Son of Fermentation (SOF) Chiller Thermostat Question

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Cyan

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I am currently building a SOF, and I bought a Hunter mechanical thermostat. I can get the fan to turn on/off by using the auto/on switch. I can get the fan to turn on/off by when I am on the "heat" setting by moving the temperature selector up and down.

However, when I am using the "cool" setting (which is what I need to use), I move the temperature selector up and down, but nothing happens. The thermostat does not *click* on and off like it should. :(

How do I make this thermostat work? Should I buy a different thermostat? Exactly how should I make this whole thermostat system work for my SOF? :confused:

I would appreciate as much detail as you can give me. Thanks!
 
I'm not familiar with that thermostat, but I know that the digital ones have a waiting period built into the cooling cycle. If you select "cool", they won't turn on until they've waited a couple of minutes. This is to protect your AC system that isn't supposed to turn off, then right back on.

For my SoFC, I used a RiteTemp 6020 from the Depot and modified the thermistor to be a remote temp sensor. (Instructions here: http://www.wortomatic.com/articles/Remote-Sensing-DIY-Controller-for-Less-Than-$25)

It works great.
 
Yeah, I saw those instructions before I made this post. I just bought the 6020 today, and I'll be following those instructions pretty soon. I hope I can get it to work. I'll let you know if I have any questions. Thanks, bro! Peace. :)
 
Sorry guys! Haven't had a chance to get back on in awhile. Still working on it... I'll post again hopefully before the end of the year with details and pics.

RunBikeBrew - you were right about having to wait a couple minutes before it clicks on for the cool setting. Thanks!
yusupov - i'll PM you when i post again. Thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Peace.
 
This may be way too old to post about but I use the same Hunter thermostat and it works exactly like the recommended instructions are in the SOF plans. I use the RH and G terminals with bell wire to the fan. I do use a 12V 1A wall charger. 200mA just didn't seem like enough to me. I did have some trouble at first because after you run it, there is a cool down period that is about 2 minutes and you can't immediately restart the fan by lowering the temperature slider. As I was siting thinking about it for a couple of minutes, it came on again and the Light bulb in my head finally came on. Other than that the only problem is that the Hunter instructions say that at factory defaults, it should start and stop within 1 degree. Mine triggers at 68 degrees where I have it set but with my external Oregon Scientific weather temperature probe mounted above the thermostat, the temp drops to 62 degrees before shutting off. The Hunter thermometer may be reading what it thinks is correct but I'm pretty sure my external temp probe is closer that the hunter bulb thermometer built in. This doesn't seem to be a problem though because the Wort stays at 68 degrees just like I want it to be at. I find that bottled frozen water melts pretty quickly compared to Ice Packs like I use in a lunch box or get from a hospital. Those last longer than 24 hours so far. The last thing I changed was I find that using Velcro Strapped across the cover edges in 4 or 5 places work better than the dowels and grommets because the dowels continue to make the holes larger and it doesn't take long to enlarge the hole and I have to plug it and make a new one. Velcro is cheap at Wal-Mart in the crafts section.

Hope this is helpful to any Hunter users. They're cheap at Wal-Mart too. About $18.00 I think, AT least the best price I found anyway. I find the SOF to be very efficient. My fan comes on about 1 time every 45 minutes and goes from 68 degrees to 62 degrees in about 30 to 45 seconds and the garage is about 80 degrees currently.
 
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