DIY Icebox

[Maer]

Anyone looking into sealed grow environment and considering an Icebox by hydroinnovations might consider using a heater core, they go for about $20-$30.

They dont have the fancy shroud but that is only important if you are running it in line with a light. If you want to run it in line with a light some heating vent adapters will go from 4 or 6" to a rectangle and allow you to run it in between two lights.

If you need it for A/C in the room simply pair it with a fan and temperature controller, that way when the room is hot the fan will kick in and blow through the heater core, which has chilled solution from your chiller reservoir running through it.

 

[budlydoright]

I just bought an 7x8" heater core from autozone for 32.00. I ziptied it to the back of my 70 pint dehuey. It now blows out cold air. Between my water cooled lights and the cooler temps coming, I may not need to run my AC at all this winter.

 

[Maer]

I just bought an 7x8" heater core from autozone for 32.00. I ziptied it to the back of my 70 pint dehuey. It now blows out cold air. Between my water cooled lights and the cooler temps coming, I may not need to run my AC at all this winter.

Your welcome!

 

[budlydoright]

Actually did this before I read your brilliant post. Seems great minds think alike!

I have so many water cooled things I want to try. I have built a 1/2hp chiller. I'm looking at doing a compresorless chiller with heatexchangers. It's cold enough outside here in the winter to cool my rig inside. I'll then run my lights, dehuey and an waterchilled air handler off of it. In summer I'll re-route to a chiller.

 

[Maer]

I was thinking the same thing, a full sized auto aluminum radiator and an outdoor rated fan that will cycle when the water temp becomes to high.

 

[Maer]

I started with a $20 heater core that is 6"x7.75". I got a 6" to 10X6 register duct, and a 4" to 6" adapter. I put some thin foam around the inside of the register duct, cut some holes for the hoses, then placed the core in. Then I attached my 4inch 170CFM centrifugal fan and the carbon filter in line.

Here are some pics of my DIY icebox, affectionately named the bazooka:

Here is from inside to the core:

And the top and bottom:

 

[budlydoright]

They have some nice outdoor exchangers on ebay from 12 x 12" up. I'm looking into a shroud and fan. Maybe have a sheet metal shop build me one.

 

[PrairiePoet]

Very cool. I've been thinking on buying one, but now.....

 

[Bassman59]

push-pull double fans. one each side of radiator. just a thought.

 

[Maer]

push-pull double fans. one each side of radiator. just a thought.

If you needed to boost cfms, but the real limiting factor is the surface area of your radiator, so if you need more cooling buy a larger heater core or a full sized radiator.

 

[budlydoright]

The heat exchangers are 3-4" thick and the water flows up and down. The heater core-radiator flows from 1 tank to the other. Anything larger than the dehuey I'm going with one of the heat exchangers for a wood burner.

Plus they're cheap.

 

[budlydoright]

Here's my LG 70 pint watercooled dehumidifier. Now that it blows out cold air, I can really cram it in to the corner. I will likely hang it high to open up more plant space once it proves itself for a week or two.
That's one of the cool things about watercooling. Once you have an ample source of cold water, it's easy and cheap to add watercooling to other devices in your kit.

i tried to cool my space with this! again, we think alike. Unfortunately it couldn't handle the load.

 

[Maer]

The heat exchangers are 3-4" thick and the water flows up and down. The heater core-radiator flows from 1 tank to the other. Anything larger than the dehuey I'm going with one of the heat exchangers for a wood burner.

Plus they're cheap.

How cheap are they? What kind of dimensions? I think a full sized radiator will also have pipes the way you describe. With my application my coolant temp should not change much, so the heater core should stay also at the same temp, so I didn't worry about the way it works, although I did notice that in the pics before I ordered it.

 

[Maer]

That looks cool but I don't like your execution, it looks like you are covering a good bit of one of the heat exchangers? I guess your hoping that the area your cooling is so cool it makes up for the rest?

Now that I see your core I see what you mean, the tanks are divided in half so it flows down one half and up the other. Maybe if you got a bigger core to match the size of the back, or maybe let the heat out and do like me and use a centrifugal fan to drive air thru the core connected to a temp control box. (AIR -4 in my case)

 

[budlydoright]

Took all of 5 minutes to do, already had the outlets on my manifold. Covering up the vents does reduce the area for air movement. I believe having the air come out cold will make up for this as there is no heat buildup around the unit now. Also while much of the rear of the unit is vented only the top half has the heat exchangers. The bottom is all compressor and water collection.

I have been keeping a real close watch on the internal temperatures of the unit, it is actually running cooler now than before. We'll have to see when the system is occupied, how it reacts. It's a whole different situation when a crop is filling 70% of the volume.

Point is, it works great. Last winter, I ran my ac just to remove heat from my dehuey. With this setup, I'm hopefull that I will run my AC much less or not at all.
I can put a much greater load on my chiller in the winter.

 

[Maer]

Nice, pour on the 1000's

 

[budlydoright]

How cheap are they? What kind of dimensions? I full sized radiator will also have pipes the way you describe. With my application my coolant temp should not change much, so the heater core should stay also at the same temp, so I didn't worry about the way it works, although I did notice that in the pics before I ordered it.

Here's an 18X20" that is 3.5" thick and has a 47-120kbtu rating. about 150 shipped. A 22 x 22 is about 200.00. There are also some cool 9X30" aluminum radiators that would be cool to use somewhere to cool something!

 

[Maer]

Bro we could be twins, seem to think alike, I like your previous setups too!

 

[Bassman59]

If you needed to boost cfms, but the real limiting factor is the surface area of your radiator, so if you need more cooling buy a larger heater core or a full sized radiator.

You're not using dual fans in push pull to boost cfms per se. You do this for more cooling via the radiator.

 

[Maer]

One issue with this setup is condensation on the heater core. To solve this I am thinking of a temp actuated solenoid to only activate flow when the fan is on.