Chamber A/C temp probe

[Dennis_W]

I'm building a fermentation chamber with an a/c unit. The A/C unit that I have picked out is a standard analog dial with a high and low setting. My question is inside the unit is there still a temperature probe that I would want to route outside the chamber? I originally thought no since there is no degree settings but now I'm not sure.

Thanks guys!

 

[CA_Mouse]

Why would you want to route the probe outside the chamber? the probe is to let the unit know what the temperature is inside the A/C unit is, isn't it?

 

[Chrisl77]

You would want to get something like an stc 1000 or other external temp controller to run the ac unit. put the probe for the temp controller somewhere inside the fermentation chamber or better yet if your only going to ferment one at a time put a thermwell inside your fermenter to get temp of the beer not the ambient temp. Then plug the ac unit into the external temp controller. If the dial on the ac unit only controls the fan you may not have to do anything with the internal probe inside the ac unit if it has one.

 

[H22W]

Chris is getting you on the right track. Setting your AC temp dial would likely get the temps you want for fermenting ales.

For lagering or cold crashing you are going to want colder temps than the AC is designed to run so you are going to need to hack it a bit. First remove the front cover and you will find one or two temp sensors. One sensor will be attached to the temp dial. To trick the dial into thinking the cooling is required get this sensor outside your chamber in to warmer air. Many of these ACs also have a second sensor attached to the cooling coils that will shut down cooling if the coils are icing up. Get that sensor somewhere warmer if it is shutting down your AC, but then you do need to figure out how to deal with the icing.