Question about using a compressor to cool my water.....

[DragonFire]

I got a cheap compressor real cheap from one of those small fridges you see at places like Wal-Mart. The part that made up the little freezer is the part that gets cold (forget the tech name). Would it be safe to put this part completly under water? I have tried this already and it works rather well but I notice that the compressor gets rather HOT, is this normal? Is if safe if it runs all the time or should it be turn on and off say every half hour? Would getting a fan to blow on the coils help any??

Any ideas or comments?

 

[cjtune]

It runs underwater???
Anyhow, for a refridgerator the 4 main elements are: compressor>>condenser coils>>expansion valve>>evaporator coils.
Usually compressors are designed to deliver high pressure but not necessarily at high flowrates. Yes, your fridge compressor can be left on 24/7 continuously but does it output the flowrate you need? Most WCs have at least 120gph of flow through the system. If the coiling attached to your compressor is long enough, yes, you can use a fan to blow air on it so that it functions as a radiator.

 

[KILLorBE]

DragonFire (Jun 22, 2001 12:59 p.m.):
The part that made up the little freezer is the part that gets cold (forget the tech name). Would it be safe to put this part completly under water?

Maybe this will answer your question. *NOTE* they used alcohol.

I have tried this already and it works rather well but I notice that the compressor gets rather HOT, is this normal?

Yes that's normal, don't worry bout it. Some friends of me used it for their air brush and had it running for hours....no problems so far.

Would getting a fan to blow on the coils help any??

I don't think that will help much, but would it harm if you try that?

 

[samuknow]

KILLorBE posted the same site I was going to mention.

This looks like quite the setup.

Plus gives you a place to keep a couple cold ones....

 

[DragonFire]

Now that was the kind of website I was looking for but its a little to late.

What I ended up doing was tearing the fridge to peices so all I had was the compressor. Unlike the fridge on that website, my evaporator coils or the freezer part that gets cold is soild metal its not as flexible as what they used.

So your saying it would be 100% safe for the thing to run 24/7? What is the worse that can happen if it fails? It wont blow up or something will it?

At the moment Im using water with some anti-freeze, is there something else that I should use? (That wont costs lots?)