$20 AC unit off of the Craigs

[dutch101st]

Got myself a $20 AC unit off of Craigslist today; ugly as sin, but it does the job. Since my kids are going to be gone for a month, I will be using their bathroom as a makeshift fermentation chamber. I am testing the temperature right now to see how cold I can get it in there. It doesnt drw very much in terms of electricity, so it should keep the cost down.

Next is to get a Ronco to control the temperature. Will report back as things move along.

Wish me luck!

 

[wilserbrewer]

Good luck Dutch,

For me, I think it would be a helluva lot easier to find a $20, or free fridge on craigslist. Sounds like a fun project though!

 

[BrewBeemer]

How many BTU unit is that unit Dutch?
I see Home Depot has 6,000, 8,000 and 10,000 BTU units as I walked in the building the other day, price range from $98 to $170 app. Very small outside dimensions overall. I have a couple window units that weigh 180 pounds each but no BTU ratings numbers to be found. Another 240 pounder that runs on 230 volt I aim into the garage on a cart with the door closed on it, it will freeze me out of my 380 sq/ft detached garage. This thing spins the meter thinking it's a welder. A instant bier chiller place when friends come over with warm 6 packs (why do they do this, warm off the shelf?) placed at the cold discharge for fast chilling.

 

[dutch101st]

Well, the initial test was a failure- dopey me, I didnt think about heat coming off the back end. While the idea seemed sound, cooling my apartment off to 78 degrees, closing my kids bathroom door to retain the low temperature then augment with running the AC, it didnt quite work. Oh well, that is what trial and error will do for ya!

It will push out enough cold to get a 5x7 room down into the mid-60's, but like I said, there is a good amount of heat coming off the back that it just isnt practical.

So, once i get moved into my new place (which will have a 2 car garage!), I will build up a verticle fermentation chamber and use the AC there (replete with circulating air). Until then, I am just gonna have to deal with the increased cost of cooling my apartment as I simply do not have the room to have anything else.

 

[BrewBeemer]

Dutch; I bet it gets mighty warm up in your area in the summer.

I bet the heat off that AC units condensor was 100 degrees plus with 46 out the front in the room of 78 like you posted. You have to vent that hot condensor air out of the room but this leaves you needing return air into the room or else you'll create a reduce pressure or vacuum in the bathroom. This is where the home AC units with the remote fan and condensor mounted outside the house and the evaporator inside the house with its own fan which works great and is efficient.
I rat packed home a small AC unit from the butcher section of a Safeway store remodel, had it set up as a remote unit like home AC units. It was 3 phase 5 HP with R12 to recharge. A spare rotary phase converter I had to run it. It worked great dropping a 10' x 12' family room down but the electric meter spun like crazy so I nixed this idea. I got in good with the Hussmann crew ending up with two full 30# R-12 bottles. I've been thinking of a small AC unit mounted outside in the shade or cool side of the house in a weather proof doghouse near the fermentation room, have insulated ducting sealed to the evaporator on both sides so that you are recirculating the air to and from the fermenter room only with a inline duct fan. This because the evaporator fan unit can ot be sealed inside the ducting system. Like the AC in your car on recirculation vs outside air for a more efficient cooling system. The AC unit at the evaporator must be pulled apart enough to attach ducting from both sides of the evaporator with two insulated ducts to the fermenting room.
The trick is keeping the ducting short as possible.

My friend's 1892 house has a 4' diameter well brick lined 28' deep. It had a car radiator in it and another one behind the coal grate in the fireplace with the original automotive fan shroud behind it and a 19" fan with a 90 VDC motor with speed control.
A hot water recirculation pump in the system with anti-freeze in the radiators and the plumbing. This allowed for a year round 61 to 62 1/2 degrees temp AC unit for the house living room. This works great on those days in the high 90's and is cheap to operate and build vs a big AC unit. This would also be great for everything but lagering in a insulated frementing room. The secret is having a real old school type of well that is wider than Chrysler radiators of the 60's. They are big heavy brass radiators. This system has been running for 40+ years now.