Glycol Chiller Selection and Setup Query

[Michael K]

Looks like the pump on off issue is settled. I did want to mention though that there's not a lot of fluid in the pipes. Consider that Icemaster Max 4, the tank is 8 gallons. If you are using 3/8" ID tubing (it has 3/8" OD barbs), the volume in a foot of tubing is 1.325 cu. in. which converts to 0.734 fluid ounces or 7.34 fl. oz in 10 feet, which is less than a cup. There and back (20'), that is about 2 cups out of 8 gallons, or 1/64 of the tank. Now there is some fluid in the cooling coils of the fermenters but that's trapped until the valve opens anyway so not affected by whether the pump is on or off to the supply lines. On a large system maybe could be an issue but probably also scaled up tankwise too in proportion to greater diameter lines.

As far as pipe sizes, considering that chiller again, the barbs are 3/8" outer diameter so 3/8" ID tubing to begin with. Several temperature coils I looked at also use 3/8" tubing for under 1 barrel. Plus the chiller is only 3200 btus. I couldn't really find anything regarding the btus on a temperature coil. Doesn't seem like you would really change the pipe diameter much for a system with a small number of fermenters using this chiller. If all the fermenters temp coils were the same size, you need one size of pipe to deliver that many btus to each fermenter singly. Then you need one size of pipe to distribute all of the btus from the chiller. So two pipe sizes max there. My heating system steps down because of zoning and then multiple radiators on a zone. I have 4 zones and 13 rads, with the rads about 4-6000 btus roughly but the furnace is 82,000 btus. Plus the pipes need to go through the walls at different points.

Thank you for the valuable input! I will keep these facts in mind as I proceed with the build.

 

[Mike Howard]

In case anyone else is wondering about the parts, I used this pressure regulator and this pressure gauge along with standard 1/2 pex ultimately covered in insulation foam.

 

[BayerischBier]

"
'Worried' is too strong a word. I have no idea how much current such a pump draws. So, I do not know whether this is anything to be concerned about. Perhaps you know...

hey guys,
while scouting for glycol solutions I came across this.

The problem is not the pump draw it is the setup.

With this up-scaling in mind, a statement such as "My idea for the 50L unit is to do two stage cooling where I use an immersion chiller to get the wort temperature down below 100 F/40 C - ish and then run glycol through the jacket of the 50L to bring the wort temperature down to whatever I want. "
is the mind-blowing key!

we are discussing glycol loops when the primary chiller from boil to fermentation is immersion (or is it glycol fed immersion??).

May I suggest looking at plate chillers and even glycol-driven/supported heat exchangers?
just a thought.