Home-made glycol build

[EyeofdaHawk]

Howdy all

In preparation for a SS fermentor, ideally with jacketed cooling sleeve, i'm building a glycol cooler (as a new one, plus the SS fermenter is cost prohibitive).

I've picked up a portable air con, roughly 4kw capacity. I would have gone for a window one as it would have probably been easier to build with, but they're not that common here in Aus, compared to the portable ones (which renters frequently have).

I've removed all the external covering to expose the coils, and compressor etc.

Now i have several questions i'm hoping the community can assist with. The cold coils are on top, and the hot on bottom.

It appears there may be some valve connecting the hot/cold coils, not sure if this will have an impact.

Either way, it appears the coil i'll need to bend (last pic) should be work-able, although maybe a bit tricky. I've not been able to find any advice on the net, or via Youtube, about how to actually bend it, other than 'carefully' as it will be ruined if i break the coil. Any suggestions?

Finally, there is a surprising amount of electronics. Not really sure to do with most of this. Any suggestions?

Appreciate if i look out of my depth, which i probably am, but always keen to learn.

Thanks for your advice

Hawk

 

[day_trippr]

It appears there may be some valve connecting the hot/cold coils, not sure if this will have an impact.

There is a device called an "expansion valve" which is basically a metered orifice that causes the densified output from the compressor to "expand" into a much less dense state which enables thermal carrying capacity when it hits the evaporator.

As for electronics, in the end you want to control what's going on. That usually means bypassing any oem controls and using your own (external) device, which could be remotely programmable/controlled for convenience...

Cheers!

 

[EyeofdaHawk]

As for electronics, in the end you want to control what's going on. That usually means bypassing any oem controls and using your own (external) device, which could be remotely programmable/controlled for convenience...

Just not sure how i do this bit. I assume i'll have to keep something to plug into. I do have several old PID's which i could use for this but that would require a fair bit of wiring which i'm not that keen on doing.

 

[EyeofdaHawk]

Further thinking, there are wires from the compressor and the expansion valve thing.

I'm guessing these two sets of wires are essential, and otherwise i just want the exhaust fan.

 

[Bobby_M]

I'm pretty skeptical that the project is going to work and if it does, it's not going to be easy. In a typical window shaker style AC, the evap coil (the cold one) is often neatly positioned to drop right in to an insulated cooler. If you're really lucky, the two copper tubes are connected at the top of the coil.

Do the coils physically separate? If they are all snaking through the same vertical frame, you'll have to figure out how to cut it apart.