you could piece together a setup that is very righteous for 150-180. I just did. There are many things in this process that can be done to decrease costs, however, many people end up just paying for the ease of setup. There are certain things though that the common man cannot really do.
One is construct a pump, thats a definite pricetag right there. You need to decide if you want to do the low head 20-40 dollar range pumps or the high head 60-80 dollar ones. Thats a generalization, but is ... generally ... true. Low end would be via aqua, L20, L30, Eheim 1046 and 1048, perhaps the 1250. High end would be MCP650, MCP600, Mag 3, D4, or Iwaki.
Another is the block. Unless you are cathar or a handful of the seniors and mods here, you probably have had no experience with hunks of copper in a machine shop. The good news is that blocks are fairly inexpensive for their worth. This, however, is another definite pricetag. DD, Dtek, adn Swiftech make the mainstream blocks. If you are feeling a little funky you could go european (theyre weird
) or even lay down the cash and try to get yourself a cathar block. I'll be jealous, but I think I can get over it.
Other than that... the rest of the parts can be to a large degree extremely non-pricetagish. For instance the third major element, a HC, can even be salvaged for no money at a junkyard, or bought at an autostore for as little as $15. This is much preferred over the $50-$80 "professional" radiators sold for Wc loops; not only is it cheaper, but also heatercores are better performers.
Tubing can be had from Home depot, or bought for relatively little money at USPlastics, McMaster, or in the case of Tygon, DD.
Clamps... fittings, all of these extrema are participants in the 99c bargain ben at home depot, I was there yesterday.
The point is.. if you try you can save up to $100 by doing certain things yourself rather than kitting it up.
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