I have seen homemade glycol chillers made from window AC units which is cool. I love building stuff like this and it got me thinking... It looks like you can buy little window heat pumps, like a normal window AC but can also heat. This is usually done by switching a reversing valve on the compressor so instead of cold refrigerant passing over the inside coil you get hot refrigerant. Now my experience is from commercial units so I'm not positive that it's how a window unit works or if it's just electric heat. If it did infact switch a reversing valve then I think you would be able to use this to cool or heat your glycol for your fermenter instead of using an electric heat pad. Any thoughts??
DIY glycol heat pump?
- Thread starter dhoyt
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RichardU
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I use my sparge water heater (essentially an urn) for warm water to run through my fermenter coils for Kveik fermenting at 90F+. No glycol needed.
Ball valves let me switch from cooling to heating. It's not automated, but I've never needed to do both on one brew until it's time to cold crash.
Ball valves let me switch from cooling to heating. It's not automated, but I've never needed to do both on one brew until it's time to cold crash.
twd000
Well-Known Member
how about this one?:
https://chillxchillers.com/air-to-w...FnrI1nbPEQ_IcDxt-Ys6L2QkGVw-i1uhoCkGAQAvD_BwE
disclaimer: I have no experience with this unit, but in theory there's no reason why a small heat pump with reversing valve wouldn't work
https://chillxchillers.com/air-to-w...FnrI1nbPEQ_IcDxt-Ys6L2QkGVw-i1uhoCkGAQAvD_BwE
disclaimer: I have no experience with this unit, but in theory there's no reason why a small heat pump with reversing valve wouldn't work
I think that’s just an air handler and not the actual compressor.
My guess is a real heat pump should work fine, but it’d cost 20x what a heating pad does for no benefit. If the units with the reversing valves come down in price then maybe it’s make sense, but right now they’re much more expensive than the $100 window ac unit I use.
dustinstriplin
Well-Known Member
People do use heat pumps to create glycol chillers. You'll find your answer in the DIY forum. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/forum/forums/chillers-stir-plates.255/
