Hackjob Window A/C Conversion

[pbrennan10]

I had this borderline junk a/c unit and decided to get the chiller conversion a try. Pleasantly surprised at how easy it was. Figuring out how to easily get the chilled water around my random assortment of fermenters is much more difficult, I may end up with a full size trash can water bath. Currently i have a half size trash can water bath.

 

[jturman35]

How exactly does this work? I have a chest freezer and keezer along with a regular deep freezer for food and electric bill hit $200 last month.

 

[pbrennan10]

AC cools water in cooler which is pumped out and through a submerged copper coil in the black can with fermenter and then it comes back to cooler. Currently inkbird kicks on both ac and pump simultaneously.

If your electric bill is high I'd look at your house itself (attic insulation, windows). Freezers use like 3 bucks a month each iirc

 

[jturman35]

AC cools water in cooler which is pumped out and through a submerged copper coil in the black can with fermenter and then it comes back to cooler. Currently inkbird kicks on both ac and pump simultaneously.

If your electric bill is high I'd look at your house itself (attic insulation, windows). Freezers use like 3 bucks a month each iirc

Bill didn’t go up until I added two additional freezers for beer! Also doesn’t help I Brew using 240v 5500w element.

 

[hunter306]

Looks good, mine is running a lager right now - Working awesome. Way better than dealing with icebaths and draining/re-adding blocks to the cooler!

 

[gnor]

Is your ac blowing cool air into the cooler through a pipe or something else? I can't tell from your pic. Can you take another pic showing how it cools the water in the cooler?

 

[AZCoolerBrewer]

Is your ac blowing cool air into the cooler through a pipe or something else? I can't tell from your pic. Can you take another pic showing how it cools the water in the cooler?

I agree that it isn’t obvious what he is doing, but i think that the water travels through a copper radiator that the AC is blowing on, through the pump, through the fermentor coils, and then back into the cooler.

 

[pbrennan10]

Apologies, hopefully the attached clarifies. This isn't a very elegant or clever solution but it worked largely with material on hand.

 

[gnor]

No need to apologize. I had no idea that you could put the ac coil in water. I thank you for your new pictures.