Cali420hydro
Active Member
Sounds good & good luck.
4 Bucket RDWC (Suggestions encouraged)
- Thread starter FreedomFighter2014
- Start date
Major Blazer
Well-Known Member
I don think a good diy chiller exists. If one does, I missed it. I can tell you that its a waste of your time & money to get distracted on Peltier chillers. I made one, a couple actually, using various heatsinks, fans, and power supplies. They were good for a couple degree drop in temps when I was running an 8 gal system with a submersible pump but with the 12 gal system I have now, they don't have any worthwhile effect at all.
Cali420hydro
Active Member
True,Elemental,Active Aqua chillers r solid as hell & worth every penny.
I've converted a small dehumidifier into a damn good chiller. I still have it for a back up. Got a sweet deal on a Aqua 1/4hp for 200 and put the diy chiller in the closet. I actually swapped it back into a dehumidifier the other day when I was drying some plants.
. Op sweet setup. I've never had good luck with a non submersible pump. I had a sick setup of 8 buckets 1 1/4 pvc with a cooler in the middle of them (4 and 4).
I'm gonna build a 4 bucket setup similar to yours with pvc really soon. I'll try and remember to post a pic here for comparison. I use these fittings on top of the buckets. 1/2x1/2x1/4
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Cali420hydro
Active Member
1/4 hp 4 $200.00 GREAT DEAL!I paid $300.00 4 my 1/4hp Elemental.I've converted a small dehumidifier into a damn good chiller. I still have it for a back up. Got a sweet deal on a Aqua 1/4hp for 200 and put the diy chiller in the closet. I actually swapped it back into a dehumidifier the other day when I was drying some plants.
Op sweet setup. I've never had good luck with a non submersible pump. I had a sick setup of 8 buckets 1 1/4 pvc with a cooler in the middle of them (4 and 4).
I'm gonna build a 4 bucket setup similar to yours with pvc really soon. I'll try and remember to post a pic here for comparison. I use these fittings on top of the buckets. 1/2x1/2x1/4
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Major Blazer
Well-Known Member
So you've been successful with this? No issues with copper poisoning your plants?
Yeah I started getting copper poisoning when I didn't realize the wart chiller was copper. (Whoops) then I bought stainless steel 50ft (I think might be 25 ft) one and didn't have problems. Man that was so long ago I'm trying to picture how I set it up. I beleive I used a decent size cooler had the evaporator dipped about 3/4 of the way in the water and wait for it to get cold. Run the submersible pump from the res through the cold cooler with the wart chiller and then runs to the plants. I was only using a 550 pump and worked fine. The whole setup was kinda bulky but if you have the space id say go for it. I got the dehumidifier for 40 bucks on CL and the SS wart was 48 shipped I believe. It'll definately get you by until you can afford a chiller.
Definitely see what I believe to be root rot on the top of our roots where they come out of the buckets. Maybe it's the pics but I see brown. Maybe that's normal and I admit my last grow had that and I thought it was root rot. My temps never went over 68-70 either. Anyone else have normal browning of roots where they come out the net pots? Also I agree with the diffusers. I use 4in ones but I've thought about upgrading those too
Major Blazer
Well-Known Member
Ok so if I'm understanding you correctly, basically you used the dehumidifier to create an icebox, and used the pump to pass the nutrients through a ss coil and recirculate the nutrients? I had an idea like that bc I've seen dudes on YouTube promote dropping the evaporator into the rez but that is a no-no bc of the copper. Cool man I like it. Th
Cali420hydro
Active Member
I've been told by a Master Grower that Copper will leach into Res & Nutes.
FreedomFighter2014
Well-Known Member
Yea man I have failed many times. PVC is a no go. use all irrigation equipment and hose claps are key. I am using a DIY thermal electric water chiller. did alot of research. Parts on the way; I will post rough draft of plan.I've converted a small dehumidifier into a damn good chiller. I still have it for a back up. Got a sweet deal on a Aqua 1/4hp for 200 and put the diy chiller in the closet. I actually swapped it back into a dehumidifier the other day when I was drying some plants.
Op sweet setup. I've never had good luck with a non submersible pump. I had a sick setup of 8 buckets 1 1/4 pvc with a cooler in the middle of them (4 and 4).
I'm gonna build a 4 bucket setup similar to yours with pvc really soon. I'll try and remember to post a pic here for comparison. I use these fittings on top of the buckets. 1/2x1/2x1/4
FreedomFighter2014
Well-Known Member
I have heard the same about aluminum radiators for PC cooling systems.
FreedomFighter2014
Well-Known Member
Damn bro I just ordered PARTS TO DIY a Peliter chiller.
Major Blazer
Well-Known Member
Well at least none of it is expensive and the project is kinda fun. Which power supply did you get? I tried 3 different power supplies - the best one was using a 280w PC power supply that I had lying around. FWIW, in no case did I run the fans off of the same psu as the peltier module, my buckets were insulated with bubble wrap/foil style Lowes insulation, and I had a submersible pump to recirculate the water. Also heatsink - I used pc heatsinks with pc fans; I wonder how much better/efficient it would have been to run a radiator on the hot side. At that point though, you're still only gonna drop the water a couple of degrees and the cost is creeping up to the price of a good, used chiller. Have fun and good luck either way
That's funny the bulkhead fittings and hoses always leaked on me. And I wanted bigger return lines so pvc was my only choice. The intial setup was kinda expensive since the bulkhead fittings are 13 bucks a piece. I did have some leaks until I got smart and wrapped all the pvc connections with the stuff that you mash together like play doh meant for pvc
Only thing now I'm considering is going 9 buckets in the 5x4.5 area and vegging smaller plants vs 4 buckets vegging longer. Which if that's the case the setup will cost me even more.
FreedomFighter2014
Well-Known Member
The hydro farm rubber gromets work great. I tried using uni seal and PVC and it was nothing but hell. I had a few big leaks. but I tightened the shit out of the hose clamps and ita all good. Only water dripping is the condensation on the bucket from time to time.
Cali420hydro
Active Member
Yup I agree I run Hydrofarm rubber grommets on my systems & no leaks.& the trick to get the Black Hydrofarm tubing or any black tubing you plan on using not to leaks.The 1st thing is to pre cut all your pieces of tubing if it's summer lay that hose out in the sun until it's like a piece of spaghetti then start slipping the hose over the barbed fittings.When the tubing cools down it will contract & I have not had one leak from any fitting to hose connections yet & I don't have to use hose clamps = saves$$$$
All I used is hydrofarm tubing and if by grommets were talking about bulkhead fittings the. I was using them to. Any type of movement of the bucket to adjust would spring a leak. Also main reason was bigger return lines. I'm not sure they have 1 1/4 bulkhead and tubing but I've never seen them.
With pvc I can pick the middle bucket and all four buckets stay attached for easy movement from inside the tent to outside.
But right now I have hydrofarm 6 ebb and flow grow buckets that are using the exact tubing. Lol
Cali420hydro
Active Member
Good 2 go.
Cali420hydro
Active Member
Hydroguard?