Thread: Build Your Own "Vortex Fusion" Chiller

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Insanity, That's not how his is set up. The fog machine is pointed into the lower tube in the pictures, not the one that is turned up. At least that's what it looks like to me.

Originally Posted by serialc0d3

yep, you got it..
You can also reverse it too and it works the same athough the way the vortex is designed, it expands up through the ice rather then down.

I had a question about that too, but it looks like it works either way.

The way the chiller works is it goes in and UP then sinks and goes through the ice to cool and then out.
The fog can not go up and in the tube cooled.Remember, heat rises and cold sinks.The fog is really warm if you put your hand near it.Give it a try.If the ice does it's job it will have cooled the fog and made it more dense and thus it sinks.


EDIT:
I will leave my original post here but will add that after looking at all this more carefully, your right.It is set up that way.
I now see why the question was asked about the fog going back out.
It seems though that the way I have it makes more sense giving the property of the fog before and after.
Not sure how warm fog can go up through ice getting cold and not sink right back down.It cant rise as much cooled down let alone up and over into a pipe.
It seems to me what you want to do is force warm fog though a cooling process ( ice ) and then out through a lower outlet.


From the manual of the original Vortex chiller:
When using your chiller be certain that you direct your incoming fog into the fog inlet which is open to the expansion chamber area of the chiller.Expanding fog will naturally force it's way through the ice canopy above and out the vortex port.

So it looks like it does go up through the ice and then out ....
Im going to have to try both ways and see whats better.

I made a chiller out of a large black plastic storage bin. I made a cage out of pvc pipe and actually attached a squirrel cage fan to blow air thru the pvc to force the fog out of the chill chamber. I have the ice above and to the sides of the chamber and the fog comes in on one end and out the other. It works well, but I noticed that fog does come out through the lid above the ice. This leads me to believe that your design is correct and more efficient. My next chiller will use the concept of fog being forced into an expansion chamber and then rising up through a cooling section. I once saw a chiller using a heater core from a car. A small pump circulated chilled water at a constant rate from a large bucket of ice. Since the heater core has uniform openings, the fog flow was very good, and the contact area to cool the fog was also high.

Good job on your chiller.

Spinman

Originally Posted by Insanity

The way the chiller works is it goes in and UP then sinks and goes through the ice to cool and then out.
The fog can not go up and in the tube cooled.Remember, heat rises and cold sinks.The fog is really warm if you put your hand near it.Give it a try.If the ice does it's job it will have cooled the fog and made it more dense and thus it sinks.


EDIT:
I will leave my original post here but will add that after looking at all this more carefully, your right.It is set up that way.
I now see why the question was asked about the fog going back out.
It seems though that the way I have it makes more sense giving the property of the fog before and after.
Not sure how warm fog can go up through ice getting cold and not sink right back down.It cant rise as much cooled down let alone up and over into a pipe.
It seems to me what you want to do is force warm fog though a cooling process ( ice ) and then out through a lower outlet.


From the manual of the original Vortex chiller:
When using your chiller be certain that you direct your incoming fog into the fog inlet which is open to the expansion chamber area of the chiller.Expanding fog will naturally force it's way through the ice canopy above and out the vortex port.

So it looks like it does go up through the ice and then out ....
Im going to have to try both ways and see whats better.

Your right. The hot fog is pumped into the expansion area (bottom) and then it naturally expands up through the fog and then down the output tube.
It will work either way although this method is what this style of chiller is built to do.
If you pump it in backwards, the hot fog is getting slammed into the lid and forced through the ice rather than naturally. It also makes the lid leak more fog this way.
Both ways might work fine although i'm not sure why you would do it backwards since it would cause the lid to leak and then loosing some of your volume.

Originally Posted by spinman1949

I made a chiller out of a large black plastic storage bin. I made a cage out of pvc pipe and actually attached a squirrel cage fan to blow air thru the pvc to force the fog out of the chill chamber. I have the ice above and to the sides of the chamber and the fog comes in on one end and out the other. It works well, but I noticed that fog does come out through the lid above the ice. This leads me to believe that your design is correct and more efficient. My next chiller will use the concept of fog being forced into an expansion chamber and then rising up through a cooling section. I once saw a chiller using a heater core from a car. A small pump circulated chilled water at a constant rate from a large bucket of ice. Since the heater core has uniform openings, the fog flow was very good, and the contact area to cool the fog was also high.

Good job on your chiller.

Spinman

I acutally thought about dismantling an airconditioner and building a heat exchanger with it but figured it's not worth it. (for now anyways )

Thanks!

Someone got a video of this thing in action?

Originally Posted by Fatman

Someone got a video of this thing in action?

Similar vortex chiller video can be found on you tube here.

Video no longer available, lol.

Similar vortex chiller video can be found on you tube here.

Click Here.


Last night I tried what this guy did with a 1000w fog machine, 5ft 3" ABS pipe, a mesh screen and 1 lbs of dry ice for a similar and VERY CHEAP effect!

Click Here.

Purchased From Home Depot

10ft ABS Pipe $12.49 (cut into half to be used later with 2 400w foggers waiting to be delivered)
16"X8" Roof Mesh Screen $ 3.34 (Also cut in half)
1lb of dry ice $1.83

Total: $15.83 (not including the dry ice) = $7.92 per fog machine (No drilling or spending much time on the construction) Good for those who don't have much time and want a simiple construction.

To find dry ice click here: Enter your ZIP code, uncheck Branch/Store and check mark Penguin Brand Dry Ice Retailer.