A chilling experiment

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My small collection.

Lepanthes Calodictyon
Psygmorchis pusilla
Ceratochilus biglandulosa

Brett

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Hi Everyone

I finally have it up and running. Here are the pics. The chiller is fed by water running from a small fish tank acting as a sump. I have insulated it with styrofoam and a lid. Chilled water from the sump is fed to the radiator by a second pump. Water is kept at 13c and this is keeping tank temps at 22c to 23c during the day. Room temps can get to 30c to 38c on a really hot day. See Video here

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I am a little surprised the four T5 tubes heat the tank as much as they do. I may try raising the unit a little to get it off the glass more or run a fan to cool it and see if I get more control of its heat. All the same I only want to drop temps to about 22c. My issue is when we get super hot days here and the chiller has to work harder than I expected.

I bought a Hailea 150A chiller. I should have bought a much bigger one. If you are going to do this, I would say get as large a chiller as you can get. It will work less to chill the water to a lower temperature. Hailea brand can chill to 4c. This model can drop to 4c too if I run the aircond also, but without, 13 to 15c is comfortable for it. I have a high powered 12 inch fan blowing on the chiller to cool it more and provide more circulation in the cabinet.



I am going to try removing the sump and using an external pump to run water from the chiller to the radiator and back. This way there is less water to chill and less exposure to warm outside air. I will also insulate the pipes with tape.

To keep humidity up, I am using a small home humidifier set to run at medium for 17 hours a day - of at night. This is keeping humidity at 75% to 85%.

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I have removed my Lepanthes from the tree fern they were on as the moss was a bit funky and replanted them into live moss. Heres my collection to date.

Ceratochilus Biglandosus (with pod)
Pleione sp. (maybe Praecox and Lagenaria - I thought Maculata at first, but on viewing bulbs of each species, I am sure it is not). Seed pods nearing maturity.
Lepanthes Calodictyon.
Habenaria Myriotricha (just emerging).
Psygmorchis Pusilla (in pod).

[Tindomul]

Very cool humidifier. You need to add more plants.

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Hi Tindomul

I will be getting other plants, but only what I can set pods on and get into flask before March next year. I have recently bought some tubers of Habenaria Myriotricha which I want to flask. I am interested in getting more of the Thai Habenarias too.

My number one plant I want to flask or get flasks of is Phalaenopsis Lowii.

So far this cooling method is working well. If anyone was to use a larger chiller than what I am using, I think they could get some serious temperature drop.

I just realised the video is not complete. I will upload it to photobucket and add it in the same posting.

Brett

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Hi Everyone

I have the parts now to fit and remove the sump from my cooling system. So far the cooling system is working well to give me what I want. A top temp of 23c on really scorching days and 22c on others and a low of 19c to 20c at night. As you guess Bangkok never get really cool this close to the equator and this is the hot season. Even the cool season is warm to me. I am still running the chiller at 13c.

I am going to use a closed system computer water pump (with reducible flow from 1200Ltr) with a reservoir tank to eliminate air in the pipes. I had to get a computer techie to make a power supply - put a new end on a laptop power adapter.

I think by doing this I will get greater stability and lower cooling temps. It will remove the sump(although insulated still is a loss of coolness) and 20 litres of water from the system (makes the chiller work harder to cool more water). I will also use insulation tape on the pipes to reduce loss of coolness.

I am only using a small chiller as I dont want a cold or cool/intermediate tank. If I did, I would go with a chiller with about 3 or 4 times more cooling capacity than the one I now use. This would mean it would be able to lower the water to as low as 4c, where as now I keep at at 13c. I probably should have got a larger model than the Hailea 150A, but is is ok until I can afford a bigger unit to provide a bit more stability should the getting rid of the sump not be effective enough.

I will keep you posted on how it goe. I will be conecting it all up tomorrow.

Brett

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Hi Everyone

Well it is done. Much swearing and cursing later, I have got the system running and it is much more stable. The chiller works less, though the temperature goes up more on the chiller temperature gage, it pulls it down quicker and the tank seems to vary little in temperature now. Mind you, I have had the aircond on and the rooms sits at about 26c according to the thermometer. I am waiting for off days to monitor how the set up works without aircond.

The pump is a computer water cooling pump rated for 3.1 metres head and 1200 litres per hour. I think the head is a little over estimated as I couldnt get it to work at 2.5 metres, but now at 1 metre head it works nicely.

The video shows the hook up. The reservoir is for a computer water cooling system also. It makes filling the system easy and you can see the flow.

I will try to explain the connections tomorrow.

Brett

Here is the video

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Sorry to take so long to post this.

The pump that hangs on the tank, sucks water from the chiller and pumps it through the radiator. From the radiator, the water is ducted to the reservoir and from there into the inlet of the chiller. I tried to set it up with the chiller under the tank but the head (height/pressure) was too much for the pump to take and I had to raise everything. It works great now.

I had the day at home yesterday, so I turned the airconditioner off. I had not had time to test the set up without it during this hot season. I got 35c indoors with a window open. The wardian case stayed a nice 23c to 24c at the hottest point in the day.

I do find with the smaller reservoir, the chiller kicks in more often, but it runs for a much shorter time. Must be that there is less water to chill, but also the lower amount of water means the radiator will heat it up faster.

If you are in a cooler climate I guess if you use this method you could get a much cooler effect, especially with a larger chiller than the one I am using. Still, I am happy as I only wanted an intermediate orchid case.

A friend asked me could you use this method, but warm/hot water to warm a wardian case/growing area. I don't know, but I have seen where someone piped hot water from his hot water system through coils of pipe in the cement under his glass house and by that warmed it up. When things were getting too warm, the thermostat interupted the flow of hot water. Food for thought?

Brett

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I decided to move the radiator/fan to higher up. I am getting much better air circulation. I used the drilled holes for the bulkheads and slotted some pvc pipe to hang it from.



Brett