# Flow Problem in Trashcan Chiller



## Armor78154 (Aug 19, 2010)

I have an issue with a trashcan chiller that I built two years ago. I took one of the gray Brute cans from Lowes and assembled it using more than six feet of the round metal ducting on the inside of the can. The inlet is at the top of the can, and the outlet is at the bottom.

I have noticed that when I shoot a stream of fog through the chiller, it seems to "back up" in the can, unless I keep shooting fog through the ducting. Now most times I can achieve a decent amount of fog; however, I feel that I should be getting a lot more from this chiller.

I have thought about adding a fan to the outlet of the chiller. In preparing for this, I went and bought a bilge blower and 12 volt DC power supply. The problem I have with this is that even using a low 3 amp power supply, it is a bit loud...think of King Kong using a hair dryer and you get the point.

I was thinking about using a smaller power supply. I have bought a 12 v 1 amp power adapter that I would have to cut and solder to the fan, but I am not sure if that will be enough amps to drive the motor at all.

Can anyone provide some idea for how to overcome the problem, and if you think the bilge blower might be a good idea, some suggestions on how to reduce the output of the fan so that it isn't so loud.

Thanks everyone. I do hope everyone's haunts are coming along nicely. Time is drawing near.


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## niblique71 (Dec 2, 2009)

Do you have any pictures of the interior?


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## Armor78154 (Aug 19, 2010)

*Images of Chiller*

Here are the images of the chiller:

Interior

http://i432.photobucket.com/albums/qq44/armor78154/Halloween%202010/ChillerInterior.jpg

Outlet

http://i432.photobucket.com/albums/qq44/armor78154/Halloween%202010/ChillerOutlet.jpg

Inlet

http://i432.photobucket.com/albums/qq44/armor78154/Halloween%202010/chillerInlet.jpg


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## corey872 (Jan 10, 2010)

Chillers mostly run on natural convection. Put hot air in, it cools, and flows out the bottom. Having the tube all coiled up like that would tend to kill any natural convection. the fog needs to flow up, down, up again, down again, etc

You might try pulling it all out and arranging it in a spiral - slowly coiling down from the inlet to the outlet, following the wall of the can. Also, double check or eliminate any seams. The draft depends on hot air entering, cooling, and sinking. any leaky seams will allow already cool air in and dilute the effect.


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## Armor78154 (Aug 19, 2010)

Thanks. I will redo the guts of the chiller. I am starting to realize part of my problem is in the construction. My hope was that a fan (turning very slowly) would also help to alleviate some of the problems.


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## Bone Dancer (Oct 7, 2005)

corey872 is right, It's a gravity controled system and the up and down pattern of your tubing is making alot of resistance to the flow of the fog. The spiral configuration should solve most of the problem. I would still experiment with a fan at the exit point. A small muffin fan used to cool computers maybe.


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

I've seen some trashcan chillers that have the pipe from the inlet go directly to the top of the can, in from the side and up through the center. The remaining pipe is then coiled around the central pipe to the exit port at the bottom.
Some have both the inlet and outlet openings at the bottom of the can. The incoming hot fog will naturally rise up the pipe to the top.
And agreed about the muffin fan - I used a 12VDC 4" fan to move chilled fog through a 30" pipe run with the fan at the 15' point. Worked great.


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## Armor78154 (Aug 19, 2010)

How are you powering the fans? I am looking at all the alternatives, but I really don't like the idea of using a computer power supply like some have done in the past. It seems like it raises the potential for shock injuries. I do have a long outlet pipe that I like to pump the fog through, and if the internal structure is fixed, I do think it will help with getting it through the pipe more effectively; however, I do want to have a fan to help clear the fog through the chiller.


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

I used a small 12VDC wart, about 200mA. No problems.


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## Armor78154 (Aug 19, 2010)

Don't mean to ask silly questions, but what do you mean by "wart"?


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## niblique71 (Dec 2, 2009)

I would ditch the interior pipe altogether. Although it will work, it's not nearly as effective as having direct contact with the Ice. I built one like yours 3 years ago, and with some experimentation I came up with this http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=21589

You can easily convert your trash can into something similar and vastly improve your results and completely eliminate any flow problems at the same time.


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## niblique71 (Dec 2, 2009)

Armor78154 said:


> Don't mean to ask silly questions, but what do you mean by "wart"?


A wall wart is one of those little square transformers that you plug directly into a wall. If you have a chordless phone for example, the "Base" unit is most likely powered by a wall wart.

They have many different outputs based on the appliance. Some are 9V-DC and some are 12V-DC etc. They also have different power ratings like 600 Milliamps or 1000 Milliamps. Most of us have several of these laying around from dead appliances which is why we haunters try to use them to power anything from a fan, Motor or LED's. A computer fan most likely will need a 12V output.


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## Armor78154 (Aug 19, 2010)

I redid the inside of the chiller so that the piping is in a spiral now. I also now have run the inlet up through the top of the can, and affixed a 90 degree elbow. I will have to put something under the fog machine so that it can shoot straight into the pipe. I will send pictures and video once I test it out.


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## mudbugntx (Oct 7, 2013)

Armor, one more thing. Do not place the nozzle of the fogger inside the inlet pipe. Give it about a half inch space to allow air to draft in with the fog. This will also give it alittle velocity. If you find you still have little fog flow you might want to try something else. Take out some length of your coils and add more ice in place of it. The key is cooling the fog as soon as possible and as cold as you can get it. You may achieve better results with less coils and more ice thus giving you more velocity from the shorter run.

By the way, how big is your fogger? I use a minimum of a Chauvet Hurricane 1300 on mine.


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