On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 16:06:14 GMT, Ignoramus5533
wrote:

I am thinking of making a homemade TIG water cooler. If I buy a
carbonator pump with motor, and I already have a nice condenser heat
exchanger (actually about 20 of little cute 12" ones), then all I need
in addition is a water reservoir (like a 5 gallon bucket), a 24 v
relay to turn on when my welding machine says so, and a little fan to
cool the heat exchanger. I have a lot of such fans. Am I missing
something?

thanks

i
Many people think that a 5 gallon bucket will supply enough cooling
without a heat exchanger. So maybe you don't need anymore than your
bucket and pump. I built my own (actually, the guy who works for me
did) and put in a bullseye sight into the tank side to check the water
level, a sight above the first sight into the top of the tank to let
enough light in to actually see the level, and another glass tube
sight that sticks above the tank to check for flow. The return hose
connects to this sight.My tank is on top of the welder so it's visible
just by glancing at it. I can see the flow from across the shop when
someone else is welding. There is also a water cooled fuse that is
installed in line with the torch hose. I don't have this yet because
it's back-ordered. You may think all this is overkill. You are
probably right. But I've seen a couple tig cables burn up almost
instantly when the coolant level was low or someone forgot to turn on
the machine. I put a relay in my machine that powers a 115 volt
receptacle. My pump is plugged into this receptacle. So when the
welder is on so is the pump. I see you want to do the same thing. For
people like me who forget things like turning on the pump it's very
nice. Oh, I almost forgot. My tank is sealed except for a 20 micron
filtered vent. I worked in a place that had some kind of open vent and
the coolant inside the tank was full of all kinds of grit. No good for
your pump.
ERS

"Ignoramus5533" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 10:06:20 -0700, Eric R Snow wrote:
On Mon, 24 Oct 2005 16:06:14 GMT, Ignoramus5533
wrote:

I am thinking of making a homemade TIG water cooler. If I buy a
carbonator pump with motor, and I already have a nice condenser heat
exchanger (actually about 20 of little cute 12" ones), then all I need
in addition is a water reservoir (like a 5 gallon bucket), a 24 v
relay to turn on when my welding machine says so, and a little fan to
cool the heat exchanger. I have a lot of such fans. Am I missing
something?

thanks


Thanks Eric, detailed reply below

Many people think that a 5 gallon bucket will supply enough cooling
without a heat exchanger. So maybe you don't need anymore than your
bucket and pump.

Well, I already have over a dozen of these exchangers. So, adding one
is no big deal.

I built my own (actually, the guy who works for me
did) and put in a bullseye sight into the tank side to check the water
level, a sight above the first sight into the top of the tank to let
enough light in to actually see the level, and another glass tube
sight that sticks above the tank to check for flow. The return hose
connects to this sight.My tank is on top of the welder so it's visible
just by glancing at it. I can see the flow from across the shop when
someone else is welding. There is also a water cooled fuse that is
installed in line with the torch hose.

That fuse is a very clever idea.

I don't have this yet because
it's back-ordered. You may think all this is overkill. You are
probably right. But I've seen a couple tig cables burn up almost
instantly when the coolant level was low or someone forgot to turn on
the machine. I put a relay in my machine that powers a 115 volt
receptacle. My pump is plugged into this receptacle. So when the
welder is on so is the pump. I see you want to do the same thing.

Yes, my welding machine has several 24V signal outputs. One of them is
for turning on an external water cooler. My cooler would be turned on
by a relay connected to that 24v output, and would be constantly
plugged in.

For people like me who forget things like turning on the pump it's
very nice.

And only runs the pump when the line is open, another advantage of
using a relay.

Oh, I almost forgot. My tank is sealed except for a 20
micron filtered vent. I worked in a place that had some kind of open
vent and the coolant inside the tank was full of all kinds of
grit. No good for your pump. ERS

Makes sense. I have plenty of grit sometimes, too.

My TIG machine has an inline fuse that is supposed to blow when there is no
water flow, however the one time it ran without water it melted the hose and
didn't blow the fuse. My son turned the water on twice to be sure it was on
Only fun thing about it is when I noticed the valve in the off position
and turned it back on it hosed him down pretty good
YMMV
Glenn