Electric aquarium chillers?

[good4whatAlesU]

Hi Guys, anyone have any experience with electric aquarium chillers? I'd like to control fermentation temp better but don't really have space for an extra stand alone fridge.

The aquarium chillers online start around $90 and claim to cool 20L down to around 10 C . Intention would be to cool a water bath to desired temp and ferment in that.

Might even be good for a wort chiller? Producing cool water to run through a coil?

Anyway, just trying to think outside the square..

Here's an ebay example:

http://m.ebay.com/itm/Aquarium-fish-tank-Mini-water-chiller-water-cooler-Crystal-shrimp-110V-240V-/222377496112?nav=SEARCH

 

[good4whatAlesU]

Sorry guys I should have looked harder - it's been done:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=544561

Mods. please delete thread if desired. Thanks in advance.

 

[Bribie G]

Thanks for the link. Took me back to my childhood when we used Fahrenheit.
Yanks, hey.

 

[peteru]

Are the aquarium chillers using a Peltier device? If you were going to use a solution based on a Peltier device, you should be able to get both cooling and heating, kind of like a reverse cycle aircon.

I have a friend who built a beer cellar that he cools with a Peltier device. Needs to have two fairly powerful fans, one on each side, to keep the device efficient. It's still very slow to change the temperature, but he does have about 10 cases of beer in there.

By the time you account for efficiency loss due to the water bath surrounding the fermenter and the amount of heat that active fermentation generates, you might be fighting a losing battle unless you have some excellent insulation. Think polystyrene box.

 

[good4whatAlesU]

Yep that's the one. Many of the aquarium chillers also heat and have a built in thermostat and temp. controller.

They come in all sorts of sizes for different volume tanks, mostly quite expensive unfortunately. I'm keeping my eye out for a second hand one.