Suitable material for constructing Ethanol container needed

[Ro]

Hi,

I've stripped out the guts of a chest freezer, and I want to place the resulting mess of piping into ethanol/water. I need to construct a container to do hold all this, with the goal of piping the resultant cold mixture to my computer.

I thought I could just use acrylic, since it's easy to work with, but This site (http://www.chemcastacrylic.com/chemris.htm) along with others seem to suggest the ethanol won't get along with it. It's no use having a container that doesn't contain!

What about polycarbonate? I think it might go 'not so clear' after a while (due to U.V. discoloration). And it's not quite as available, or as cheap (I'm guessing).

Next thought was glass - I believe it's got a high chemical resistance. But I don't look forward to working with it (drilling holes / cutting(!!!) and what not).

Oh, and I obviously have the idealistic notion that I want to see my ethanol water solution, hence the lack of mentioning any opaque materials. But I guess I'll have to now...

Comments and recommedations appreciated!

Thanks,
Ro

[Albigger]

can't really help you on the materials - sorry, hopefully someone else can.

but maybe you can 'cheat' a little and make the sides/bottom opaque and just have the top out of acrylic, that way the ethanol solution wouldn't come in contact with it (as long as you didn't fill it to the brim or move it).

[ssjwizard]

you can use poly carbonate for sure. there are alot of plastic types that are clear that you can use to store ethanol.

[Ro]

Hi,

I think I'll go for the polycarbonate. According to This site (http://www.cloudtops.com/polycarbonate_physical_properties.htm) (which I'm not edorsing, along with any other sites I give) claims that Ethanol will be ok, but Methanol won't, not that I'd ever use that stuff. I just thought that was odd.

On a slightly different topic, the pipes from the compressor are made of steel, which is badly effected by the water (rust) of my ethanol water solution. So I paint them with anti-rust paint. But the ethanol of my ethanol water solution will take care of the paint! Am I right? I think I'll have to encase the pipes in copper or something!

Thanks,
Ro

[kms]

hiya not sure about the paint but if you can insulate your chiller res its well worth it, i can point you to a thread of my 1st chiller, i couldnt get below zero then i just added a little insulation & got it to -3.3C. No point having ambient warming your water as well as your chip :)