Cooling Water

Anything cooling/condenser related.

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no drink firewater
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Joined: Fri Feb 28, 2014 6:06 am

Cooling Water

Post by no drink firewater »

I use home built water chillers for my condenser water.
Here is the small one; it will keep up with about 1500 - 1800 watts.
It was constructed from a commercial building control air drier, not exactly being run within design parameters, but the expansion valve is not of the thermostatic type and I am utilizing a "newer" refrigerant gas.
littlechiller.jpg
Here is the larger chiller, it is an 11,000 btu walk-in cooler/freezer condensing unit, fitted with a home made evaporator, tube-in-tube, about 20 feet.
It will keep up with the 4500 watt element.
bigchiller1.jpg
bigchiller2.jpg
If you do the math, you find that 11,000 = 3.2 kw. So how does an 11,000 btu chiller keep up with a 4.5 kw element? Refrigeration compressors are rated at an evaporator temperature, the "colder" the evaporator, the lower the rating. That, and a volume of water to buffer the temperature rise will allow the process to be run without overheating before it is finished. Of course, I don't run 4500 watts during the cuts.
My chilled water pump is a little small at about one gpm, but so far, so good. I try to keep my LWT about 45F with about 10F delta T across the condenser.
The water in the volume tank (styrofoam ice chest) will rise 5F or so on a hard strip.
pounsfos
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Re: Cooling Water

Post by pounsfos »

that's a thing of hard beauty

it should work fine

you will be surprised at how hot water can get and still condense the vapours
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