The best Chiller for a Stocker/ Super stocker?

[Jim Kaekel]

Here's a link to a story I wrote about building your own "chiller".


http://www.laneautomotive.com/lanemo...ownEffect.html

[James Perrone]

If you are going to Indy I can build you one CHEAP..Or come by and see it James.

[Ed Wright]

Unless you want to lug a generator to the back if the staging lanes, you can use a 12 volt utility pump from Harbor Freight in your ice chest style "chiller". Comes with garden hose fittings on both sides. Comes with alligator clips on the wires, so you can just clamp onto a 12 volt battery to run it. Some guys build a sheet metal box for a small battery, and mount it to the side of the ice chest. Most use clear hose to see the water flowing. Push on hose fittings are at Lowes Home Centers and Ace Hardware. Cheap and easy to build. I found my plastic ice chest, which has wheels on one end & a raise-up handle on the other, at Dollar General.

[FED 387]

look in the garden hose connection area at the big box stores and they carry "quick disconnect" fittings that will shut off liquid flow for a few bucks each --definately not as good as Jiffy Tite but about $50-75 per set cheaper too

[Bill Edgeworth]

FYI Jiffy Tite also has an industrial line of quick disconnects. You can buy the same size (500 series) for about $12 for the female valved socket. BUT the male ends do not have valves. You could get away with running two female valves of this type on the C&R check valve and save yourself a few hundred bucks on the fittings.
I spent the money on the Jiffy Tite automotive ones even though I have hundreds of the Industrial fittings at work. If someone wants to consider the cheaper fittings I buy them from PPE.com
I built the basic ice chest deal and decided to go with a 120VAC pump rather than 12VDC didn’t want to have to deal with a battery.
One thing to be very careful of is not to put in too big of a pump. I bought a sump pump from Harbor Freight that is 1/6 hp and only has 20 feet head pressure. DO NOT use a pump capable of high pressure remember your cooling system is probably only designed for 10-15psi operation 20 feet head pressure is about 10psi any more than that and you could damage something.
One thing I can say about it is you can go through a ton of ice.
Next step I’m going to try is what a friend that runs comp told me about; He said there is no need to spend $3,000 on a real chiller (and for me it would also mean buying a much larger generator). He said some people are building their own electric chiller. They use a 3.6 cubic foot Danby freezer and the rest is basically the same as what all of us are doing with ice chests. I may try it for a few hundred bucks compared to $3k for a real chiller. So I guess what you do is just fill the freezer with water throw in your pump plug it in and you’re done. Although I’d be a little concerned about cracking the liner in the freezer if you get it too cold and the water freezes.

[Randall Klein]

I'd worry about cracking a head (SS)
Any thoughts on that problem?

[Bill Edgeworth]

Originally Posted by Randall Klein

I'd worry about cracking a head (SS)
Any thoughts on that problem?

I think in Jims article he mentions you should first cool it down by conventional means to prevent thermal shock then use the chiller to get it stone cold.

[Ed Wright]

Originally Posted by Randall Klein

I'd worry about cracking a head (SS)
Any thoughts on that problem?

Randall, I have never hooked mine up to an engine over 140 degrees, or so. I have a cool-down battery I use normally, I have a four pin connector that connects my electric water pump and two fans to the ECM in the car. I have a set of leads from my cool down battery with the same connector as goes on the leads going inside the car. I unplug the car from the fans & water pump, and plug that, battery in. An hour, hour & a half or so sitting there with the pump & fans running normally brings it back down to about ambient temp. I would get it down to 130 or so before hooking up the chiller.