Need advice for a water cooling pump

[jitblass]

Hello experts,

I need some advice. I've got a project I'm working on, where I need to continuously pump water through a long copper pipe that loops back to the pump. I want the water to be cooled everytime it loops back around through the pump (or perhaps the cooling device is in series with the water pump). What kind of device would this be? I think I'm basically looking for the same part that cools the water in a ozarka 5 gallon office water cooler, but I may just be making assumptions.

I've done some research online for "water cooler heat exchangers" etc. I can't figure out what part could do this for me. Do you know of an inexpensive part that can cool water that is being pumped through it?

Thanks for the help. Greatly appreciated.

-J.T.-

 

[speedbump]

This is a bit out of my realm of awareness, but one of my refrigerators has the ice/water in the door feature. The way they cool the water is by putting a large coil of 1/4" plastic tubing in the bottom back of the fridge. There is enough tubing there to probably give several glasses of cold water. I suppose you could do the same thing with a small fridge. The biggest challenge would be getting the tubing in and out without leaking cold air.

 

[jitblass]

Thanks for the advice!

I'm hoping to find something that is 1.) a little smaller than a refridgerator to use in my design, and 2.) a more direct transfer of energy (i.e. cool the water directly instead of passing a pipe through a cold atmosphere and cooling by the air around it).

Wanting to enclose this, so a fridge will unfortunately not fit the spec, and I think it would be inefficient. Good thought though, and thank you for the input!

Anyone have a crafty part in mind?

 

[havasu]

I myself would be contacting a local air conditioning repair business. They might have some slightly used parts which may fit your needs.

 

[speedbump]

The only other method I can think of is the same way they cool Freon in a water to air unit. Tightly wrap two coils of copper pipe, one containing the water the other containing the Freon, insulate around the whole mess then allow a compressor to cool and circulate the Freon (which is all majic to me.)

 

[Studhauler]

How much water are we talking about? How cool do you want it? If just back to room temp, you could use a radiator out of a car with a fan behind it.

My grandfather did something like this, but the opposite direction. He pumped water out of the cold lake to an old copper radiator from a tractor. It was mounted in the ducting for his furnace. The water would go back to the lake, or a sprinkler for Grandma to water the lawn. It worked good until the radiator plugged-up with stuff from the lake.

Cody

 

[Studhauler]

You could use something like the heat exchanger that are used on domestic water heater when using an outdoor wood stove.
Here is a link to a picture.

Google Images

here is another.

Google Images