Thread: "Ice Pipe" chiller best practices..

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I want to build one to use sparingly, indoors at a party, at the top of the stairs. I have a big roll of that black 4" corrugated PVC drain pipe, and was going to use maybe a 6-8 foot section with a uniform, gentle curve to it.

Wanted to know if anyone has tried this. I have seen some Youtube vids of shorter, narrower (smooth) PVC ice pipes that seem to work very, very well. Read somewhere that corrugated doesn't work all that well. I think I already have some larger diameter smooth PVC also, will try that as well in some tests.

Comments? Inputs? I am using a 400 watt fogger on a time BTW and want the fog to cascade down the stairs.

TIA

JH

Depending on the number of stairs, it might disapate before reaching the bottom. I built a Vortex-style chiller using a cat litter bucket, the instructions where listed somewhere on the forum but I cant find the link. It works extremely well, mine willflow down about 4 steps before it starts to lift.

I saw the cat litter bucket vortex. Pretty cool. I don't expect it to flow all the way to the bottom. The stairs have a landing halfway, and go up the side of out family room with a railing along one edge. If it flows down to near the landing, and spills though the railings a bit, I will be happy. I will flow it over some white cloth with blue rope lights underneath it, so the effect should be pretty cool....

So did you get this working? Would love to see some pics.

Yep, it works great:

Very nice! Put dry ice on the big day in place of ice.. no water to deal with when the ice melts..especially if you're doing this inside.

? how long is that hose and how much ice did you use???

Its a 4" diameter non perforated drain hose, maybe 5+ feet long. I need it to make about a 12 degree bend where I will put it in my house, so I might try this with some of that smooth drain pip and elbows. I read somewhere that the corrugated stuff interrupts the flow of the fog.

I dumped a 5 lb bag of ice in the pipe, it seemed to fill it just right.

Originally Posted by andjarnic

Very nice! Put dry ice on the big day in place of ice.. no water to deal with when the ice melts..especially if you're doing this inside.

Nobody listens. It seems people like wet floors

I was thinking about sloping the pipe a bit, and drilling a couple holes at the lower end putting it over a pan. But if I can get dry ice easily, I will use that. I know I can buy it at a place about 45 mins away, but don't really want to go that far. I'll check with my nearby iParty.