I prefer any method that works as a 'space heater' for my fermenting fridge, a brew-belt did that until the thing burnt out, then I used a fish-tank heater immersed in a bottle of water, but now I use a water-bed heat pad, combined with a cheap digital controller they all work much the same, and involve no contact with the beer or fermentor.
Heat Pad Or Heat Belt
- Thread starter BitterBulldog
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Just finished building a new heater for my fermentor fridge, using a 50W 8.2 Ohm resistor, which I will be running off 12 Vac. As can be seen in the attached pic I have mounted it on a heatsink to help radiate the heat. By my calculation this should give me around 17.5 W of heat.
The cost of this heater is $4.35 for the resistor and heatsing was around $9.00. I already had a monster transformer lying around. I intend to mount the ransformer next to the refridgerator motor and run the 12 V wiring up through the drain pipe. The Mains side of the transformer is plugged into the heating side of my STC 1000 controller. I am much happier messing around with 12 V inside my fridge than 230V.
Any 12 V transformer / power supply can be used for this, dc or ac. Care needs to be take to make sure the STC 1000 is switching the mains / ac side of a dc powersupply as the switching relay will not last too long switching dc.
:icon_chickcheers:
The cost of this heater is $4.35 for the resistor and heatsing was around $9.00. I already had a monster transformer lying around. I intend to mount the ransformer next to the refridgerator motor and run the 12 V wiring up through the drain pipe. The Mains side of the transformer is plugged into the heating side of my STC 1000 controller. I am much happier messing around with 12 V inside my fridge than 230V.
Any 12 V transformer / power supply can be used for this, dc or ac. Care needs to be take to make sure the STC 1000 is switching the mains / ac side of a dc powersupply as the switching relay will not last too long switching dc.
:icon_chickcheers:
tomdavis
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Wow.. top marks on the geekery, gambit. Looks great!
I am currently using a light globe, which is sitting inside a terracotta plant pot which stores the heat pretty well, but I feel it would be better with some air circulation in my fridge.
I was thinking about using an old PC power supply, like this to generate some warmth
as it comes complete with in-built fan, anyone else had any luck trying this?
I am currently using a light globe, which is sitting inside a terracotta plant pot which stores the heat pretty well, but I feel it would be better with some air circulation in my fridge.
I was thinking about using an old PC power supply, like this to generate some warmth
as it comes complete with in-built fan, anyone else had any luck trying this?
Spork
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Great thinking Carlos - I have one of those sitting around gathering dust... Not sure how much heat they will generate under no load however.
@ Gambit - +9000 for geeky top marks on making your own space heater.
I'm clearly not thinking far enough outside the square.
Anywho, I went with the reptile heating cord thingy. Will be super simple to thread it through the drain hole I reckon, and very adjustable
Anyone want to buy a 320w fridge heater? AKA computer PSU?.
@ Gambit - +9000 for geeky top marks on making your own space heater.
I'm clearly not thinking far enough outside the square.
Anywho, I went with the reptile heating cord thingy. Will be super simple to thread it through the drain hole I reckon, and very adjustable
Anyone want to buy a 320w fridge heater? AKA computer PSU?.
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