door closed?
this is a truly creative cooling solution. i`m curious though, why a water-cooling would not be feasible?
and whether there any gases generated inside of the fridges that might affect the plants/humidity/atmospheric [O2/CO2] levels/light penetration?
i guess i'm just thinking back to all that "fog" that usually comes out of the freezer when you open it initially, which probably is just moisture clouds generated by the meeting of the frozen air and the external humidity...?
very inventive idea, if you posted pics in a tutorial-like fashion, i'd say this would be worthy of that diy link-o-rama list.
and whether there any gases generated inside of the fridges that might affect the plants/humidity/atmospheric [O2/CO2] levels/light penetration?
i guess i'm just thinking back to all that "fog" that usually comes out of the freezer when you open it initially, which probably is just moisture clouds generated by the meeting of the frozen air and the external humidity...?
very inventive idea, if you posted pics in a tutorial-like fashion, i'd say this would be worthy of that diy link-o-rama list.
The problem with building an actual water cooler is that copper pipe will contaminate your water and polyurethane hose is too good of an insulator. That's why you can't do it, unless you want to cram like 75 feet of stainless steel pipe in there, which would almost certainly rival the cost of a commercial unit. The air is not contaminated and the fog you see, as you postulated, is merely condensation. I don't have a camera of any sort, so I can't post pics. Really though, it's just like this: drill a hole in the side of your minifridge (mine sits right next to the cab, so my hole goes through the cab as well). Run your hoses through it, seal it up, fill any void spaces in the fridge with water jugs to retain the cold (since it has a high specific heat). If you still aren't getting the cooling you need, move the pump into the freezer section. I'm sorry I can't post pics of my setup, but maybe someone will give this a try and submit their work (someone with a camera 
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I've build a evaporative cooler for my system, you can find more details in my old grow thread. (link in my sig)
