New Dry Curing Chamber Build...42cu.ft. stainless double door

[indaswamp]

Cold dehumidifier is finished. All I have to do is hook up some hoses and connect the fan wires and I can run a test. Will wait until tomorrow while the silicone I used to seal up the baffle plate inside the little refrigerator finishes drying....

I expect great results!

So thinking...I have another radiator/fan assembly on order from amazon. With the little refrigerator on top of the cabinet, it takes up quite a bit of room. I have it on the right side, and the TEM on the right side does not have good proper airflow. Now considering using only 2 TEM's to run 4 radiator/fan assemblies. And will offset the TEM on the right over more towards the middle of the cabinet to the left for good airflow. Will have to run the inlet hose over about 6-8 inches to the right inside the cabinet, but that's not a problem.

I have also considered using the small refrigerator to supplement the cooling on initial cool down from ambient temp....

 

[indaswamp]

Also will be switching out the thin 5/16" dia. clear vinyl hose for rigid 5/16" hose...it goes on the fittings better and does not collapse as easily when bending to go through the holes to the cabinet and onto the hose barbs on the radiators.

 

[daveomak]

Following your logic, I think you will have awesome control of the chamber...
You are not just another pretty face... HAHAHAHAHAHA !!!

 

[indaswamp]

New radiator assembly arrived today. I don't think I'll be able to install it this week as I have a big family vacation coming up next week. I have been working on it like mad trying to get the testing phase complete before leaving. I am pretty much there now. The dehumidification test is a success...pulled the RH% down 1 point in less than 45 seconds. That is plenty enough horsepower to dry the air in the chamber....

I may get around to posting the cold dehumidifier build before I leave, if not will do so when I return...

 

[hoity toit]

Fortune shined on me back in early December. I acquired a 42cu.ft. 304 stainless steel solid double door commercial freezer (old Masterbuilt)....for free. I just had to go pick it up. The cooling system does not work, but the box was in excellent shape. After looking into my options for cooling systems, I have decided to go the thermoelectric chiller route. JC in GB has been a huge help with figuring out the components I need to buy. This will be roughly 8-10% of the cost of refurbishing the freezer with a new compressor system. I am demo'ing the old cooling system today..
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The box is 42.5cu.ft. of space. Should not take much to get it up and running, but I am going to take my time and do it right the first time. No corners will be cut. I already have the humidifier and dehumidifier. Need to order the cooling system components and controllers. The unit will be inside with avg. temp. 68-70*F so only need to chill about 15*F below ambient temp.; the thermoelectric system can handle that.

I will finally have the maturing chamber I have dreamed of having. I will be able to butcher a whole hog, process it into salumi and salami, and hang it all in my new chamber. It should handle 80-100 kilos of product no problem!! This is gonna be PERFECT for what I need! And it is a freezer...so extra thick insulation! Will hold temps. VERY well!!! I am excited to start the build!

Lucky dog,,,great score ! Very similar to the single door I had give to me that I made a PID controller mailbox mod smoker out of... I'll be watching your build !!

HT

 

[indaswamp]

So I ran a different test just to see the max. humidity removal rate from the new dehumidifier. I ran the RH% up to 90-95% @ ambient temp. in the chamber (72*F; warmer air can hold more moisture than cold air so this is well above the max. humidity the chamber will ever have while up and running with meat hanging in it.) and placed the RH% sensor in the return vent. plugged the cold dehumidifier into the outlet directly...let it run...

After about 20 minutes, the returning RH% dropped to 15.5%!! I am highly impressed!! I should have no issues with removing humidity with this system!!

I am using small 1 1/2" 4-5CFM fans so very slow flow rate. The super dry air will be directed to the back of the chamber to be mixed with the high humidity chamber air....no direct contact of the super dry air with the hanging product...which is a problem I have now with my current set up highjacking a 13cu.ft. residential freezer for a maturing chamber.

 

[indaswamp]

...the RH% in the chamber dropped to around 60% in 20 minutes. So about a 45%RH differential...that is a lot of moisture being removed!! AWESOME!!

 

[indaswamp]

I have pretty much decided that I will only run (2) of the (8) radiator fans continously. The other 6 will switch on with the TEM's and pumps for the cooling cycle. The 2 continuous fans will mix the dry cold air entering the chamber from the cold dehumidifier and give just enough circulation for mixing the dry air all thru the cabinet. Air will be rising 0.15-0.25" per second in the chamber with the 2 fans running. With all 8 fans it will be around 1-1.25" per second...and that will turn over the air in the chamber every minute on the cooling cycle. Should be enough...without drying the salumi too fast....

 

[JC in GB]

...the RH% in the chamber dropped to around 60% in 20 minutes. So about a 45%RH differential...that is a lot of moisture being removed!! AWESOME!!

That is impressive. I may have to consider that for my chamber if I decide to so summer runs.

JC

 

[indaswamp]

That is impressive. I may have to consider that for my chamber if I decide to so summer runs.

JC

I did not use the heat sinks. I had them cut ready for install, but had the idea to try just some spacers to move the chiller plate out from the back wall of the refrigerator for better airflow and contact with the plate. I have about a 1" gap behind the plate and 1 1/4" in front of the plate. That works well enough. I used 2" C channel for the baffle plate clips and there was a 1/2" recess in the back wall so the air gap is roughly 2 1/2 inches overall...

 

[indaswamp]

Doing a different test...

Checking the temp. of the return air from the cold dehumidifier and as expected it is below the dew point of the chamber temperature so I will have to insulate the header so moisture does not condense on it and drip on the hanging meats.

 

[indaswamp]

Here is the tubing I will be using... 5/16" ID X 9/16" OD X 1/8" Wall thickness

https://www.usplastic.com/catalog/item.aspx?itemid=43903

25ft. minimum order...

 

[indaswamp]

Have one more test I want to do... I need to verify I don't have condensation on the radiators with the cooling system up and running. Adding a 4th radiator should help, but I may still need to use a larger reservoir to lessen the temp. drop of TEM outlets to the radiators and/or reduce the TEMs down to just 1. That will slow the response time of the cabinet achieving target temp, but that's Ok.

 

[indaswamp]

Thinking....

I may install valves on the inlet and outlet of the TEM's with a by-pass that has a block valve. This will make changing out TEM's in the event of failure easy without having to shut down the system. I can also use 2 TEM's on initial cooldown, then shut it back to 1 TEM if need be to prevent condensation and maintain temp......

 

[indaswamp]

I also plan on dropping a small piece of sacrificial magnesium anode in the reservoir tank to prevent aluminum corrosion on the chiller blocks. I already have the freshwater anodes on hand...

 

[JC in GB]

Thinking....

I may install valves on the inlet and outlet of the TEM's with a by-pass that has a block valve. This will make changing out TEM's in the event of failure easy without having to shut down the system. I can also use 2 TEM's on initial cooldown, then shut it back to 1 TEM if need be to prevent condensation and maintain temp......

How did you plan on controlling the second chiller?

I see a couple options.

1) Chiller #1 operates from cabinet temp

2) Chiller #2 operates from water temp

3) If chiller #1 can't chill the water fast enough, chiller #2 kicks in and brings the water reservoir temp to just above the dew point to assist chiller #1

Option 2

1) Chiller #1 is set to temp set point A. Both chillers operate off cabinet temp.

2) Chiller #2 is set to temp set point B (A few tenths of a degree higher than A?)

3) Chiller #2 will only kick in when #1 cannot hold temp

My $0.02

JC

 

[indaswamp]

Both solid ideas. Thanks for your input. I think water temp. would be the way to do it....chamber temp. in *F -5*F. It would be a moving variable to target...not sure how to do that though.

-Most dew points in the 50 -60 degree range @80% RH are about 6 degrees below temp. so If I target a water temp that is 4-5* below chamber temp. I should be good.

 

[indaswamp]

I'll put a link here...
https://www.smokingmeatforums.com/threads/name-my-new-curing-chamber.315248/

 

[indaswamp]

Just an update...
Went on vacation last week for 9 days. Waiting on the A/C to be serviced in my Uncle's wood shop then I can start on the insulated header for the return air from the dehumidifier. I received a box of electrical stuff from JC in GB last week while I was gone. After the header is installed, I will install the 4th radiator. I also received the thick wall 5/16" tubing I ordered so I can do final install on the TEM chillers.

Might get some work done on it this weekend, have a lot of catching up to do this week though...gotta pay the bills first.

 

[indaswamp]

I pulled the TEM chillers and the radiator/fan assemblies out of the chamber so I could do final install, but I had one more test I wanted to run..
I have been measuring the return water from the radiators to the reservoir and tracking that. I did not have a convenient way to measure the temperature of the TEM outlets to the radiators while operational once the tubing was in place. So I set up to test this. Used 2qts. of water in bucket and set one TEM up with a pump over the bucket to pull water from the bucket and return it. I removed the tubing off the return fitting so I could measure the temp. differential.

The temp of the return tracked 1.2~1.8*F below the reservoir temp....call it 1.5*F. This will come in handy to know when I set up the second TEM in auxiliary mode. If I plan to target 56*F chamber temp., then the dew point will be about 50*F. I want to target no lower than about 51*F as the temp. of the radiator inlet water. So if I put the temp. probe in the reservoir, I need to program the controller to shut the auxiliary TEM off when the reservoir temp. reaches 53*F (can't program in decimal, only whole numbers). I will set the range tight, so when the water temp. rises to 54*F, the auxiliary TEM will turn back on for additional cooling. This will give me the widest delta between chamber temp. and water temp. for the fastest cooling without condensation on the radiators.
Those parameters should work....but I might have to tweak it once operational.