PVC Tower Cooling Solution - Page 2

**bradsul** · 11-16-2007, 08:02 PM

It's not even the cost of running that little fan that's the issue, it's how well is your tower insulated (ie. how hard is your little fridge trying to cool the room it's in because of the tower).

One of the nice side benefits of this solution is you get just a small hole in the top of your fridge, plus the tower is completely insulated.

the_Roqk · 11-16-2007, 08:06 PM

Excellent post bradsul! I was trying to figure out a way to do that to my DIY tower. With the use of copper tubing and it's great heat/cold conductive qualities it does make sense. Thanks for the pic's! Great idea!

ikc46118 · 01-22-2008, 04:53 AM

But how much does the fan cost? I can't get a 4w fan for less than $7, let alone the project box, etc. Copper tubing is MUCH cheaper than that.

Have you considered that having two open tubes go into the tower creates a convection effect?

**Yuri_Rage** · 01-22-2008, 04:56 AM

Nice job! I love the simple, non-mechanical solution! I was really proud of my fan setup, but now I'm jealous of your idea!

Sir Humpsalot · 01-22-2008, 05:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FSR402

Are you all painting the PVC black or is there black pipe that I don't know about?

A little tip from my pending conversion...

www.tubesandmore.com

A vintage radio and amplifier shop. They sell tolex by the yard. What, you ask, is tolex? It's that fake leather stuff that covers guitar amplifiers. It's tough enough to stand up to cigarette burns and other abuse. To apply it, just use a spray adhesive such as Scotch 77. Wrap it around the tubes.

**FSR402** · 01-22-2008, 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sir Humpsalot

A little tip from my pending conversion...

www.tubesandmore.com

A vintage radio and amplifier shop. They sell tolex by the yard. What, you ask, is tolex? It's that fake leather stuff that covers guitar amplifiers. It's tough enough to stand up to cigarette burns and other abuse. To apply it, just use a spray adhesive such as Scotch 77. Wrap it around the tubes.

Good idea. I think I just found my new bar top.

CatchinZs · 01-22-2008, 02:02 PM

At a minimum of $20 a yard...that stuff had better be tough.

Nice and simple fix Bradsul....excellent idea.

**bradsul** · 01-22-2008, 03:07 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ikc46118

...Have you considered that having two open tubes go into the tower creates a convection effect?

While I'm sure there is a small amount of air movement, the tubes are basically completely filled when you run the beer line through so I doubt it has much affect.

paranode · 03-21-2008, 04:11 PM

Just thought I'd bump this thread since I decided to take this route to cool my tower lines.

Here is the top of the tower. Copper goes almost all the way to the top and then I used polyethylene insulation (1-1/4" I think) to go around the tubes. It runs the length of the tower and then stops since we want the bottom part to be exposed to the cold air and absorb and transfer the temp.

Here it is through the bottom. Mine goes quite a bit further into the fridge than the OP since this was the pre-cut length they sold (2') and it seems fine (will transfer better probably).

Final view of inside the fridge:

Total cost was $10 even for two 2', 1/2"-diameter copper tubes and a 6' length of the insulation.

I just rigged it up so I'll have to report later on effectiveness but I think it will work well.

**bradsul** · 03-21-2008, 04:18 PM

Great job! I too would have liked to run my copper farther into the fridge but with my fridge it just wasn't possible unfortunately. Even after all this time I still only have the 1C temperature differential between the top of the copper and the bottom so I'm not at all concerned.