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Thread: Heat Pipes are COOL, but are the practical?

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    Default Heat Pipes are COOL, but are the practical?

    No excuses, this is the germ of another one of my Crazy ideas, but I'm looking at options to cool a Hydro Resovoir on the cheap, my target temp is 18C or thereabouts, so here are my thoughts:

    First a bit about Heat pipes, a Heat pipe dosen't actually cool, well, it sort of does by moving heat, think of it as a Heat exchanger, most Computers use them for exactly that purpose, they are the copper pipes that 'Shunt' heat from the CPU to the fan to keep it cool, NASA did a lot of research into them and their Papers are available if you look for them.
    CPU Coolers use them and contain a small amount of coolant, probably just water under a partial vacuum. if heat is applied at one end, it boils at a lower temperature, because of the partial vacuum, the vapour then travels up the Heat Pipe where it is cooled by Fans, wher it gives up heat. Then it re-condences and falls back to the bottom of the heat pipe to start the process all over again, so in effect, it moves heat, how cool is that.
    I was pondering, we have fans in our grow tents, these could be used for cooling the Heat pipe evaporator end, simple heat pipes are made by many people, look them up on Youtube, there are loads, some using a variety of coolants, some are highly combustable and would put most 'Experimenters' off, but they make fridges using Propane as the coolant.
    Picking the right coolant one is the key, as a simple Heat Pipe can and are made from a length of copper pipe and two end caps, and of course the coolant, and that's it!
    Well, I have a few lengths of copper pipe in my shed and a few Compression End Caps, and a bottle of Acetone, and a Blowtorch, Eeeek!, (Yes I am fully aware this is flammable, my eyebrows will grow back eventually I guess!), if it works and I pick the right coolant for my needs, I would solder the Compression fittings afterwards.
    Has anybody ever used a D.I.Y, Heat pipe for cooling Nutes in a Grow before, I feel an experiment coming on
    I am thinking outside the Box again, what am I like..........

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    Errrr, Well in my defence, I did say it was another of my crazy idea's and I kind of let it get away from me, I do think it would work but only IF the air that's cooling the top of the heat pipe is cooler than the Nutes. But as we all must know, the top of the tent isn't exactly cool and this is where the Heat Pipe would be. So, the cooling air would have to come from the inlet side of the Tent, this would have to be ducted and 'Still' be cooler than the nutes, whether the sheer volume of air would work, I have my doubts, I will still try it though, as I am forever the optomist. I just found half a can of Pipe Freezer Spray, i Used when a pipe split a few years back and I had to replace a section, I couldn't isolate.
    That's the Law's Physics, and I guess and another 'Brilliant' Idea up the Swannee, fortunately for me, It didn't cost me anything as I had all the parts in my 'Shed' of many wonders
    Hang on, they use Heat Pipes in some Wine Chillers, how does that work then, Oh bugger, here we go again!

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    Quote Originally Posted by Techead View Post
    Errrr, Well in my defence, I did say it was another of my crazy idea's and I kind of let it get away from me, I do think it would work but only IF the air that's cooling the top of the heat pipe is cooler than the Nutes. But as we all must know, the top of the tent isn't exactly cool and this is where the Heat Pipe would be. So, the cooling air would have to come from the inlet side of the Tent, this would have to be ducted and 'Still' be cooler than the nutes, whether the sheer volume of air would work, I have my doubts, I will still try it though, as I am forever the optomist. I just found half a can of Pipe Freezer Spray, i Used when a pipe split a few years back and I had to replace a section, I couldn't isolate.
    That's the Law's Physics, and I guess and another 'Brilliant' Idea up the Swannee, fortunately for me, It didn't cost me anything as I had all the parts in my 'Shed' of many wonders
    Hang on, they use Heat Pipes in some Wine Chillers, how does that work then, Oh bugger, here we go again!
    Ahhh, a bit more research regarding my 'Idea' to cool Nutes with a Heatpipe, it won't actually work as it violates the rules of Thermodynamics, even a well-designed CPU Cooler, using Heat Pipes doesn't achieve this, so this idea is dead in the water, (Should that be Nutes?), I think Peltier cooling, is the best way forwards for me to maintain the Nutes at 18c, there are other methods, but these involve a compressor. Techead has 'Egg' on his Face, for being stupid.

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    How big is the reservoir?

    Peltier cooling is inefficient, especially of you’re talking about cooling a reasonable volume.

    Probably just easier to run Silver Bullet Roots & clean the reservoir in between refills.
    B1unt XIII: Chemdogging & Sour Diesel - https://www.thctalk.com/cannabis-for...post1071304159

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    Quote Originally Posted by B1unt View Post
    How big is the reservoir?

    Peltier cooling is inefficient, especially of you’re talking about cooling a reasonable volume.

    Probably just easier to run Silver Bullet Roots & clean the reservoir in between refills.
    Hi B1unt, Personally not heard of that, but I will investigate it, thanks for the info.
    Ideally, my reservoir will be quite small and topped up with a gravity feed, with just PH balanced water, my reasoning on this, is I don't want the unused nutes to accumulate in the resovoir and overdose the plant, hope this helps.

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