lindsay Posted January 30, 2014 i needed a incubator that wasnt going to climb in temprature as the room temperature climbed beyond the ideal. i already had a old fridge with a thermostat and heat lamp that warmed my cultures. now i just needed to cool them. the project worked great, so i thought i would share. started with a broken old fridge that was delivered to my door with two others for 20 bucks. it cost money for people to dump these at the tip, so they got a great deal and me to. this is thermostat i use on all my incubators, also has a cooling mode. they are cheep, accurate, and reliable and will handle 2000w if needed. for the cooling I am using 2x 60w peltier plates 6amp each(add 12v and one side produces -30℃ the other 70℃) sandwiched between 2x alum cooling blocks. a thermo conductive paste is used between each face of the peltier plate and the cooling block. 2X mini 12v water pumps draws the heat from one side and the cold from the other. i have a 50ltr bucket of water out side, with pump1 in it. and a 4-5 ltr bucket in the top of the freezer part with pump2. the pump in the freezer bucket pumps the water to the cooler on top of the fridge, then goes to the heat exchanger (mini radiator) then back into the bucket. the fan pushes the cold air down into the back of fridge section. the air returns up though the front of the fridge section. today the room temp was at 33c and the fridge kept a nice 19c. the left of the fridge is up against the inside of a outside wall of a weather board house. my guess is, the wall would be easy 42c+. will test with a non-contact termometer tomorrow. have a small aircon in the room to keep it down because i have calocybe indica growing in grow tent and more spawn in the other fridges. 4 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Bush Turkey Posted January 30, 2014 (edited) scroll down in this link to the red buckets. Its the best, most simple setup...... http://www.fungifun.org/English/Pftek But use a water fountain pump as well to circulate the water Edited January 30, 2014 by Bush Turkey 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
watertrade Posted January 31, 2014 H Lindsay, love the setup. I like this kind of stuff. May I ask where you got your bits and pieces from? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lindsay Posted February 2, 2014 (edited) yes hi Bush Turkey that would work. i had one of these made from a 50ltr set inside a 100ltr tub. i used it as a warmer with a 100w fish tank heater and it worked well. it held 8 1/2 gallon jars or 12 quart jars. it looked like this but was covered in insulation. i grew out of it because of the volume i do now. can get 24x 1/2 gallon jars in the fridge with a small gap between. for heating fridges a 75w reptile heater i found effective, a 50w one would just as well. old fridges are also good because they are, already insulated and you just have to open the door to check things out, unless you got it fully loaded. what you use all depends on volume budget and what you have on hand. hi Senior Lurker. i hunted all the parts down through ebay. the aluminium heat exchanger radiator, i see the price has gone up a little. but every thing else is about the same. here are the three main parts you need. all take a 8mm id (inner diameter) hose. http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/231021868292?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649 http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Aluminum-Heat-Exchanger-Radiator-For-PC-CPU-CO2-Laser-Water-Cool-System-Computer-/221363359037?pt=AU_Components&hash=item338a48cd3d http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Aluminum-Water-Liquid-Block-Thermoelectric-Cooling-Module-Plate-/390713433603?pt=AU_Components&hash=item5af855de03 the fan runs a air Flow of 38CFM, you don't need more than that. buy the time the air flow meets the resistance of the radiator then the coreflute funnel I made you can hardly even feel the air flow in the fridge. ideally you don't need any turbulence in your cultures. buy the way every thing is 12v. Edited February 2, 2014 by lindsay 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
lindsay Posted March 31, 2014 (edited) very happy with the set and forget of this setup. with 2 of these thermostats- they are very well calibrated. (have tested 4 of these together) one controlling the cold and the other controlling the heat, I have been able to keep the temp within 1 oC either side of 25 oC. my spawn room has been from 15 oC early morn to 31 oC evening. Edited March 31, 2014 by lindsay Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
