d3vour3r
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- 20/12/10
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Made this beauty on the weekend with my mate.
basically scored about 8 meters of 1/2" copper pipe for free so we always wanted to create some kind of chiller with it. figured it wasnt enough to make an immersion chiller so thought we could get more use out of it by turning it into a counter flow chiller.
went to bunnings and picked up some copper T-pieces with 1 end 1/2" and the other 2 larger (18mm i think). had to get the dremel out and grind down the 1/2" opening because there was a lip in there stopping the pipe from being push through.
also got some 18mm diameter garden hose, which is the bigger type (about 15m of it). got some decent hose clamps as well.
was a real prick pushing the pipe through the hose. once we got about 5.5m of copper into the hose it wouldnt budge so thats what we decided to go with.
only problem is i soldered using a cheap soldering iron where the 1/2" pipe comes through on the T-piece and it isnt very sealed and leaks a bit. got a mate with a proper butane soldering torch who we'll get to blast it when we see him next, so that should seal it nicely there.
we tested it by boiling 5L of water, then straight after taking it off the stove, syphoned it through. It came out at 38 degrees from 95 degrees which we were happy with. We reckon if we gave it another pass through the chiller it should come out at close to pitch temp. This might be improved if we used 3/8" pipe because the flow would be restricted and heat transfer might be more effective, but like i said, scored the pipe for free so meh.
We are pretty stoked with how it turn out though. Let me know what you think, and ask any questions if u have any. Sorry only got pic from when it was finished. should have taken pics throughout so it is more descriptive.
basically scored about 8 meters of 1/2" copper pipe for free so we always wanted to create some kind of chiller with it. figured it wasnt enough to make an immersion chiller so thought we could get more use out of it by turning it into a counter flow chiller.
went to bunnings and picked up some copper T-pieces with 1 end 1/2" and the other 2 larger (18mm i think). had to get the dremel out and grind down the 1/2" opening because there was a lip in there stopping the pipe from being push through.
also got some 18mm diameter garden hose, which is the bigger type (about 15m of it). got some decent hose clamps as well.
was a real prick pushing the pipe through the hose. once we got about 5.5m of copper into the hose it wouldnt budge so thats what we decided to go with.
only problem is i soldered using a cheap soldering iron where the 1/2" pipe comes through on the T-piece and it isnt very sealed and leaks a bit. got a mate with a proper butane soldering torch who we'll get to blast it when we see him next, so that should seal it nicely there.
we tested it by boiling 5L of water, then straight after taking it off the stove, syphoned it through. It came out at 38 degrees from 95 degrees which we were happy with. We reckon if we gave it another pass through the chiller it should come out at close to pitch temp. This might be improved if we used 3/8" pipe because the flow would be restricted and heat transfer might be more effective, but like i said, scored the pipe for free so meh.
We are pretty stoked with how it turn out though. Let me know what you think, and ask any questions if u have any. Sorry only got pic from when it was finished. should have taken pics throughout so it is more descriptive.
