Another homemade chiller idea.

I just got one of those stand up 5 gallon water coolers for cheap. I'm working out ways to use it to make a chiller.
Can anyone suggest a "safe" metal tubing that could be used to make coils (or ideally a pre-made coil) to put in the reservoir? I think I know that copper is out.
I believe that first I will try using my Repticlear 350 and 1/2 ID vinyl tubing insulated with some styrofoam tubing insulation to pump water from the tank into the cooler reservoir where I will coil it and then return it to the tank to expel what will hopefully be cooler water.
Or... I may have a 4 foot tall paperweight.
Anyone already try this and succeed (or fail)? I've seen a setup where the water was actually pumped through the cooler tank and out the nozzle back to the tank... but I don't like that idea as I don't know what's "in" the cooler.

Hi Mac,

A yard sale find?! I love the yard sales in Florida - one of my favorite past-times!

HERE is a thread that might prove helpful - Good luck!

Kind of a yard sale. We had a few more at work than we are using so I loaned it to myself for this little experiment. If it works the wife will make me buy a new one. This one is sort of a scratch and dent. Cools the water in the cooling tank to 41° F. Hopefully I can use that to my advantage without using a metal coil or siphoning.

I may try a set up like the one in the link you provided if my "closed system" doesn't work. The cooling tank is made of Aluminum and I wasn't sure how this might affect the animals.

Hi Mac, I set up a cooling system using a water cooler that works very well for me. Rather than pumping the water through the system, I use a series of siphons (let gravity do the work). You can see it in the cooling article at the caudata.org site (example 7). Here's the link (don't know if the link will work.

Caudata Culture Articles - Cooling

Hope this helps!

David

Hi David, thanks for sharing ( I can also use the info )

Hi dcnylund,
I would like to try that.... but I'm afraid of what may have been "in" the coolers system (It's ugly). I may go there next if my current plan doesn't work. I know it's inefficient but I feel safer that way.
I set it up today using my Repticlear 350 to pump water through a closed loop thin walled 1/2" tubing that runs into the the cooler reservoir, through 4 loops, and then back out through the end of the tube which I have insulated. I slowed the flow to a trickle hoping that added time in the tubing coils would help overcome the inefficient cold transfer.
I closed all of the lids yesterday (evaporation helps... but I don't seem to like it) and started with a baseline of 73.4°. It's running as of 30 minutes ago... so we shall see.

The goofy set up seems to be working. Temp is down to a pretty steady 68.2°. I may insulate the sides and rear of the tank.
Wonder how the wife would feel if I just coated the outside of the tank with "Great Stuff". :ha: