Jester4176 said:...but rather than cut up a keg, and weld stuff together
mageac said:do you know who started this thread?
I found some wattage/BTU calcs for heating and cooling a given volume, but I don't have the link handy.z987k said:Yuri, any links to some research I could do on figuring out mathematically what it is going to take to do this? I'd like to figure this out on paper before I chooses to dive into it and I'm not all that familiar with the peltier devices (energy needed to cool X volume) nor on surface area vs heat disipation, efficiency of the devices, etc.
Yuri_Rage said:It seems to me that I have plenty of power available, but I'm not transferring heat effectively at all.
enfox said:When it comes to a heatsink, is one that is 12"x7"x1" better or worse than one that is 6.5" x 4.75" x 2.75" ? I am trying to disipate the heat off a 350 watt pelt.
I did some test before i got in to it good, what i found is that a peltier system is just not really going to have enough watts of cooling power to cool a actively fermenting brew. I cant remember the exact statistic, but it was something like every .004 of gravity dropped, temp rises 2 F. with the amount of heat (or cold) disipation of 5 gallon of wort in there also, the amount of TEC you would need plus power supply and time invested just wouldnt be worth it. better off just buying an old fridge.
TECs just cant put out the watts of cooling that is needed easily.
amarguy, I have been kicking around a similar idea, scrapping the parts from a wine cooler to keep my fermenter cool. seems like everything one would need is in the box; power supply, thermostat, peltier device, heatsinks, fans. My only problem is that I have been unable to find a wine cooler for less than ~$80 and the ones in that price range seem to have a very limited temperature range.
I did some test before i got in to it good, what i found is that a peltier system is just not really going to have enough watts of cooling power to cool a actively fermenting brew. I cant remember the exact statistic, but it was something like every .004 of gravity dropped, temp rises 2 F. with the amount of heat (or cold) disipation of 5 gallon of wort in there also, the amount of TEC you would need plus power supply and time invested just wouldnt be worth it. better off just buying an old fridge.
FWIW, I e-mailed Koolatron (apparently an early user/mfr. of 12V coolers using this techonology) and they said all of their 12V coolers except the very smallest model (and old models) use the same cooling module. So I don't need to get one of their larger coolers in order to get more cooling power. Almost any of their models will do.
I mean the whole kit and kaboodle...both the internal and external heat sink, fan, Peltier device, DC adapter plug, etc. all encased in a plastic enclosure. At least I think that's what he meant. I actually told him exactly what I intended to do (i.e. buy a cooler and hack the cooling unit from it and then use the cooling unit to cool a beer fermentation chamber). Here were his exact words:By "cooling module", do you mean the TEC? The other models may use larger heatsinks and fans, which increases the heat exchange efficiency due to the greater temperature differential.
Yuri may have proven that last statement incorrect but...whatever.Yes they all use the same module except the older models and some small ones. You would be better off buying a cooler and taking the parts out of it because it would cost alot more to purchase the heatsink assembly and coldplate and motor seperately
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