# Other Aquarium Forums > Equipment and Accessories > DIY Projects >  DIY CHILLER FOR LESS THAN $200??

## toledosun

Wonder if any of you noticed the ad on Saturday's paper selling those portable fridges (smaller one about $16 :Cool: .

I was just thinking, could we modify that fridge for use as a chiller by:

1) drilling two holes in it;
2) buying a longer outlet hose for the external filter;
3) shoving as much of the excess length as possible into the fridge through one hole and exiting through the other;

and viola... one chiller for use. From the ad, the chiller's temp can be adjusted up or down so we can use that to control the water temp.

I know the plastic hose may not be a good conductor of heat but this method requires the least amount of work. No need to worry about find a steel container of the right size, making sure no leakage etc.

What do you guys think?

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## loupgarou

there's a topic on this in marine section.

a) if you can find aluminium tubing,. that would be great.

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## tawauboy

may work for a small tank. maybe &amp;lt;2ft.
that dinky little portable fridge works on thermoelectric cooling technology and it has only 55 watts of cooling power. it will work as a fridge as the cooling is within an enclosed volume.
cooling a tank is a different ball game. you are trying to cool something out in the open space. it will need a lot more cooling power. 
a normal 1/4 hp chiller has about 185 watts of cooling power.

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## BFG

Well u may need 2 coil the tube so that it has a longer length of tube in the fridge.

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## tawauboy

yes, you may need to coil the tube but ultimately, it is the cooling power(capacity).

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## SuperRaY

using aluminium waterblock connect to a peltier and the peltier to some giant heatsink with fan. or use another waterblock connected to a radiator to cool the peltier.

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