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

[indaswamp]

Went ahead and ordered the Noctua PWM controller, some cable splitters and cable extensions. That will arrive next Monday. Two of the fans will arrive Tuesday, the other two will not arrive until Weds. 27th... Darn! This should be the last tweak I needed to make before my chamber is exactly how I need it to be. Will have independent control of all three major variables-Temperature, Humidity, AND Air Flow! I am excited to see this project completed!!

 

[indaswamp]

Decided to go ahead and enlarge the PVC fitting size I use for the dH refrigerator. I thought I had used 1 1/2" fittings but on inspection, It was 1 1/4" PVC. Well that explains the slow airflow issues I was having. I am replacing with 2" fittings and 2.5" PVC wood working dust vac. hose. That oversized duct should severely reduce resistance in the line.
A 2" PVC pipe is 2 3/8" O.D. and it will barely fit inside the PVC header I made....but it will fit. Redrilling the hole with a hole saw will be fun. Going to have to use a piece of plywood as a jig to keep the hole saw centered but it should work. I'll work on that while the new fans are in transit.

 

[JC in GB]

Decided to go ahead and enlarge the PVC fitting size I use for the dH refrigerator. I thought I had used 1 1/2" fittings but on inspection, It was 1 1/4" PVC. Well that explains the slow airflow issues I was having. I am replacing with 2" fittings and 2.5" PVC wood working dust vac. hose. That oversized duct should severely reduce resistance in the line.
A 2" PVC pipe is 2 3/8" dia. and it will barely fit inside the PVC header I made....but it will fit. Redrilling the hole with a hole saw will be fun. Going to have to use a piece of plywood as a jig to keep the hole saw centered but it should work. I'll work on that while the new fans are in transit.

The fine tuning took the longest for me it seemed too. You will get it dialed in perfectly.

JC

 

[indaswamp]

One thing of note too...
When I increased the airflow through the dH fridge, the RH% of the return air increased with the larger volume of air, but it is only 3-5%RH below the chamber RH% and entering the chamber @50*F. The entire chamber volume gets replaced in less than 4 minutes, so very responsive dehumidification and no worries about cold dry air hitting the hanging product. I like that a lot.....

 

[JC in GB]

One thing of note too...
When I increased the airflow through the dH fridge, the RH% of the return air increased with the larger volume of air, but it is only 3-5%RH below the chamber RH% @50*F. The entire chamber volume gets replaced in less than 4 minutes, so very responsive dehumidification and no worries about cold dry air hitting the hanging product. I like that a lot.....

That is really nice. You really dug right into the tiny details for this.

 

[indaswamp]

That is really nice. You really dug right into the tiny details for this.

Also, that giant aluminum plate on the back wall acts as one huge heat sink with cold air flowing down the back side of it. That is another reason why I can cool down the chamber so fast with the limited cooling capacity I have available. I contemplated fabricating some long, thin aluminum fins to add to the back of the plate, but that was before I knew I needed the dH fridge. With the addition of the dH fridge for initial cool down, I don't think I need to add the fins from the left over aluminum I will have available.

 

[indaswamp]

...with the increased air flow through the dH fridge, and using that for initial cool down, it only takes a little less than 2.5 hours to cool the chamber from 70*F to 56*F.

 

[indaswamp]

Air speed inside the chamber was the last piece of the puzzle. You should have seen my face when I found that little Noctua PWM controller on Amazon while researching the fans I needed to buy....the seas parted....light shined from heaven...LOL!!!!

Now for all the puzzle pieces to arrive by mail!!!!LOL!!!!

 

[indaswamp]

I have an idea on the back burner for a mechanical water level float in the reservoir so I can see the level at a glance without getting on a step stool and peaking in the reservoir jug......but that is low priority until the chamber is fully operation with full control over all parameters...... would hate for the pumps to stop pumping water because the reservoir level is too low...and mess up the TEM chips....and have the chamber warm up......


Unless you know of a cheap 12v digital level indicator with an LED screen that I could hook up.....

 

[indaswamp]

Now it is showing my fans will arrive on Monday. That would be Great!

 

[indaswamp]

So I have learned that the snowman Chiller heat sink is actually a CPU cooler. I had no idea they made those for computers as I don't do any online gaming or high-powered computer graphics. Apparently there are a lot of companies that make them. You can buy the peltier chips, the aluminum fluid block, thermal paste and build your own TEM chillers. Noctua makes one with 140mm fans that is almost 7" tall. Massive surface area for massive cooling...

 

[JC in GB]

So I have learned that the snowman Chiller heat sink is actually a CPU cooler. I had no idea they made those for computers as I don't do any online gaming or high-powered computer graphics. Apparently there are a lot of companies that make them. You can buy the peltier chips, the aluminum fluid block, thermal paste and build your own TEM chillers. Noctua makes one with 140mm fans that is almost 7" tall. Massive surface area for massive cooling...

Right. I knew that they were used for CPU coolers. That is where I got the idea in the first place. LOL. I just went to Aliexpress for inexpensive parts.

If you upgrade in the future, maybe you can use one of those larger modules?

Thanks for sharing all this additional info. It will be helpful in the future for sure.

JC

 

[indaswamp]

I saw a CPU cooler rated for 250Watts....

Wish I had known they were CPU coolers when my aliexpress account got hacked, would have made sourcing parts easier. LOL!

 

[indaswamp]

I have the upgraded 2" fittings and 2 1/2" dust collection hose installed in the dH fridge along with the new fans. The fans fit inside the 2" PVC so I re-fabricated new mounts inside the 2" PVC for the fans. this will help with noise and prevent accidentally touching the fan blades with something.

Made progress on the baffle extension and new clips for the for the 80x80x25mm PWM 4 pin fans. Hope to have that finished up in the next two days when the fans arrive Thursday.

The little Noctua PWM controller arrived today. I wired it up and plugged a PWM 4 pin fan into it...IT WORKS! That little beauty is gonna be awesome once I am finished! WOOHOO!!! I am excited to see this thing 100% complete! So much R&D on this chamber, but it will perform beautifully once it is all done! And I will know every inch of it inside and out for trouble shooting and maintenance down the road.

 

[indaswamp]

JC in GB , I found this..
https://koolance.com/liquid-coolant

Probably better than deionized water for the long term.

And this...
https://koolance.com/flow-meters

Cool site with a bunch of good stuff. I plan on adding a flow meter in the future with digital screen.

 

[JC in GB]

JC in GB , I found this..
https://koolance.com/liquid-coolant

Probably better than deionized water for the long term.

And this...
https://koolance.com/flow-meters

Cool site with a bunch of good stuff. I plan on adding a flow meter in the future with digital screen.

Awesome info. I was wondering if there was something like that available. and now.... I know..

JC

 

[indaswamp]

I still need to verify that this fluid is compatible with aluminum radiators...

 

[JC in GB]

I still need to verify that this fluid is compatible with aluminum radiators...

Do they build other kinds? Copper would be way to $$$

I would also be concerned with how it reacts with plastic and rubber kind of stuff.

 

[JC in GB]

JC in GB , I found this..
https://koolance.com/liquid-coolant

Probably better than deionized water for the long term.

And this...
https://koolance.com/flow-meters

Cool site with a bunch of good stuff. I plan on adding a flow meter in the future with digital screen.

Just checked out the flow meter. Very cool speed goody for the chamber.

 

[indaswamp]

Do they build other kinds? Copper would be way to $$$

I would also be concerned with how it reacts with plastic and rubber kind of stuff.

It should not affect plastic nor rubber....