DIY Chiller?

[dlhirst]

Recent knee surgery has had me staring at this thing for the past couple weeks:

DonJoy Iceman Continuous Cold Therapy Unit (http://www.betterbraces.com/donjoy-iceman-cold-therapy-unit)

and it's gotten me thinking...

Has anyone ever made a short term chiller like this? It's really just an Igloo cooler with a fish pump in it. If you use cooler packs instead of ice, I bet you could drop a tank's temp by ten degrees in a hurry. If anything it might drop the temp too quickly. Ice pack "management" could solve that though.

I coulda used one last year - struggling to keep temps down right now as well.

[MizTanks]

I've got one~have it hanging on my HOB Aquafuge~tank temps been 79 all day~cool :)

[MyNemesis]

My friend made a DIY chiller of the same design with a large circular beverage cooler. Wound the tubing all the way around the interior walls, with fittings for the intake, powerhead tube back to the tank, etc. He would fill it with ice and could cool the temperature for a 180 gallon tank about two or three degrees in about 20 minutes. As I recall, it was a google search for DIY chillers that gave us the idea.

[jimsflies]

LOL...I had knee surgery last fall and also have one of those units. The same thought crossed my mind. I used to use a similar product for serving my homebrew out a keg when I visited friend's houses.

You could hook it up to a controller so the pump only operated when the tank got above the set point. It would allow the ice to last longer and have control over the tank temp.

Hope your knee gets better soon Don! :crutches:

[dlhirst]

Yeah, my knee's on the mend. I'll be fishing very soon!

I guess a lot of folks BOUGHT this thing after surgery. I am a cheapskate, so I rented it for the month. About a 1/4 of the cost, but alas, he is taking it back tomorrow.

I do have other coolers though, didn't even THINK of just coiling a ton of tubing in it. That's a great idea. Thanks!

---------- Post added at 10:53 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:52 AM ----------

BTW - I also have two braces that say "DonJoy" on them, and trust me, they are mislabeled...

[jimsflies]

I don't think I was ever asked to rent or own...they just sent me packing with it. Good call on renting!

[rmalone]

Great idea, for a "tough times" chiller, I had considered doing something similar or going all the way to a coil in mini-fridge, with a pump hooked to a controller. But I have such high cooling needs that I bought a 1/4hp JBJ chiller just so I didn't have a constant job or a PITA project. If you need chilling very often I bet you would spend more on ice or nearly the same on re-cooling chill packs. I just run my return through the chiller, I figured no reason to add another pump, and it's heat/electrical consumption.

[larryandlaura]

Sweet idea! We use frozen 20 ounce bottles in the sump! Has always worked!

[MyNemesis]

I am a two liter ice cube user myself, along with a fan on the sump and the fans for the lights. Had the A/C on for the last week, however.