Immersion chiller build questions

[Yalpe]

Hello guys,

I'm in the process of building an IC to replace the usual ice baths. So far, I have bought a few pieces but they aren't assembled yet. I don't have any kind of experience with plumbing so I did a little mistake. I bought 25' of 1/2" OD flexible tubing and a couple of feet of 10" concrete column form tube (I don't have a keg) to form the coil. I also got some 1/2" fittings with 8' of 1/2" straight tubing to complete the build. I had no idea that 1/2" OD == 3/8" nominal so I'm stuck with a little problem here. I can't seem to find any 3/8" fittings OR tubes in town. Only 1/2 -> 3/8 reducers.

Another thing to note is that the city water lines use 3/4" valves so I would need to reduce twice (though that might be ok?). I have what it takes to plug a 1/2" hose already. So I need help deciding what to do next.

Solution 1)
Ditch the coil and buy 5/8" OD instead. This will fit perfectly with everything I've got so far. This is a bit more expensive than I'd like considering I already have the 1/2" coil.

Solution 2)
Keep the coil and use one reducer at the start and another at the end to go from 3/4->1/2 pipe->coil->1/2 pipe. I'm not sure if increasing tubing size after the coil is a good idea. So I thought of something else.

Solution 3)
Cut the coil in half and build a ribcage chiller instead. I would need to reduce the diameter from 10" to maybe 9" or 8" (will it bend?). Now that would give me this : 3/4 -> 1/2 -> 1/2 Tee -> 2x 1/2 to 3/8 reducers into 2x coils -> 2x3/8 to 1/2 Tee -> 1/2 pipe.

Solution 4)
Buy another 25' of 1/2" OD and get a 50' ribcage chiller instead.

I do 5 gallon batches btw so I'm assuming 25' should be far enough.

Thanks for any kind of help/tips you can offer

 

[glenn514]

The copper tubing I bought was HVAC tubing, which is measured differently than H20/standard copper tubing. My solution was to talk with my friendly HVAC repair technician and have him purchase the necessary parts the next time he buys parts for his business. Of course, pay him for the parts...or give him some homebrew!

glenn514

 

[Bobby_M]

I have a 5/8" OD chiller and it's really too large. 1/2" OD is better.

Use your piece of 5/8" OD (1/2" nominal rigid) as your input tube to go to the bottom, hit a regular elbow, then use the 1/2 to 3/8 reducer to attach to the coil. Do the same at the top of the coil.

For the hose attachment, you can terminate the copper to 1/2" male NPT using male adapters. From there use 1/2" NPT to 3/4 GH thread adapters. (note, I'm not sure you're clear that hose bibs use a specific type of thread called GH for garden hose. It's 3/4" straight thread, not the same as 3/4" NPT (tapered pipe thread).

Of course, you'll hear just as many people suggest that you just clamp your in/out tubing directly onto the 1/2" OD tubing and scrap all the sweat fitting business. If you're not comfortable with soldering, that might be a fine option.

 

[camiller]

Of course, you'll hear just as many people suggest that you just clamp your in/out tubing directly onto the 1/2" OD tubing and scrap all the sweat fitting business. If you're not comfortable with soldering, that might be a fine option.

Just what I was about to say

 

[Yalpe]

I have a 5/8" OD chiller and it's really too large. 1/2" OD is better.

Use your piece of 5/8" OD (1/2" nominal rigid) as your input tube to go to the bottom, hit a regular elbow, then use the 1/2 to 3/8 reducer to attach to the coil. Do the same at the top of the coil.

For the hose attachment, you can terminate the copper to 1/2" male NPT using male adapters. From there use 1/2" NPT to 3/4 GH thread adapters. (note, I'm not sure you're clear that hose bibs use a specific type of thread called GH for garden hose. It's 3/4" straight thread, not the same as 3/4" NPT (tapered pipe thread).

Of course, you'll hear just as many people suggest that you just clamp your in/out tubing directly onto the 1/2" OD tubing and scrap all the sweat fitting business. If you're not comfortable with soldering, that might be a fine option.

Interesting. You would rather have the flow go bottom-up rather than top-down? Is there any reasoning behind this? I was thinking of going the other way around. Would the flow rate be too high and reduce the efficiency? Maybe it doesn't matter, I have no idea.

For the hose parts, I think I got it right. I got some help from a HD employee