This is a chiller I made with a window air conditioner. The temperature of the liquid in the reservoir after about an hour of running time is about -32C, at an ambient of about 20C and without load. After about 3 hours under load the temperature of the coolant is about -26C.
A/C unit: Sears Kenmore 5300 BTU (with remote control), modified as follows: Removed the plastic face and louvers. Removed the evaporator fan. Mounted the controls on the side of the unit. Placed the end of the temperature probe underneath the condenser. Attached rubber feet to the bottom of the unit, which raised it about three inches, to allow the evaporator to be placed down into the reservoir. Painted the housing red. Put a blue cold cathode inside the housing. Cut away some of the plastic inside the unit around the evaporator to give me some space to bend tubes and move the evaporator. Carefully bent the tubing to the evaporator to allow me to pull the evaporator about three inches forward, for placement in the reservoir.
Reservoir: Rubbermaid 13.2 qt slim cooler, modified as follows: Removed lid. Cut hinges off lid and cooler. Mounted ½ inch ID brass couplings through lid, sealed with 2-part epoxy. Filled interior of lid with expandable foam. Drilled hole and inserted thermometer through lid. Cut away small piece from back of reservoir to allow placement of evaporator in reservoir, and placed evaporator in reservoir. Trimmed this piece down to make space for the evaporator tubing, glued the piece back into place using expandable foam, and sealed with silicone. Attached clearflex tubing to brass fittings on inside of lid with hose clamps. Placed weather-stripping along lip of reservoir. Filled reservoir with coolant. Tightened lid down with cargo straps.
Coolant: Slightly less than 1/2 distilled water, slightly more than 1/2 denatured alcohol, and a few cups of antifreeze.
Tubing: ½ inch ID Tygon tubing, attached with hose clamps.
Pump: Danner Mag Supreme, model 3. The pump was disassembled, and reassembled with Devcon 250 used to seal all potential leaks. Devcon 250 was layered on the outside of the pump impeller housing to further prevent leaks and cracking.
Waterblocks: Swiftech cpu and gpu waterblocks. Each waterblock was disassembled. The base plate and block housing were sealed with Devcon 250. The plastic barbs were removed and replaced with ½ inch ID brass barbs, which were glued in place with Devcon 250.
Devcon 250 is an industrial adhesive. Its operating temperature is from -67F to 250F. It is not affected by high and low pH’s, and has a strength of 3,200 psi, according to the product datasheet. I found this stuff at J & M Industrial Supply online.
The total cost for this chiller was about $375.
This is as far as I have gone with this project. I have some new hardware which is taking up my free time (and giving me better fps in Oblivion).
A/C unit: Sears Kenmore 5300 BTU (with remote control), modified as follows: Removed the plastic face and louvers. Removed the evaporator fan. Mounted the controls on the side of the unit. Placed the end of the temperature probe underneath the condenser. Attached rubber feet to the bottom of the unit, which raised it about three inches, to allow the evaporator to be placed down into the reservoir. Painted the housing red. Put a blue cold cathode inside the housing. Cut away some of the plastic inside the unit around the evaporator to give me some space to bend tubes and move the evaporator. Carefully bent the tubing to the evaporator to allow me to pull the evaporator about three inches forward, for placement in the reservoir.
Reservoir: Rubbermaid 13.2 qt slim cooler, modified as follows: Removed lid. Cut hinges off lid and cooler. Mounted ½ inch ID brass couplings through lid, sealed with 2-part epoxy. Filled interior of lid with expandable foam. Drilled hole and inserted thermometer through lid. Cut away small piece from back of reservoir to allow placement of evaporator in reservoir, and placed evaporator in reservoir. Trimmed this piece down to make space for the evaporator tubing, glued the piece back into place using expandable foam, and sealed with silicone. Attached clearflex tubing to brass fittings on inside of lid with hose clamps. Placed weather-stripping along lip of reservoir. Filled reservoir with coolant. Tightened lid down with cargo straps.
Coolant: Slightly less than 1/2 distilled water, slightly more than 1/2 denatured alcohol, and a few cups of antifreeze.
Tubing: ½ inch ID Tygon tubing, attached with hose clamps.
Pump: Danner Mag Supreme, model 3. The pump was disassembled, and reassembled with Devcon 250 used to seal all potential leaks. Devcon 250 was layered on the outside of the pump impeller housing to further prevent leaks and cracking.
Waterblocks: Swiftech cpu and gpu waterblocks. Each waterblock was disassembled. The base plate and block housing were sealed with Devcon 250. The plastic barbs were removed and replaced with ½ inch ID brass barbs, which were glued in place with Devcon 250.
Devcon 250 is an industrial adhesive. Its operating temperature is from -67F to 250F. It is not affected by high and low pH’s, and has a strength of 3,200 psi, according to the product datasheet. I found this stuff at J & M Industrial Supply online.
The total cost for this chiller was about $375.
This is as far as I have gone with this project. I have some new hardware which is taking up my free time (and giving me better fps in Oblivion).
Nice to see ya over here.
