Swamp Cooler "huh yea sure" NOT!!!

[just-a-sip]

well this summer has been the hottest of the last 3 that ive been running and the first that ive used my electric flute, a few weeks ago i ran into issues cooling my water so like many here i went with a bigger container...

well my 70 gal container trying to keep my flute in full reflux failed after only 2 hours of running. (30 min reflux... take off fores, 30 min reflux take off product)

so back to the drawing board, ah go the swamp cooler rout you say? got it!

built the holy bear (Wacabi) rig exactly as he did with the same fan and packing (cost $35 USD)... well after 2.5 hours with again 2 30 min full reflux sessions before product, i am now once again out of cooling water. its exactly 150 degrees in my reservoir and 103 in my garage. well during my run i thought it was getting toward some tails so i put it in full reflux, and only 3 min into reflux and vapor is just straight bypassing my condenser.

this has been the wost run for me ever. i blew my amp meter (had to bypass that) in my controller, and now i cant keep anything cool. im at a loss as to what to do now.

i can try a bigger fan... like say 50 CFMs or something but with it as hot as it is in my garage (no windows or external doors) i don't think that would work. I never seem to have any problems in the winter so i guess i only have a few more months before ill be set till next season but between now and then im at sort of a loss

im not exactly asking for advice as i know the answers are going to be "try the bigger fan, use a radiator in line as well", some novices will advise "Ice or changing the water during the run" (eeeek 70 gallon change). i can try all sorts of ghetto evaporation systems like towels or some sorts but i was hoping something cleaner like the swamp cooler.

anyway any thoughts feel free to sling em but mostly im just venting as this ahs been a trying run. i find it funny been doing this for 3 years and using the flute for almost 1 year and i thought it was smooth sailing with just experimenting on my mashes and washes ... but i guess i was wrong all sorts of issues

[ga flatwoods]

Yep, always happens just because you thought you had it all figured out! I just think I would get me a radiator and build a box for it and a fan plumbed with wuick disconnects as a "seasonal" piece of equipment. I use municipal water myself.
GA Flatwoods

[just-a-sip]

Yep, always happens just because you thought you had it all figured out! I just think I would get me a radiator and build a box for it and a fan plumbed with wuick disconnects as a "seasonal" piece of equipment. I use municipal water myself.
GA Flatwoods

yea im on Craigslist as we speak looking for an old radiator, just hate the idea of having a loud fan running over my music but i guess its probably my next venture.

[Mazriam]

Ice? I use ice, and it works out fine.

If you want to go a radiator route, check this out...it's roughly 1.5 foot square

http://koolance.com/index.php?route=pro ... ath=54_129" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[ga flatwoods]

I use the radiator off of a 74 Vw Beetle.
Oops! Wrong thread for that comment! Lol
Ga

[Prairiepiss]

103 in the shop. The last thing I would be thinking of is running a still. You would be lucky to find me doing it if it was 90 out.

[just-a-sip]

Ice? I use ice, and it works out fine.

If you want to go a radiator route, check this out...it's roughly 1.5 foot square

http://koolance.com/index.php?route=pro ... ath=54_129" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

first it depends on how your using ice ( hope you have done that research as to not shock cool)
second ice wont work for a flute, im throwing 4500W at this thing for a few hours. ice would be warm water within 15 min.

but i like the radiator link. Im thinking cheaper but if the one i get works i may come back to that one.

[just-a-sip]

103 in the shop. The last thing I would be thinking of is running a still. You would be lucky to find me doing it if it was 90 out.

your not lying but my garage was 87*f at 8am and after running the boiler for 2 hours it rises quick without any real ventilation. its just a 2 car attached garage with no external doors or windows, so its an oven. its great in the winter but in the summer i sweat my ass off. and unless i only run in the winter i have no choice.

[ga flatwoods]

Just a sip,
If it is that tight you should maybe consider a whirley bird or fan vent for the entire room. Someone be found you passed out one day, hopefully not a fireman! Ever get a headache or sore throat after distilling? May be why.
GA

[just-a-sip]

Just a sip,
If it is that tight you should maybe consider a whirley bird or fan vent for the entire room. Someone be found you passed out one day, hopefully not a fireman! Ever get a headache or sore throat after distilling? May be why.
GA

now dont get me wrong i crack the garage door adn get a tinny bit of breeze but not enough to combat the heat (as it rises we know) as long as im sitting in my rocker typing on here and watching the rig. i feel just fine. a slight glisten on my brow. but the minute i start getting up and trying to combat a super hot reservoir by changing water or tampering with that blasted swamp cooler i start to sweat a bit. im used to the heat myself but my water doesn't stand a chance

and its also only like that for the months of july and august. all the other months it real comfortable so my only issue is the water

[S-Cackalacky]

Maybe until you get a more permanent solution - run a garden hose to the bottom of your tank with an overflow tube attached near the top and just run fresh water to it now and then to get the temp down. If you only need a solution for times of very hot weather and you're normally happy with the way it works, why go for some big noisy honkin' solution that you may only occasionally need?

Just sayin',
S-C

[woodshed]

Aquarium chiller and if you have the room a bigger recirc tank. Mine is 300 gallons which you can often get for free from your water district as they receive treatment chemicals in them and frequently just discard. Even without a chiller and at 80 degrees F room temp throughout the length of a 4 hour run only get a 3 degree rise. My pump flips the tank every hour.

[LWTCS]

103 in the shop. The last thing I would be thinking of is running a still. You would be lucky to find me doing it if it was 90 out.

your not lying but my garage was 87*f at 8am and after running the boiler for 2 hours it rises quick without any real ventilation. its just a 2 car attached garage with no external doors or windows, so its an oven. its great in the winter but in the summer i sweat my ass off. and unless i only run in the winter i have no choice.

Welcome to my world.

[heartcut]

Any way to plumb the swamp cooler (and radiator) outside? As the swamp cooler's evaporation saturates the air the efficiency goes way down. You're trying to put all that heat in the garage, send it outside.

[pfshine]

+1 heartcut. I got sme six inch flex duct and ran it up and out.

[ChairLawyer]

$25 & free shipping. Mine works great. Just an option.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Silla-Cooli ... 2a2fc1e5b5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[Sungy]

Your issues are all the same ones I have had.

1. You have an electric set up so insulate your boiler to prevent that big ol metal boiler from heating up your garage air. Remember your swamp cooler uses the air from your room to cool the water.Your cooler will only cool the water to 5 or 10 degrees above the air temp.

2. Get yourself some of that flexible drier venting pipe and attach it to your cooler intake air and another to the outlet air and run both of these under the garage door on seperate sides of door. This way you will be able to feed your cooler with a stable air temp going in and get that hot wet air out of you garage. This way your garage air temp will be stable and more comfortable for you. Better yet is to install roof vent on the garage roof and run the pipes to the roof vent or install dryer vents through the wall. No nosy neighbors to wonder what is going on with the pipes under the door. I find my cooling tower works best in winter as the humidity affects the amount of water that can be evaporated. The drier the air the better it works. eg. In winter I run my water 1 or 2 degrees above the air temp. Because of the humidity in summer my water is 5 degrees above air temp. Still good for a flute run of 5 hours. In summer I vent out doors and in winter I vent into my furnace to help humidity my home.

I have not got proper numbers for a swamp cooler but the principals are the same.

[just-a-sip]

thanks for all the advice guys, i may see about insulating the boiler as it was a plan for the future anyway, as for the ventilation the wife wont allow any roof or wall vents added, so the only option would be out the front door, although this is not a bad idea ill have to see what it looks like from the neighbors point of view (no unwanted attention). on the other hand though im getting into home brewing and soon they will see me in there with a beer rig, so anything out of the ordinary and they may just assume im working on beer. so we will see when that happens.

on the other side of things i searched to the end of the internet and back last night and i think i may have come up with a way to keep the water at a much more reasonable temperature. ill need to find a few parts on the Craigslist, so im going to keep it to myself until i get a chance to see if it works. if it does i will be sharing for all to use.

[heartcut]

$25 & free shipping. Mine works great. Just an option.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Silla-Cooli ... 2a2fc1e5b5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Be sure to use an anti-corrosive additive in your cooling water with those aluminum tubes.

[toast860]

this works good with ice in the middle

[just-a-sip]

this works good with ice in the middle

i cant exactly tell if that is a flake stand or what, but i assure you if i cant keep 70 gal cool during a 4 hour run... then just adding some bottles of ice aint gonna do it. like i said i think i may have the solution i just cant share until i know it works and that may take a week or two of searching for parts

[toast860]

its just a coil in the middle of a pvc pipe. I drink a lot of mt dew and reuse the bottle. I freeze them and take them out the freezer as needed( help conserve energy in the freezer ) but I put a gauge in the water bucket and watch it . when it hits 80 degrees I throw 2 bottles in the water. let it melt a little then cut it out. leave a nice cylinder that fits in the middle of a coil. when I used it a lot i was using a 5gal bucket for my water . in a 4 hour run i kept it pretty steady... i just make the outflow run thru the coil it cools down while it runs thru the coil by a lot. now i just use a big Rubbermaid thing... if u use one just make sure u duct tape the outside to keep it from flexing to much and breaking when u empty it ..

[Shae]

$25 & free shipping. Mine works great. Just an option.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Silla-Cooli ... 2a2fc1e5b5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I'm thinking about getting this and rigging it to a box fan. However, I don't know anything about radiators. I can tell that the two ports on the left are for fluid circulation, and I assume the one in the upper right would normally connect to the reservoir. My question is, since the water is running from the reservoir to the condenser, to this cooler, then back to the reservoir, that reservoir port needs to be closed off. How is that done? Also, what kind of connections are needed to connect the hoses to a radiator like this? Would I just need hose clamps, or is there something that screws into the radiator to which the hoses would be clamped?

Thanks for the advice.

Also, what kind of additive is this? Will it be safe running through my SS condenser jacket?

$25 & free shipping. Mine works great. Just an option.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-Silla-Cooli ... 2a2fc1e5b5" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Be sure to use an anti-corrosive additive in your cooling water with those aluminum tubes.

[BentJar]

I have been running my radiator cooling system all this summer without a hitch. It cools the water just fine for as long as I want to run the still. Stripping runs or long spirit runs, it dont care. First, I got a fair size radiator that was damaged in shipping(broken tab).The radiator holds about 2 gal.
Then got a dishwasher pump that fits the lower hose connection just perfect with a short hose and 2 clamps.
Next i laid a 20 IN. cheep box fan on it and secured it with cord. Set it up and made 2 legs for it to keep it up right. The pump pulls water from the lower radiator connection feeding up to my valves to send cooling to my upper coil condenser or to my liebig condenser, then right back over to the top radiator connection back into the radiator. The water is hot going in (150F and 90F) and warm coming out.
I have it mounted about chest high on a metal shelf. There is virtually no noise. I run the fan on the lowest speed.
I have a 7.5 gal. SS boiler, gas fired with a 40 inch.high ....2 in. copper boka tube with off-set head and valved reflux return. 2 valves to send cooling to either or both condensers. Spirit runs I dont use the liebig at all.
It is my final solution to cooling water on my stilling set up. Dang, I tried all other methods first. If you set your mind to it, its easy and neat looking too. Just start looking around for the parts like i did untill you have enough to start building

There is no more to it than that.
Bent

[Shae]

I've got the fan already, I just ordered the radiator, and I have hose and clamps. I'm not worried about hooking the radiator to the fan or keeping it upright, I have enough stuff around to make that work. I'm just concerned about anything I might need to connect the hoses to the radiator (other than clamps), and I'm not sure what to use for the radiator reservoir hole. Does it come with a plug? Can I just screw in a PVC plug? If I knew what parts I needed, I'd have them so I'm ready to go when the radiator arrives (Thursday, supposedly). But until it gets here, I'm flying blind unless these kinds of things are standard and someone offers specifics.

I also don't know what kind of additive I need to prevent corrosion...why would plain water corrode an aluminum radiator?

[Richard7]

The main concern is what touches the alcohol vapor and distillate. As far as cooling goes that water can be run in rubber inner-tubes and poured out on cow dung. Or ran through cow dung and poured out on inner-tubes. As long as the cooling water never meets the alcohol!

Just reread my post and decided I have had too much. But standing behind this post!

[pistachio_nut]

Just ordered the radiator, got a fan to attach it. This should help. I don't want to run my hose to the condenser anymore, I wound up using way too much water to cool things off.

[BentJar]

Thats what moved me to do the radiator cooler. I was using city water abd wasting 25 to 30 gal, of water each run at least. Plus I had to keep a barrel
I have a cork placed in the fill hole of the radiator with a thermometer in it. I have to add water every 2 or 3 runs, because of evaperation.
When you cut the thing off, water will drain from the still and overfill the radator so keep it about a quart low. The small tube that was meant to go to the resivor is pluged with a rubber cap.
I had red food dye in the radiator to make sure i had no condenser leak as it would show up in my jar if that was the case but it didnt.

The system is open... and the radiator must be upright for it to work. Hot water in the top and as it falls in the radiator , it cools and is pulled from the lower hose connection back to the still.
I suppose you can rig any type of pump to the lower hose connection but the dishwasher pump just fit perfect and makes little or no noise and pushes the water just right.

[Stainless]

Hi, Just _a _Sip, have you thought about using a few ''Peltier blocks'' they run on 12volts and are used in food and drink coolers for vehicles. You can get them cheap on fleabay.
Cheers
Stainless

[genejonesiii]

Ok also I took and old 28000 btu window unit separated the evaporator and
Put it in the holding tank I put the condenser in another holding vessel so the garage didn't get hot. I can run slowly about four hours them the water gets to 105 my pump is not designed for
That hot of water so I add ice or frozen dew bottles of
I run any longer