Holding temps when the shop is over 100

By using the glycol chiller described below, fermenting in my shop, a shed in the backyard that exceeds 100 degrees every day this week (gotta love heat waves), I'm easily maintaining 66 degree (19 C) using water a few degrees above freezing run thru the 3/8 Brewhemoth chiller.

Temp control while fermenting......next best thing to sliced bread.

Constructing a Glycol Chiller

The first step is to remove the front cover, exposing the evaporator coils.

Next, remove the rear cover. You can now see the main components, the compressor, evaporator coil, condenser coil, and fan.

Remove electrical controls and swing out of your way.

Cut bottom of air conditioner off just in front of the compressor mount bolts and the fan mount. Be very careful not to cut into the coil.

Next remove the evaporator fan. If the shaft is in the way you can cut this off too. The condenser fan remains.

Here is the evaporator coil sitting next to the cooler that will be used as the reservoir. The AC unit will have to be raised so that the evap coils can sit inside the cooler without having to bend or twist the copper lines. These are very fragile and with the current cost of R-22, its cheaper to by a new AC rather than fix a goof.

All nestled in and ready to go.

Now for the electric, unplug the motors and remove the capacitor from its clip, don't pull the wires off.

This AC had a digital display, etc, looking at the schematic, you can see two wires from the compressor go to the capacitor, one to the board. Cut the board wire off as long as possible. On the fan motor, two wires go to the capacitor and three to the got to the board. The three wires allow for different speeds on the fan. We are going to use the black wire. Off the capacitor is an orange wire that goes to the board. This is the neutral wire. Using the electric cord from the unit, attach the orange wire to white and the brown and black wires to the black wire on the cord. Securely fasten the green wire to a metal part of the AC. If you are using a Johnson controller, plug the two together put your temp probe in the tank of water (or glycol) and set your temperature. Be sure to place a small fountain pump inside, aimed at the coils to keep the water circulating in order to prevent an ice up.

Thanks for looking, feel free to post questions or comments. If you are not comfortable working with electric, ask for help from a qualified electrician.