Kegerator cooling loop. maxi jet, copper?

[Chew712]

I'm totally new to kegging but I'm jumping in feet first. The chest freezer will be located in the basement. I'm going to run two Taps up to the kitchen pantry. One will be sparkling water the other will be beer. In order to cool the lines I'm thinking of taking a keg filling it with water and using a maxi jet pump to deliver chilled water through a line, wrap around the back of the shanks once or twice and then return to the keg. I can do a very good job of insulating everything including the back of the shanks so as long as I have any kind of flow it should remain cold.

My two questions are:
1. Has any one used a maxi jet 400 5W? vs the 1200 20w. My thinking is, so long as I prime the line the 400 would probably deliver enough flow and 15w less heat. It would be nice to know if someone else is using somthing smaller then the 1200.

2. Has anyone done a cooling loop with copper? I'm thinking of doing the loop with 1/4 copper tubing. It would do a good job against corrosion, transfer heat extremely well, and it's small enough I can wrap it around the beer shanks. I know with this set up the flow will only be a trickle, but again it only needs to carry away a minut amount of heat Ingress.

The only thing I could see causing issues is if an air bubble causes too much restriction for a pump that small to push through, but I'll only know if I or somone else has tried

 

[501irishred]

The specs on that pump only claim a max head of 33". I'm afraid you might be less than a trickle trying to pump 8-10'.....

 

[Chew712]

The specs on that pump only claim a max head of 33". I'm afraid you might be less than a trickle trying to pump 8-10'.....

Once the loop is primed however the 33" of head only has to overcome the friction loss of the tubing and that's flow dependent, so there should be some flow through the loop.

 

[IslandLizard]

Once the loop is primed however the 33" of head only has to overcome the friction loss of the tubing and that's flow dependent, so there should be some flow through the loop.

Nope!
You're pumping it upward from the basement to the kitchen. That height difference is what the pump's "head" needs to overcome.

 

[Chew712]

Nope!
You're pumping it upward from the basement to the kitchen. That height difference is what the pump's "head" needs to overcome.

If the loop was not primed yes. But if I fill the loop with water first. The weight of the water on the return side will cancel out the "head" required to lift it on the supply side. So the 33" of head goes directly towards moving water at a certain flow rate through the loop depent on the resistance to flow, and that's dependent on the water velocity. I'm sure that part will work.
I'm not certain if an accumulation of air bubbles will cause problems. They might not even be an issue as there should be very little temperature fluctuation in the system.

 

[DuncB]

As Scotty said " you canna change the laws of physics " and I think you'll find that you are trying to break them with your plan. You'll need large diameter tubes as flow is proportional to the 4th power of radius and a lot of pressure for your cooling system.
Alternatively move the keg fridge upstairs or run down stairs to fill your glass.
Good Luck! Nuclear Fusion and ambient temp super conductors are also worth a look at.

 

[Broken Crow]

These might be what you're looking for:
https://www.beveragecraft.com/beer-pump-flojet/https://www.beveragecraft.com/beer-trunk-line/