The $15 Poor Mans Nano Chiller By C-BuZz

wow pretty cool chillier bro i wonder what kind of design i couldd do with say a 5g bucket for my 65g it get pretty hot during the summer here in the vally i think i would go with the stainless coil just so the system wouldnt work against its self

 

cool diy project! any thoughts on how you will control the temp yet? Commercial temp controller or any other cool diy project? (just the look of circuitry diagrams was intimidating to me haha;D)

Using stainless steel directly attached to the Peltier could improve effectiveness indeed. I suppose you can even directly attach it to the tank as well. Personally i am not that willing to put any metals in my system though, even if its stainless steel.
How about using an acylic rod instead? (bent into shape ofc). I would assume the higher density as opposed to vinyl tubing could improve the heat transfer. Then again i dont know how these two materials compare in terms of heat conductivity.

 

DIY $4 thermal controller right here which I'm going to have a crack at:

The Heatsink Guide - All about PC cooling

Cfour

 

When it gets hot here I've been tossing those "ice gel packs" in my sump. I think hooking a few of these peltiers together and popping the cold side in my sump might just do the trick

 

I have done lots of work with thermal dynamics and while the heat transfer inst as good as a metal to material (water) contact it should work good actually. I have a Stain LESS probe for my chart plotter sealed in a PVC pipe and while the swings in temp aren't recorded instantly as it would be normally, heat transfer is still effective and on point with a submerged glass thermometer.

 

Great DIY build man...it's great that people try to find less expensive alternatives to things that usually cost hundreds Appreciate the work my friend!

 

The transfer is actually better than I expected. I have spent coutless hours building/testing refrigerated phase change systems using a similar principal (frozen tub of water with tubes running through) so I know the transfer would be acceptable.

The water does spend a bit of time in the chiller before exiting back into the tank as the pump is not very strong. It's noticably cooler to touch after the water exits the chiller.

I can confidently say that this chiller will be able to adequatly maintain my 3Gal Nano tank in 104F ambients.

For larger tanks, the principal is there. With 2 or 3, mabye 4 peltier devices in series would make for one kickass/cheap chiller ;D

I must say though, this 68w Peltier which is rated at 15v/8A is only running on 12V computer power supply, so it's not running at 100% capacity. The hot side heatsink does get very hot to touch, so a larger peltier (>100w) would definately need a bigass heatsink to cool it adequately.

C-BuZz