DIY Water Cooler

hi thanks for ur reply, i will take a picture of my tank n show u 1st.

I'm technically not inclined, so i hope that if possible i can go up ur hse n u teach me how to make the cooler. I'll buy u a BIG dinner to thank u !

Originally Posted by Exotic_chew

wow.. how big ur tank? pretty neat DIY!
i'm very interested! care to share?

2 ft ,just started out doing . not sure to go into planted or shrimps tank.
cannot affort a chiller that is why DIY this cooler.

[Exotic_chew]

oh.... can take more pictures for us? its plug and play? wow... do update us on the temperature thingy... how about power consumtion?

i'm interested also leh... wanna help me fix too?

very tired everyday top up water...

Originally Posted by Exotic_chew

oh.... can take more pictures for us? its plug and play? wow... do update us on the temperature thingy... how about power consumtion?

i'm interested also leh... wanna help me fix too?

very tired everyday top up water...

morning i take more pic and put in my folder.
give me one week to let you guys know if the temperature hold.
wa if can save many money u know. by the way it is run by only a 120mm fan that can be purchase at any computer shop,i add a fan control see maybe can control the temperature.

Let me guess, you bought one of those PCI slot radiator cooler systems? What exactly is it? You got me tempted to try it out.
It's interesting because it tries to cool water without evaporation, which, to me, is very odd. It seems to defy the laws of thermodynamics.

Originally Posted by charlessito

morning i take more pic and put in my folder.
give me one week to let you guys know if the temperature hold.
wa if can save many money u know. by the way it is run by only a 120mm fan that can be purchase at any computer shop,i add a fan control see maybe can control the temperature.

does the water goes thru any metal part? for eg, the short pipe inside the cooler.

This is not really a good cooling method although it somehow still manage to bring down the temperature slightly..

the more effective way of cooling is either using chiller, if not a fan.. for this setup, the temperature will be even lower if you use a fan.. why fan is more effective than this type of cooler is becuz of evaporation process when the fan blows at the water.. trick to make it effective is to keep the fan as close to the water as possible.. even with a table fan, blowing over the tank, can chill the tank effectively too becuz it takes away heat from lights and introduce evaporation..

this water cooler is already in the market for a long time.. sold as a set with a fan and a radiator that comes with inlet and outlet..

as a matter of fact, the more effective way of using a radiator is not with a fan for planted tanks.. it will be better if you can soak the whole radiator in a cold source like a ice box filled with ice.. I even wanted to buy an intercooler for racing cars back then for this purpose.. even went around hunting around for stainless steel thin piping so I can make a coil to soak in an icebox filled with ice or ice pack.. we have fellows singaporean planters who even converted a mini bar fridge into a tank chiller too.. drilling two holes on the fridge and passing water through coils of piping in the fridge and this effectively chill the tank.. many will ponder why use a fridge when you can simply buy a chiller.. the point is the price for a chiller running on condenser vs the mini bar fridge that is also running on condenser.. those cheaper chiller in the market are actually thermal chiller that runs a similar technology used in computers...

for your setup, you may consider adding on another thermal, it will bring the temperature down further by at least 2 -3 degrees.. but bear in mind that thermal use quite a fair bit of electricity...

nevertheless, good attempt.. the first person from arofanatics that I know of whom use this method..

now that you have already bought this set of cooler, might as well explore the possibility of soaking the radiator in ice box filled with ice packs.. I have tons of ice packs in my fridge waiting for me to try this out, but never get hold of a radiator or a intercooler for racing car in the end for a few reasons..

[QUOTE=mtanec;4609173]
now that you have already bought this set of cooler, might as well explore the possibility of soaking the radiator in ice box filled with ice packs.. QUOTE]

I'm not sure how this is done.
Because we are trying to reduce temperature of the water. Water has a tendency to normalize with the ambient temperature. Passing through a radiator which has a fan blowing on it at ambient temperature does not seem to reduce the temperature that much... UNLESS, and it's a big UNLESS, the blowing of the air cools the metal of the radiator. Not sure if heat can be lost by conduction. Heat is not lost through evaporation.

But the ice packs would work. In fact, if you put the ice packs on the radiator, they would 'melt extra fast', due to the quick conduction of the heat. But once they have completed melting, the temperature would normalize faster than normal.

Originally Posted by Sunfire

Heat is not lost through evaporation.

try getting yourself wet and stand under the fan.. as water evaporate, especially with wind blowing, it takes the heat away from the surface it is on..