Cooling Water

LBZ_Duramax

Well-Known Member
Joined
Aug 18, 2011
Location
Benson, NC
I know there are some engineering mindset guys on here. Want to pick your brains for a sec.

I am looking for a way to chill the city water supply coming into our shop. The water temp was 92*F at 8am this morning. The side of town I’m on has the water lines only 12-14” below the asphalt and we are 3 blocks from the water tower. For the testing we are doing I need the room temp and water temp to stay within 3*F of each other. So I am forced to either open all the doors and let the shop be as hot as I can make it or go another route. Looking to be able to cool the water down to as close to 70-75* as I can. What say y’all?
 
anvilrubi said:
Trying to cool the worm box huh?
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We test DOT cylinders (scba, scuba, co2, etc). The water temp is always a problem this time of year. In winter the water coming in is 50-55 and we have to mix hot water with it to bring to 72*. It defeats the purpose of having a air conditioned shop if I have to turn it off to work, lol
 
LBZ_Duramax said:
Would have to be rather large. We probably use upwards of 500 gallons on a normal test day. I don’t have that kind of space.
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500 gal tank from agri supply isn't that big. The 2 I have are only 36" dia each. Just stick it in a corner and plumb out of it with a small well pump.
 
I was looking at those chillers, I have a call in to the manufacturer to see if it will work for us. I think a storage tank would be easiest and cheapest but the space and piping would make it a headache I think.
 
run the water through a copper pipe coil through ice water.
 
The problem of using ice water is the cost of the ice, the storage of ice and delivery window when trying to cool 500 gallons of water. If you have to maintain a certain temperature you also have to keep a constant metered flow and consistant ice level so the water doesn't get to warm or cold.

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This might seem odd as hell, but have you considered simply putting an air register in under your sink directed toward the water pipes? The cool air from the register would cool down the whole space under the sink and should provide the needed temperature drop. If this option is not available, you could place a fan under the sink with a bucket of ice in front of it to also aid in cooling that area.
 
LBZ_Duramax said:
I was looking at those chillers, I have a call in to the manufacturer to see if it will work for us. I think a storage tank would be easiest and cheapest but the space and piping would make it a headache I think.
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Meh, plumbing is nothing. To do what you need would maybe take 2hrs to rig up. Get rid of one office chair in your shop and you have the room for the tank.
 
What about just installing a big radiator with electric fan in the line? Flow rate of a car water pump is likely more than your supply line. the moving air across the radiator will be slightly cooler than ambient in the room, so should allow you to get closer with the water temp. you could even put it in the duct system for the building and the air would heat/cool it.

Putting a big tank in the room would let the water get close to the room temp, but it would take a long time for it to reach the temp. You best bet for this, would either be to put some type of cooler in the tank, or to turn the temp in the building down at night and pump the water into the tanks at night, when it is coolest. That much water will hold the thermal energy for a while. You would likely need more than a day to cool it enough, without additional parts.
 
@paradisePWoffrd I was just going to write that up and saw you said exactly what I was going to. That's probably the best lowest cost setup, though you'll need a way to drop pressure, I don't think most radiators will hold 30psi at most before failing.
 
a_kelley said:
@paradisePWoffrd I was just going to write that up and saw you said exactly what I was going to. That's probably the best lowest cost setup, though you'll need a way to drop pressure, I don't think most radiators will hold 30psi at most before failing.
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Maybe. 30psi caps are very common in racing. It would need to be a welded/braised alum or copper radiator vs epoxied for sure.
 
I would use a small cooling tower on the roof or a portable chiller. That industry uses for chilled processes water for injection machines. You can get one used pretty cheap. If your interested i can send you some information on a local guy that sells a lot of used equipment.
 
We have what essentially breaks down as massive tankless water heaters/coolers for each one of our compounding suites. Each batch could require 5gal on up to 1500gal, and gets refilled 2-3 times a day. Mixes require water temps anywhere from 35-200* Only time I've really seen an issue is when we need to start pushing that 200* water temp mark and it's freezing outside. Each set up was about $5-6k/ea
 
I'm still stuck on the tank idea :lol:. Maybe feed the tank via a copper coil running through a dorm fridge with a small computer fan circulating air inside. That will give you some early temp knockdown and allow ambient equalization take care of the rest.
 
Incoming water temp at night doesn't drop below 90*. I'm not scared to spend the money to get what I need. The problem with the storage tank is when we start testing I can't run out of water before we get done. So I would technically need a tank big enough to hold 5 days worth of water because it takes so long to acclimate to room temp. This could be as much as 2k gallons.
 
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