Okay, so before I go reinventing the wheel, Anybody out there with one of these with a heater option? If so, what does it consist of and how does it work?
Been keeping an eye open for something like that myself. All I found so far is this one
Good price if your are in the US but not for me here in UK.
I have a Cloudray 5200, and need to add heat. They don’t offer it. So far my brilliant plan is an aquarium heater in an external tube and trip the pump manually or a temp controlled relay. I had a decent set up with my mini fridge chiller, but it couldn’t handle the increased production and I had to switch to a real chiller… but the heater i have won’t fit down the filler neck.
What sort of temperature are you trying to get to, the 5000 cools at about 10 degrees below ambient, the 5200 has a refridgerant unit in it, you can set the temperaure to a consistant level but I don’t think that they will heat above ambient.
Read the subject. I have to heat it in the winter to keep the laser tube from freezing. I need info on the heat option.
I’m the same here. I use an aquarium heater to stop freezing. I need to keep the water 15C to 25C per the tube spec. Ambient in winter can be single digit below and 40C. I would love a Chiller but Like you would like one with a heater in it.
My current idea is an aquarium heater in a clear external tube in the return line. I’m thinking a 50W heater in a rain gauge or a spaghetti container and sealed some how. Currently in prototype mode. Would be a LOT simpler if I could find a 50w heater that isn’t outrageously priced I could drop down the 1" pipe filler tube. The aquarium heaters will fit, but the water line in the tank is to far below the minimum water level marks of the heaters I’ve found so far.
Maybe it is just possible to loop in something like this Bosch 2½ Gallon Mini-Tank Water Heater with your existing chiller (modifying the plumbing and electrical a bit).
Or, you could just install a small circulating pump on that (or a similar water heater) and use that independently during the winter.
I’ve played around with a lot of different ideas. The biggest problem I have with a heater like that is the extreme over kill. The 5200 only holds around a gallon or so if my L to Gal is right. And it only takes around 50W to keep everything above freezing. That was with a submersible pump adding to the heat. I might bump it to 100W just to be on the safe side. The other down side is that about the lowest most aquarium heaters will go is 65F ( 18 ), so I may have to bump the temp on the chiller a degree or two C so they don’t fight each other. I have the power side worked out to turn only the pump on and leave the chiller off, so that’s not a worry. I’d love to find a small 50W or 100W heating element about finger size I could drop in the filler tube, but no luck so far.
How cold is the cold where you are. It’s a different tact if you live above the arctic circle or in the mountains of S. California.
I’m in the 3300 ft range so it gets cold, but doesn’t commonly freeze but it’s possible. I keep my ear on the weather service, but it would be nice to have something just in case.
It seems the issue is you really need to start and keep the water moving before it freezes and while it’s possible to freeze.
I have a 5200, living in Phoenix, but the first one was DOA. They had me open it up and check some things, so I googled most of the parts. Pretty simple design…
I thought the 5200 held 6L, about 1.6 gals.
I’m south of Kansas City. Escaped Minnesota several decades ago and never looked back.
With my DIY mini fridge chiller I had an internal submersible pump and a 50W bird bath fake rock heater. Most of the time the excess heat from the pump was enough, but when the coolant got near freezing, then the 50W heater came on.
But now with the chiller, I have no way I can find to put a heater in the tank or in line without spending as much if not more than what I paid for the chiller. Physically, the aquarium heaters will go down the fill tube… except for the control head. That puts the minimum water level for the heaters several inches above the water line in the tank. I have looked at a few different brands in the pet store, and one may be able to be trimmed enough to get the head down far enough to get to the minimum water level. It was only $25, so if I make a mess of it, not a huge loss.
I could put it in some kind of external tube, but it has to be sealed if I want to use the pump internal to the chiller. Electrically it’s pretty simple, it’s the water I’m fighting. I have to drop something small into the filler, or I have to create a sealed compartment for the heater externally.
Once I get it to where it won’t freeze, then I can look at robbing parts from my control box I made for the mini fridge to drop the 65F threshold down to around 40F.
It’s been decades since I messed with aquariums, I thought they had heaters that sit on the bottom…
You also have to ensure it’s circulating when it gets cold.
My first 5202 was DOA, it was HOT here and I used the second output to run a loop of copper tubing in my beer cooler with ice. Worked well and it isolated the coolant, which is distilled water, from the ice bath liquid.
If I remember right most of the controls inside the 5200 are just industrial stuff. You could probably control it, especially the pump.
Don’t know if this helps, but here’s the CW-5000 5200 industrial chiller maintenance manual
I’ve looked at several of the 5200 manuals, and they all mention heating as an option, but no more, no specifics.
Isolating the low voltage pump from the high voltage compressor is an easy change with the DPDT power switch.
The heating of an aquarium is not difficult, it’s getting one of the heating units down a 1" pipe to the minimum water level that’s a problem. Most have the minimum water level an inch or so below the control head. In the chiller, it’s between three and five inches below the top of the fitting. Even the fully submersible ones have enough of a head on them they won’t go down a 1" pipe.
It’s like vapor ware, just a good marketing bid.
Let us know what you come up with. No reason to figure it out if you do…lol
Good luck
According to TEYU ELECTROMECHANICAL CO.,LTD
(the makers of genuine S&A equipment):
1.To prevent the water from freezing, there are two options.
1.1 Adding heating bar
We offer heating bar as an optional item for the refrigeration water chiller. When water temperature is 0.1℃ lower than the set temperature, the heating bar would start to work. For example, the set water temperature is 26℃ and when the water temperature drops to 25.9℃, the heating bar works.
1.2 Adding anti-freezer
This is a solution that many users take. Anti-freezer may comes in many forms,but the most suggested type of anti-freezer would be the one with ethylene glycol as the main component. But please note that since diluted ethylene glycol is still corrosive, the anti-freezer should be drained out in warm days and refill with fresh purified water or clean distilled water. To consult th type and using instruction of anti-freezer, please e-mail to techsupport@teyu.com.cn.
The above mentioned two options can both avoid E3 alarm (ultra-low water temperature alarm).
Another S&A Blog reference here
Then there is this one as well:
In cold areas, the circulating water inside the industrial water cooler t is likely to freeze, which will make the industrial water cooler difficult to start. In this case, a heating rod would be helpful in keeping the circulating water not too cold. When purchasing S&A Teyu industrial water cooler, users need to tell S&A Teyu sales person if they want to add the heating rod in the chiller, for it is the optional item.
I think you could just contact S&A and buy the accessory from them. If you want a DIY option, you might just get an electric pipe warmer wire.
Making good progress. Found a heater that will fit down the fill tube!
The standard Topfin heater has some ribbed ends on it, and they are held in place with a dab of silicone. Pull them off and it slips right down the filler. Only ‘problem’ so far is that the heat tube wants to float and tip sideways once it’s in the tank. Going to look at a mylar tube around the top sitting up the fill tube to stabilize it, or pull the fill tube extension for more room and put some kind of stabilizer beside it.
Took a few pics of the start, will post them and the subsequent pics to my Google Mod Page once I have it figured out.
Could you put it in a tube, like pvc that would sit at the bottom of the tank and make to near the cap.
If the element is ‘in line’ it would hold it vertical and make it easy to remove?
Putting it inside a tube would isolate the heater from the tank water. Putting it in an external tube / tank creates issues with flow. It would have to be sealed to keep enough pressure for the return line back to the main tank.
Current thought is to roll up some thick mylar scrap I have, and fasten it to the top inch or so of the heater leaving several inches above it to fit in the filler tube and act as a stabilizer. With the filler tube extension, that is literally all I have room for around the heater. The fitting on the tank itself is female, so I have toyed with the idea of removing the extension to give me more diameter to play with. If the mylar ‘extension’ works, then it won’t be necessary.
I have a lightobject 800w chiller with heater option. The heater is only rated to keep the water above 15C which is the bottom end of the temp range for the tube. I have an insulated workspace and it has only been getting into the high 50s in the shop even though the average temps have been around 40 throghout the day.
The pump does add heat to the system so as it runs the temp slowly climbs. Obviously running your laser will add heat to the system as well. I was hoping the heater in the LO chiller would heat it to my setpoint like it does for chilling but that is not the case. Seems like a big miss on the design side. Oh well. It won’t freeze.
I don’t know this for sure, haven’t drug out the wattmeter, but I think mine actually performs better at lower temperatures. The main reason is to prevent freezing.
I assume it has to be running all night to heat?