beat the heat for cheap

Just use an all plastic showerhead and a low GPH pump. There are some really cheap showerheads that do not contain metal. The trick is to get the kind that have dozens of small holes and avoid the ones with the fancy spray patterns.
 
The nozzle I use is off a cheap watering can.

I've also looked at an all plastic lawn sprinkler as a nozzle
 
What are those nozzles made from? Stainless wont work because it will rust. The nitrates issue is addressed in two ways - only run the column periodically so it can dry out any living material and change out the column packing periodically.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6258032#post6258032 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by kimoyo
Did any of you look at misting systems? I did a google search and one of the first links was site with poly mist nozzles.
Click to expand...
I would be hesitant to use metal for a nozzle. These nozzles are made of plastic but have a brass filter that is removable. But I'm not sure what the mist is like without the filter. The misting should work also, its used in greenhouses.

-bkiba, I've been working on some improvements, if your interested pm me.
 
This technique is used daily in New Mexico peoples homes. They callem Swamp Coolers there. With the loss that substantial of water, I would think adding a water replacement device would be appropiate. Its a great idea. I just remember one morning waking to my swamp cooler cooling so much and hunidty so High I had fog on the floor. I literally could not see my feet that morning with the fog so thick..
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=6464195#post6464195 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by bkiba
What are those nozzles made from? Stainless wont work because it will rust. The nitrates issue is addressed in two ways - only run the column periodically so it can dry out any living material and change out the column packing periodically.
Click to expand...

The issue with Wet-dry's isnt the bacteria being alive, its that junk gets caught in the bioballs, and the bacteria process it. Killing the bacteria just means that they are going to be the junk next time you turn it on.

That being said, if you've got a fuge with some Chaeto, dont worry about it.
 
Rise and Shine!

Summer is just around the corner people. I've been working on my new design. Here is a crude mock up:

33736coolingtower_2000.GIF


Basically I'm running my tank water through a coil emersed in the column that will cool off. I figure I'll need at least 500GPH of flow to get decent cooling to my tank. I'm figuring on about a 1200W cooling system, that will need to evap around 7 gallons per day to meet all the cooling needs of my system.

Someone suggested I add dessicants and at first I dismissed the idea, but I will play with it as I think it could save the cooler in high humidity.

I've also added a programmable microcontroller and monitoring system for temperature, humidity, and flow rate of fans and pumps.

The new design solves two problems and creates one.
The problems solved are that we can now use metal parts for the pump and the spray nozzle to increase efficiency.
I can also not have to worry about salt spray anymore

Unforunatley there is no free lunch, so the big issue now is heat transfer within the coil.

Still in the early planning stages but I will have something with balls by the time the heat waves come around. If anyone else has done any experimentation please share so we can all beat another summer for cheap!

:D
 
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try taking a look at the Deltec Eco-Chiller, I think moonpod has one, they are basically just a big swamp cooler for the tank.
 
ok I found these I plan on using for spray nozzles. They can also be applied to the old SW evap column I used last summer since they are all plastic. I'm waiting to hear from the vendor on the pressure to run these, but I picked some up at lowes and they work great off an old PH.

http://www.misterlandscaper.com/misters.html
 
Why build more complexity itno the system than you need? Build a box. Inside the box build another box/frame filled with Eheim/fluval filter floss or even those plastic wire scrubbies from the grocery store. You are basically building a swamp cooler with the plastic floss replacing the wood shaving pads. Use one or more fans to blow through this pad. This should be much more efficient than your rubble/bioballs. You could build moisture baffles on the outlet side to recollect the moisture before exhausting. The main problem with this design is it is primarily designed for cooling an air mass and not the water itself. Plastic is not a good thermal conductor so I do not think you will get good heat transfer. Unfortunately, most good conductors are metal which doesn't work to well with sea water. Have you considered the route the nano community is going and using Peltier devices? You could use several of these in a project and even hook them up to a solar panel. Free cooling to a point. :)
 
Yea I realize that plastic is a bad conductor of heat. The main problems with the swamp cooler as you suggest and as I did last summer are the salt spray (loss of salt) and top off. The unit I'm designing now is rather complex with the two water loops, 1 salt and 1 fresh. But I think I can get a good 2000 BTU out of this, even with a high humidity. Right now this is really just become an obsession for me, so there is no talking me out of it.

Again if it doesn't work so well, I've made sure I can back out into the simpler single loop design.

The main problem with the peltiers is (at least from my calculations) you need a good KW of cooling power, that is a lot of those coolers, and it seems like they can draw a good amount of current and it doesn't seem suited to such a large heat pumping application - they are pretty neat though, definatley something to look at in the future or for smaller systems.
 
taggin along! The idea that bkiba has is a great one! Luckily, I work at a machine shop that just happens to have extra titanium pipe and extra inconel pipe laying around. I may be able to scroung some up, get it bent into a coil, and take it home and try this out! Of course, my tank stays relatively cool b/c i have my sump/fuge in the "attic" portion of my house (cape-cod, the tank is upstairs). Right now, in the winter, it cools the tank down pretty well, but in the summer... well, we all know that's a different story! But, I think I may give this cooling tower a shot with the coil on the inside, reducing salt spray and tank evap! We'll see though...
 
A big one :D. I plugged in your numbers (although I don't know your tank dimensions) but for your tank to survive in a 90F room and remain 83F (that is my criteria) you need a good 2KW of cooling.

If your maximum room temperature is stable, say 78F then you only need about 500 - 1000W of cooling.

I haven't finished sizing and all for the unit, but I'm thinking somewhere between a 55G trash can and a tall kitchen trash can for the volume of the tower.
 
I love this thread!! How about a metal tube with fresh water on an evap tank with air tubing coiled around it. Basically metal tubing in a coil with air tubing coiled around it, would that give better transfer to the tank water (in the air tubing) than just running it into the fresh water evap tank?
 
air has about 2 or 3 orders of magnitude less heat capacity than water does. So you need to need to pump atleast 100 times more air volume and water to get the same affect. In my opinion this only magnifies the heat transfer problem of having plastic tubing contact the SW.

What type of metal are you suggesting? Having a seperate evaporative uint as simply and AC unit for the tank is an idea worth considering, I'll have to look into that.
 
air has about 2 or 3 orders of magnitude less heat capacity than water does. So you need to need to pump atleast 100 times more air volume and water to get the same affect. In my opinion this only magnifies the heat transfer problem of having plastic tubing contact the SW.

What type of metal are you suggesting? Having a seperate evaporative uint as simply and AC unit for the tank is an idea worth considering, I'll have to look into that.
 
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