Water chiller options?

[Kirk Gittings]

I just found one of these for $50. I'll see if I can make that work. For the price it's worth a try. https://www.amazon.com/Oasis-Water-C.../dp/B00ESISVCY

[LabRat]

I think that would work for a water jacket, but a low flow for washing, etc... If you used it to fill a tank, then used gravity for feed, you can work it out I think... (I'm expecting the flow output of a water fountain...) The industrial one I have has a strong recirculating pump, but maybe that's not needed...

I think it has possibilities, and worth a try...

Steve K

[Roger Thoms]

I just found one of these for $50. I'll see if I can make that work. For the price it's worth a try. https://www.amazon.com/Oasis-Water-C.../dp/B00ESISVCY

1 GPH, gallon per hour? Sounds to low for darkroom use.

Roger

[IanG]

There's been other threads on this subject. When I'm in Turkey I process all my films 27ºC (just over 78ºF) the summer water temperatureand it's far easier than rying to chill chemistry. We don't have space for a chiller anyway. There's no difference in quality at all between negatives processed at 27ºC or those I process in the UK at 20ºC.

If you want a simple very cheap DIY chiller take a working home fridge apaprt and use the chiller unit & compressor etc - place the chiller in a small tank of waterand run it to almost freezing. I made one this way in the 1970's, I needed water at <2ºC for emulsion making (washing) it worked brilliantly for over a decade and took up very little room, it was fed with deionised water.

Ian

[Kirk Gittings]

I think that would work for a water jacket, but a low flow for washing, etc... If you used it to fill a tank, then used gravity for feed, you can work it out I think... (I'm expecting the flow output of a water fountain...) The industrial one I have has a strong recirculating pump, but maybe that's not needed...

I think it has possibilities, and worth a try...

Steve K

It may not work but it is cheap. I'm not worried about washing temp. I just gradually raise the temp of the after fix rinse tray and then put them in the film washer at ambient temp.

[Kirk Gittings]

There's been other threads on this subject. When I'm in Turkey I process all my films 27ºC (just over 78ºF) the summer water temperatureand it's far easier than rying to chill chemistry. We don't have space for a chiller anyway. There's no difference in quality at all between negatives processed at 27ºC or those I process in the UK at 20ºC.

If you want a simple very cheap DIY chiller take a working home fridge apaprt and use the chiller unit & compressor etc - place the chiller in a small tank of waterand run it to almost freezing. I made one this way in the 1970's, I needed water at <2ºC for emulsion making (washing) it worked brilliantly for over a decade and took up very little room, it was fed with deionised water.

Ian

Here is why I don't want to do 78 degrees. Too short dev. times. Yes I can dilute it further but not with BTZS tubes as the dev. volume is too small to dilute. I like the idea of stripping a small fridge and have one out back. I also have a spare small window air conditioner I could adapt.

[Kirk Gittings]

I think that would work for a water jacket, but a low flow for washing, etc... If you used it to fill a tank, then used gravity for feed, you can work it out I think... (I'm expecting the flow output of a water fountain...) The industrial one I have has a strong recirculating pump, but maybe that's not needed...

I think it has possibilities, and worth a try...

Steve K

Here's what I think I'll try. I will get a small tub for a tempering bath. I'll put a small submersible aquarium pump in it, hook it up to the inlet side of the chiller to push water into the chiller and run the chiller outlet back into the tub.

[bob carnie]

Send the film to Canada its always cold up there.

[CedarMesaPhoto]

I had a big mid-summer commercial project once that involved using several five gallon buckets and some bags of ice to make really cold water, which I then used to mix with tap water to make my chemicals. My tap water is cooler in the morning than later as well, so I plan for that for washing. I have only done that once, usually a couple gallon jugs in the fridge is enough to mix with.

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[Michael Mutmansky]

Someone above mentioned a wort chiller, and that's exactly what I would do for the occasional use like this...

Here's a photo of what they look like:

https://www.google.com/search?q=wort...-K9X3MKz00M%3A

You can put one in an insulated ice cooler and supply chilled water to your DR all day long with a bag or two of ice.

Depending on the flow, it would be easy to get 50 degree water out of something like this, even much cooler, so you can then set the cold/hot mix exactly where you want it. Keep feeding ice in as the ice melts, and you will have a fairly steady flow.

Since it is for the occasional use, this would probably work better and you can put it in storage easily when not needed.

You can make one by getting 1/4" or 3/8" flexible copper tubing at the home center and coil it to fit whatever you want to put it in, and then put some flared or compression connections on the ends to connect it to your water supply at the sink and then to the Jobo or whatever you are connecting it to.


---Michael