cooling a 50L water tank

[chikoroll_]

cooling a 50L water tank with the stock airconditioner- think it's do-able?
maybe by extending the centre console vents down to the tank to tap plumbing (cool the plumbing to cool the water)?

if you think i'm dreaming, please say so and why it won't work

[baddboy]

I vote dreaming....... sorry

[smileysmoke]

maybe if you had a bubbler setup but would need pressure to push it through the water..
easier to have an esky with ice for your drink... or just have beer

[chikoroll_]

hmm now there's an idea!

fill the tank with beer and ice will just need a large stopper to stop the ice from clogging it

[j-top paj]

cooling the water for what? drinking? just buy a fridge and fil it with beer

[guzzla]

you could maybe fit a refrigeration element and motor setup of sorts but it would chew a fair lump of power and whats the point in washing dishes or your hands with cold water.....

[smileysmoke]

peltier device is what you are looking for
if you wanted to do it look at those cheap 12v cooler/warmers and rip it apart.
use the peltier and heatsink from that and attach it to the side of the tank maybe..?
also a small pump to flow the water would help but could get away without.

[BundyRumandCoke]

I saw an article in a 4wd mag a couple of years ago. A guy had cold water on tap in the cab. He ran the pipework in front of the AC unit in the cab a few times. Had it plumbed through a pump so it was pressurised. The only silly thing was the tap in the middle of the dash.

[physh]

peltier device is what you are looking for
if you wanted to do it look at those cheap 12v cooler/warmers and rip it apart.
use the peltier and heatsink from that and attach it to the side of the tank maybe..?
also a small pump to flow the water would help but could get away without.

I agree with this one, and it's what I want to do.

I want to have two smallish (~10L ea) tanks, have one with a peltier or two on cooling mode, the other with a couple on heat mode.

Best those things do is about 20-30 degrees differential to ambient temps.
Try http://www.oatleyelectronics.com/ or right now on eBay http://cgi.ebay.com.au/Gigantic-62mm-35 ... dZViewItem
That's the biggest one I've seen for sale at about 350 watts @ 12V, so they will be pulling like 30A...
But with 350w of cooling power, if it was 85% efficient that's like 1000 BTU/hr so it'll cool the tank OK if you keep the power to it!

All peltiers are simply heat exchange devices, ie you have one side cooling the other heating, so you need heatsinks to transfer from the peltier device to whatever you're heating/cooling.

With an insulated tank they'd stay cold/warm a long time.

So if it was 30 degrees ambient temp, the cold water would be 0-10 degrees and the hot would be 50-60.

Good mix, coz I can drink coffee at 50 degrees, and I can drink cool water at 10...

Might be an interesting project.


Just gotta work out the power consumption vs cooling/heating capacity.



'Nother option might be to get an Engel/Waeco compressor fridge and run water pipe through it with a tiny water pump in the tank to circulate the water...

And a heat exchanger like the hot water showers to pull heat from the cooling system and push it into the hot water tank...

[chikoroll_]

:O the dreaming vs possible's have evened up

the way i was thinking was a thin pipe (basicly dribble out of the tank) and have the pipe cooled rather than the tank- that way it cools as it comes out, and saves on power because rather than cooling 50L, it's cooling 50mL

[Tojo]

cooling a 50L water tank with the stock airconditioner- think it's do-able?

100% not doable. A stupid idea anyway. Why on earth do you want 50L of cold water?

[smileysmoke]

cooling a 50L water tank with the stock airconditioner- think it's do-able?

100% not doable. A stupid idea anyway. Why on earth do you want 50L of cold water?

ahaha thats a very beneficial comment.. gw mate

chiko has a good idea though a small holder tank would be easier to cool then the total tank..
there was a pimp my ride episode where they put a water dispenser in the door panel classic.

[chikoroll_]

lol because that's the tank size

[Daisy]

lol because that's the tank size

run a surge tank and chilll that instead ...

once you start drinking it... it'll keep fillin up

[shanegtr]

Could always use a small transmission radiator and run water lines to that Insulate the return line to keep it cool(ish)

[HotFourOk]

Could always use a small transmission radiator and run water lines to that Insulate the return line to keep it cool(ish)

And do what with it? Peltier, air con??
If you just pipe it and do nothing it will be at ambient temp.

[Emo]

No point cooling it if it's not going to be well insulated.

[cooter]

it would work but not very efficiently would be bettere off installin a second line from your main and a new h block and uses a coil of stainles wire inside the tank this would be mre efficient u could also install 2 aircon solenoids (found on a lot of trucks for sleeper cabs) so as to direct cooling from cab to tank

[zagan]

can get chillers which cool down fish tanks, they chew up power like no tomorrow but they will cool heaps of water down to 10deg even on a 35+deg day.

they are pretty big but can get small ones maybe 1ft cubed they go bigger.

Pelter is ok, but they won't go cold on a hot day, 30deg day would maybe get you 26 to 28deg water.

I've got one of those $30 "fridge" and on a hot day you can forget about trying to cool anything down with it, also take a while to get cool in the first place.

The cheapest way I could think of would be to run a loop of pipe some where outside the car and the wind rushing by would cool the water, also very little power usage with right pump.

I don't know why you don't just get one of the water chillers/dispenser and simply power that up to the 12/24volt system in the car with an inverter inbetween.

Can't you get a 4wd fridge with a tap on it? when I think about it I'm sure I've seen something somewhere.

[chikoroll_]

lol but i'm a poor apprentice i can't afford fancy stuff, if i can make it, i will

i only have a single battery, so anything power hungry is out of the question

[smileysmoke]

i vote you freeze some water bottles.. and buy a 30 dollar cooler/warmer from dick smith. then as they defrost drink em .
the coolers are fine if you have an ice brick or two in em. just isnt as cool as having running water.

in regards to not keeping something cool in 30+deg.. mine was fine in full sun up at lancelin with bacon and so on in it.. running on 12v kept it frozen (used an ice brick to assist) lasted two days before it was starting to thaw.
so for water it should be sweet

[guerd87]

easy, buy a wrecked waeco with still good internals, or even just buy any denfoss 12v compressor, make it like a fridge, get the evaporator mounted inside the water tank and you could freeze the water if you wanted to, hook up a simple temp cutoff and cutin switch

John

[kirragc]

NO no no
Heres how its done

Get and empty Coke bottle and fill with water now put that in your fridge till cold

Now drink

and repeat.

In the winemaking industry we use copper coil or steel plate elements with chilled brine or ammonia running htrouigh them.
You would have to fix that in your tank and pump it with someithn like a 12V pond pump.

Now if you have a small radiator mounted in a vent wetc you probably could do it.......



but WHY??

[chikoroll_]

"But Why?"

lol thats the opposite way to why i do DIY's- make the object, then think of a use

having water in the esky is annoying... that's where the meat is, and soggy meat is the worst stuff ever (yes, worse than soggy weatbix)...and when it runs out the lid on a jump or hill, it makes a mess, waterbottles take up too much room
watertanks are out of the way, under the car (no, i won't buy one, i will make it, they cost too much), will probably plumb it to beside the doors with a jet nossle for washing off muddy feet, and a tap in the centre console (like a coffee machine dispenser) - i have no use for the centre console at the moment (the roof console takes care of that )

i have 2 of those dicky fridges, they are just a glorified esky, they don't do anything

[guerd87]

as ive posted but noone seems to have taken notice of, the only efficient way to cool 50lt of water, and quick too, is phase change

peltiers at even small wattage's use alot of power, not mentioning a huge peltier trying to cool 50lt, would take hours to cool down
buy denfoss 12v compressor, build it in a little box under your car, in the back of your car and plump the evaportaor into the tank

read up some articles around the net for phase change basics or phase change 101, get a good idea of what needs to be done and you cna use a small, efficent compressor to cool easily

my computer use to run a phase change system, 240v compressor cooling a overclocked CPU to -13c....cooling ambient water is childs play