cooling system

[Discus]

Originally Posted by NatalieS

Correct me if I'm wrong, but it's not usual for air conditioners to run at such low temps. Even the aircon unit I have in the server room at work won't run any lower than 16 C. I'm guessing Piotr needs the temps to run lower than that.

Not sure what temperature he'd like to run at, but indeed, most aircons don't go very low. Of course, if you change/bypass the thermostat, you can likely go outside this temperature range, although you may have problems with icing. Thinking about it, all the aircons around here only go down to 18, including the one in my office (where the servers also sit, my poor ears!).

[NatalieS]

Originally Posted by Discus

Not sure what temperature he'd like to run at, but indeed, most aircons don't go very low. Of course, if you change/bypass the thermostat, you can likely go outside this temperature range, although you may have problems with icing. Thinking about it, all the aircons around here only go down to 18, including the one in my office (where the servers also sit, my poor ears!).

You sit in the same office as the servers?!? Poor you! I loathe having to sit in the server room for any amount of time. Thank goodness for virtualisation and remote desktop!

You definitely would get problems with icing running it at lower temps. I was constantly told off by the guys who service the aircon because I liked to run it at 16 - now I just leave it at 19. Still doesn't feel cold enough for my servers.

[swiatoniowski]

Thanks for all info !

Piotr

[Arenalbotanicalgarden]

What is it ( other than beer) that you are trying to cool at night ?

[swiatoniowski]

I have some Porroglossum, Masdevallia, Lepanthes, Epidendrum and a few others, that likes intermediate to cold temperatures.

[Larssh]

Hii try have a look at this set up, you might find some good info about cooling to you orchids :-)
Orchid Karma :: An orchid blog

[Discus]

Originally Posted by NatalieS

You sit in the same office as the servers?!? Poor you! I loathe having to sit in the server room for any amount of time. Thank goodness for virtualisation and remote desktop!

I know! I would love to move the whole lot elsewhere (there's a data center across the road) but sadly only a ~20mb/s link between our office and there :/
LOM is the way!

[swiatoniowski]

Hello,

This blog is realy great !

Piotr

[tropterrarium]

I use a 1/8 HP aquarium chiller to cool water, and a fan blows over the water to do the heat-exchange from air to water. The cool water flows over a piece of rock to increase surface area. It works great for a 90 gal (~330 liters) terrarium. The chiller is outside the terrarium, of course. Aquarium chillers go down to almost 0 degrees C, so you get a good temperature gradient. I only set mine to 60F to cool it from down from >90F to below 80F.

Not sure what size your enclosure is, and what the temperature difference is that you want to bridge. Those two parameters will determine what systems may work, and what will not work.

I tried a thermo-electic = Peltier cooler, the Iceworks Iceprobe, but it is by far to low powered for my application.

[Discus]

tropterrarium - have you considered perhaps using one of those CPU water cooling "radiators" as part of your cooling loop?

This might be more effective that the waterfall (but less attractive!) Still, it could be easily hidden in the lid of your terrarium. Most models have 12V fans to force air across them; you'd simply loop the chiller circuit through the "radiator".

I'd probably rig one up in a "tunnel" that sucks air in one side, passes it over the radiator and then out the other side back into the terrarium if I put it in the hood. In the tank, you can put it anywhere that suits of course.