Chillers

[Jamal327]

Hi, I am considering on buying a Aqua Logic 1/3 hp in line chiller to cool my system. The question is that specs say it will only cool the water to 65 degree's farenhiet, is there anyway to make the chiller cool beyond that.

Thanks.

[dicki]

break off the thermostat? charge it with a different gas (the compressor must be compatible to do this) change the valves to increase the pressure change.

remember that value of 65f is probably without load.

dicki

[Flybye]

1/3hp unit will surely do the job, but as dicki said, you will definetly have to do some tweaking on it.

Since it is designed for an aquarium, it may not even have a heat exchanger large enough to do the job.

Did you buy it allready or are you thinking about it?

[Jamal327]

Just looking at it right now I found some other interesting items on ebay also. I'll post the links and tell me which one you think will work best. All I'm planning to cool is the cpu, maybe the northbridge.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=4317630945&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=3832845333&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&rd=1&item=3832743630&ssPageName=STRK:MEWA:IT

BTW: I figure the max wattage I'll need to cool is about 140.


Give me your suggestions :)

[illmatik]

I would get that remcor. The tecumseh compressor on that is capable of a coolant upgrade.

[Flybye]

Well look at that. That Remcor model looks rather familiar ;)

http://www.liquidninjas.com/bbs/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8871

I got lucky and only paid $30 something dollars for the shipping because he only had quoted the shipping cost and not the purchase of the shipping materials.

I got that unit because:
1) It was cheap
2) It's pretty small

I'm probably going to end up painting the case black to match the computer case, and I'll end up putting the computer right on top of it. I love that case because everything will practically fit in it. The res, the pump, the heat exchanger, etc.

Which ever unit you decide to choose, you will have to modify each one.

The aquarium chillers are convenient in one direction because you basically plug them into your water cooling system and you're ready to go. The 1/3hp & 1/4hp compressors are more than capabable of chilling water down to near or at freezing and possibly below. The problem with these units is that you will have to take it apart & modify it in order to be able to get down to those temperatures. Usually they have a digital thermostat/expansion valve controlling the amount of freon in order to be able to reach x temperature.

The Remcor model is convenient in the other direction because it is small, and you can stuff a few things in its case. But as you can see from my thread, you are going to have to build your own type of evaporator/heat exchanger in order to be able to cool down the water efficiently

Either way you go, some type of modification will be required to those units. If you are willing to spend the money that some of those aquarium chillers go for, do a search for computer water chiller or something like that. I came across a website a month ago that modifies the aquarium chillers for a computer WC setup. I think the unit was something like $300-$400.

[Prometheus]

I bought a small AC unit (5080btu) and have it faced into an ice chest where I house my pumps, heater cores, etc. I get frost (freeze-ups) but thats only because of the fact that it hasnt been sealed properly yet, and there has been no silica beeds added inside the chest to soak up the condensation, but my temps are great.

I run my Prescott 3.0 @ 3.9/vcore 1.66 with idle temps of -4c to -6c and load temps go to 28C. I think what you need is something similar to what I have because there is vertually no limit to how cold the chamber will get when the temp sensor is moved to the back of the AC unit, which of course makes it run constantly.

I plan on attempting temps of -20c idle as soon as I can get things closed up and sealed off. In the meantime, Its a little noisy, but stable, and the noise is nothing a good enclosure and insulation wont stop.

Its something to think about anyway. Home Depo had the one I have for $79.99, and I'm sure they wont be hard to find there, or somewhere else with comparable pricing.

If I can help some, let me know, and I'll do what I can.

Peace,
Prometheus