Modify the Freezer?

[HighRising]

put one end of a tube (copper,rubber ok) through a hole in the side of the fridge/freezer coil the tube around a bit, pull the end out the other end. cycle water through tube and nute tub, it will cool the water more efficiently as it continually flows through the tubes, have the nute tub outside of the fridge/freezer. means you can also use the freezer to freeze ur chicken nuggets as well. and because its continually flowing it won't freeze the liquid, make the coil inside the freezer shorter if the oldput is too cold!

this is an idea i'm thinking about doin.

 

Very nifty Idea WF, something so simplistic yet so elegant.

 

2 Comments I wanted to make though.

 

1. Would you be better using metal as your tubing? Rubber would insulate rather than conduct temprature I think...

Dependant on the type of rubber, you would also make the tube "brittle" by having such extreme swings of temprature.

 

2. Dependant on what temp the freezer would set to, you may find you have an "ice" build-up through the tube over time. I'd be very careful to maintain my temps at 0 or 1 celcius to lower any chance of ice bloking the tube. (Either that or flush the tube daily with hot/warm water).

 

Anyway yeah, as WDC said I'm going to just be using frozen bottles of soft-drink for my temp-management

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

For sure, you would want to use copper piping. PVC/Rubber would insulate it too much I think.

 

You could get a new oil or transmission cooler from supercheap, place that in the freezer and pipe it up, and use that as a little anti-heater, if you had the res. water constantly being pumped through it you wouldn't have too many probs with icing up I wouldn't have thought.

 

http://www.performancestylingcentre.com.au/engine/permacoool%20oil%20cooler%20kit.jpg

Edited October 5, 2005 by HighRising

[Luke Skywalker]

If the copper degraded in the salty water of a nutrient solution you may find that the plants could be overdosed on copper... which isn't fun.

 

But yeah, I've heard of people doing this before, and said it worked a charm. The issues of keeping the temps at just the right level would probably be a hit and miss affair and just sheer time and effort getting it to work just right.

 

It could work really well, but I reckon that a couple of 2L coke bottles could do the trick just as well, frozen in the freezer and then exchanged daily, keeping an eye on temps all the while. You might have to increase or decrease the volume or number of the frozen bottles depending on how much cooling effect you needed, or have to maintain.

 

Another easy way to ensure the temps stay within a good range is to insulate your growing trays somehow. Most NFT and other channels are white, (excluding Turbo Tanks, which for some stupid reason are black ) which helps to start with, but you could likely increase the insulation by wrapping the channels sides and base, or even the top with holes cut out, with something like astrofoil, or bubblewrap, to provide a layer of air insulation. GreenStuff, which is a kind of polythene insulation like pink batts only safe to handle, would be a good idea, but you may have to use a fair amount of tape and cut/tear it into sections easily attached to the root growing area. That would provide some insulation against heat.

 

And after all this, you don't have to keep temps rigid at 20. You have a bit of leeway either side, and the ideal is somewhere between 20-23. If temps get much over 25, the oxgen holding capacity of the solution drops like a rock, as well as eventually cooking the roots. Get much below 15, and the shock of the cold water certainly doesn't help, as well as slowing down metabolic processes.

 

Good luck with the fridge idea, as I said before I've heard of some growers using this exact method, and I'd love to see someone produce a "how to" on that, it could work really well for our growing brothers and sisters in the hotter areas of australia, or when the summer rocks up in even southern oz the temps can be a little hard to control too.

 

Keep us updated.

[wildflower]

Wouldn't it take just as much energy to freeze them bottles? everyday? copper would be better at dispersing heat, but we don't want it that cold anyway. so the rubber tubing could be fine. The longer the tube is coiled up the longer water has time to cool, factor in the flow aswell (maybe a slower pump?), you wouldn't want the rate of flow to be too fast - duno.

I got this idea we i saw some houses that have solar water heaters (you see em in the top end).

I duno, definately thinking about doing this though, but was more thinking of passing it through a fridge (not a freezer).

Another Idea i've just thought of is doing away with the pump, looping the pipe at both ends - filling with water (anti freeze?), and running it through a freezer? with the outside part submerged in the nutes - copper would be better for this.

[Gush]

I am thinking of using a pump, but having the tube in the freezer set so all fluid drains out when pump is off, this way it could be easily controlled. Any moisture that would gather and freeze on the inside of pipe would quickly melt, once 20deg fluid was running over it...... :scratchin

[Gush]

Well I found someone who has successfully converted a Box Freezer into a Water Chiller. As suspected the thermostat needs to be replaced, and a timer of 5 minutes also needs to be installed so the compressor cant stop and start, causing an "over current" condition.

Apart from that its just making sure its water tight. He used non-toxic silicon on the seams, would this be ok for hydro?

[Frazz]

Sounds good Gush , a worthwhile project. :thumbsup

reckon that silicon would be ok once it's cured, they use it on aeroponic setups/ connections, rainwater tanks etc.

[jackfrost]

hey bro,

 

very easy way to fix ya problem is 2 hook both ya freeer and pump on to a fan thermostate with probe $120.oo from any hydro shop, job done.

 

Jack

[Tom]

Make sure that the framework of the freezer and the floor will be able to handle the weight of the water.