AC + Cooler glycol question

[eulipion2]

I've been out of the game for a while (new house, new kid, etc.) and am getting ready to jump back in, but I want a glycol chiller up and running before I start. I'm going to put the coil from a cheap air conditioner into a chest cooler, but I need a way to seal the resulting holes in the cooler. Basically I'm going to cut a slit into the cooler, drill appropriately sized holes along said slit for the two tubes from the coil, slide the coil into the cooler, and seal the cuts back up.

But what should I use to seal the cuts? J-B Weld has a few products, specifically J-B Weld, PlasticWeld, and WaterWeld, but I don't know which if any of those would work for creating a leak-proof seal between the plastic and the copper. Or some kind of caulk? I need something that won't get funky with glycol and rust inhibitor. I've tried looking for similar builds but haven't had much luck.

I've already torn the AC apart, and the coil is ready to go in. Once installed I'll rewire the AC and hook it up to an Inkbird ITC-308, which should have enough juice to make it work. I'll install a recirc pump, plus individual pumps for each chilling coil (currently planning for 3,) and run them through small stainless bulkheads into my fermenters.

Any other thoughts or suggestions are welcome. And naturally, when I'm done, succeed or fail, I'll post pics and details of the build.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

Before I bought an SS brewtech
Glycol chiller I built one, similar to what your doing, however the way I routed the lines I didn't have to fill the cooler that high to cover the evaporator. So the cuts I made just had to be covered to help keep it cold in there, not be water tight or resist Glycol and rust inhibitors.. that said I would go with the JB water weld or tank weld. They come in like a putty type stick and will be much easier to work with then the plastic weld 2 part epoxy. The 2 part epoxy syringes work nice but they are more liquid to start and are sticky and you need to use something like a popsicle stick to apply them, the water weld sticks you knead with your fingers and can be easily molded into place how you like.

 

[eulipion2]

Thanks, BMB! I've used WaterWeld before. Hated it, but it worked, so I was kinda leaning that way. They also have a "Plastic Bonder," which they say can bond plastic to metal, so I'm wondering if I should do a 2-part solution, Plastic Bonder at the places the coil lines touch the cooler, then WaterWeld over everything. Thoughts? Unfortunately the topmost AC line is even with the top of the evaporator, and the second coil is about 1/4 the way down, so I need the seal to be watertight.

They say the Tank Weld shouldn't be used for certain plastics, and I think my cooler may be one of them. I'd love to just buy a purpose built glycol cooler, but the AC+cooler cost less than $150, including all the pumps and fittings, so it'll (hopefully) work for now.

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

Likely the plastic it won't bond to is polypropylene, not sure what your cooler is... would it be possible to rotate your evaporator 90° so the lines would be on top instead of the side? I know there's not much room to move them... so, yeah, you could definitely use both epoxies with each other, just let the first one cure.

 

[eulipion2]

would it be possible to rotate your evaporator 90° so the lines would be on top instead of the side?

I guess I failed to mention that I'm on my second air conditioner. Because I tried to do that with the first one.

I think I'll go with the Plastic Bonder/WaterWeld combo. Thanks, and wish me luck!

 

[bailey mountain brewer]

Haha, yeah. I hear that.

 

[Bobby_M]

Nothing is going to adhere over the long term. Every possible effort should be made to avoid cutting the cooler. The compressor itself must remain upright, but everything else can be flipped and manipulated so the coil drops in from above.

 

[eulipion2]

After cracking my first AC coil I'm a little hesitant to try again. Here's the coil of the current project. The other one would have been a more straightforward bend.

 

[Bobby_M]

That already looks like it's pretty well suited for dropping in over the top without butchering the cooler wall. Show a wider angle picture with the rest of the AC unit. It