Homemade chiller ????????

The only air con gear that is reasonably convertable to a chiller is the through the window type as the controls on a normal air con unit dont let you run them cold enough, they normaly only cool down to 18c.
With most types of ac chillers you need a 6c differential between the coil temperature and the room temperature and as you need 4c to cool venison the coil temp would need to be -2 so the frost stat on the coil would turn the unit off.
The through the window type which we dont see a lot off in this country are not realy an air con unit but a chiller with different control designed to cool outside air at say 25c into inside air at 6c to cool the room to 18c.
So they can be converted, not easily as the new ones are full of printed curcuit boards which would have to be removed and a differant controler fitted.
Does that go any where near to answering your question.
 
Surely aircon equipment is the same as any other refrigeration equipment? The only difference being the temperature range of operation. I looked at an external refrigeration unit for my internal coldroom, but the expense made it not viable. It worked out better to just get a suitable sized 'Monoblock' unit which I could install myself. You can buy or make a cold store to suit your needs and then stick one of these in:
http://www.ebay.co.uk/sch/i.html?_sacat=0&_nkw=monoblock+refrigeration+unit
They offer a good air recirculation effect as well.
MS
 
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No most air con equipment is not the same, they use electronic expansion valves in the condensor unit and the older type used expansion tubes but chillers use capilary expansion valves in the evaporator and only use electronics for de frost and temperature settings.
I fitted a chiller for sikamalc earlier in the year and fitted it with a very basic contoller as a cold store to hang deer in does not require very close temp control as in use on AC equipment.
If you look at the size of an external condensing unit for an AC system and then compare it to the size of a condensing unit for a chiller one is about 4 times bigger than the other because of the cubic area each has to cool.
I supose you could convert one but you would have to throw most af the AC system away.
 
Most who are looking for a cheap fridge to hang small amounts of deer/boar use a old drinks chiller and take out the shelves. I have seen one and it works well.
 
My first refrigeration unit was an aircon system adapted to run on R22
It was a great idea at the time and worked brilliantly
Taking the temp of my walk-in fridge which was a 8x8x7
Brought it down to 3* in about half hour
Problem was when it broke down after 3 years of trouble free running
No one was able to get hold of R22 to regas it
I think at the time Keith gave me some advice about it
But in the end I gave it away and went with a new unit that was easy to work on with parts readily available
Like i said Good idea at the time and cheap to build/convert
The new one I have is more efficient but tends to break down a lot more
Just keep an eye on any local butchers/grocers/flower shops that may be closing down or on eBay
May be the off chance you get a good deal on a working fridge unit going cheap
 
Hi There is a company in the states called coolbot they can supply a unit with two probes which clip into the aircon unit and takes control allowing the unit to cool down to chiller temperatures, they will supply the unit with a uk power supply, they also state that the unit will work with through window or split a/c units and they say it works very well with the LG brand of units, look up coolbot, hope this helps. cheers Geoff
 
I have just read about ten write ups about the coolbot and it seams to work on through window units which is what I said wer easily converted (and it works on LG units) which are crap, in the last 10 years I have changed more compressors on LG units than any other make.
The new inverter units would not exept the Coolbot because they work on digital technology.
 
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I buy old freezers and put a batten between the lid and frame turn on to low setting and cover gap with old mosquito net.
Not the best but chills meat down doesnt freeze
buys you time on warmer days to get work done before processing meat.
freezers are cheap as chips esp ones with doggy lids
hope this helps
 
Hi Sikadog I spoke to the director of coolbot who stated that they work fine with split a/c units, from what i could gather they have two probes, one fits between the plates of the radiator, (for want of a better word,) the other tapes to the sensor on the front of the unit, this probe applies a small amount of heat and fools the unit in to thinking it has not cooled enough and keeps the unit running longer, he also said that it works with any unit digital or analogue providing the front sensor has a plastic cover, it wont work if they are metal coated, as you can see from my discription i am not a refridgeration engineer
so i am only repeating what he said, cheers Geoff

http://storeitcold.com/acsizechart.php
 
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Geoffrey
thanks for the imformation but I would like to see a write up by someone not connected to coolbot before I would buy one.
How much are they by the way.
It always worries me when people quote BTU's as the only units that are quoted like that in the UK are cheap and nasty.
 
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I buy old freezers and put a batten between the lid and frame turn on to low setting and cover gap with old mosquito net.
Not the best but chills meat down doesnt freeze
buys you time on warmer days to get work done before processing meat.
freezers are cheap as chips esp ones with doggy lids
hope this helps

I think you can buy a temp sensor to fit to the freezer that will cut the power when it gets to a certain temperature. Stops it freezing up and I think it can be set at what you want to turn on and off.
 
Danfoss make a capillary thermostat temp control with a knob on the front from -30 to +30 you just cut the live wire to the compressor and wire in the thermostat and put the end of the capillary into the fridge or freezer.
 
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