thermoelectric cooling

[hepcat]

Any body ever setup/build an ale fermenting chamber with a thermoelectric cooling config??
With this hardware? Peltier cooler TEC1-12706
Appreciate any info and also please let hoppopotumus know on his thread too so he can finish his epic man cave,lol.

 

[rekoob]

I recall seeing a few threads on here about this. I didn't do a search for them but would think you would be able to find them pretty easy.

 

[mendesm]

They're extremely inefficient, at ~8%. They're good for small applications where a small compressor system would be overkill, like cooling individual microchips and the like.

 

[hepcat]

So probably wouldn't work too well in a hot Florida garage? I'm thinking one just big enough to hold two buckets or carboys. ~16 cubic feet?

 

[KBentley57]

I wouldn't call them inefficient, to that degree. I have a TEC that I built my wine cellar with, that was a custom assembly from these guys (35W cooling power model) http://www.customthermoelectric.com/customtecs.html. It has 35W of heat removing capability, and is powerd by 12V, 5.6A DC. That is about 52% efficiency in terms of Pout/Pin. I'm running it with a miniITX PSU that is probably only 70% efficient, so the total efficiency (of the TEC + PSU) is product of the two, .52*.70 = ~ 36% efficiency. I have 3 PC fans, the TEC, and the miniITX PSU running 24/7, and it draws something like 100 +- 10 W. It keeps my cellar at about a 20 F delta T, given the time to reach equilibrium.

Overall, I have about 35W of heat removal capability, and am drawing about 110W of power. That makes my setup 35/110 = 32% efficient. Not bad when you consider that a typical car is ~25% efficient. LEF Light bulbs ~ 15%.