controlling FV temperature with solenoid valve

[barneey]

I`m still a little undecided on which way to control things using the maxi 110, whether to go down the solenoid route or the switching of the pump anyone got any updates on this please.
Cheers

[bigrichlock]

Im still doing the cooling lark pretty basically at the moment and just turning the Maxi on and off via a STC1000, works pretty well . i do like the idea of using solenoids as in effect you could cool multiple fermenters from the one cooler or run a bank of coolers and give redundancy or a greater cooling capacity across the multiple conicals.

Rich

[barneey]

Are you actually switching the Maxi on and off.

OR just the internal pump on and off leaving the maxi to control the bath.

Cheers

[bigrichlock]

Yep currently the maxi is getting switched on and off, have thought about just controlling the pump but not sure its worth the effort? and not sure if the python line will just freeze up?

Rich

[barneey]

With mine at the moment, the built in thermostat does a fairly good job at providing an ice bank and controlling the switching of the compressor, being a maxi 110 it gets an ice bank quite quickly.



So I think I prefer the idea of leaving the thing switched on and just controlling the pump as and when needed and not having to use a solenoid, having had a chat with WB last week however I`m now thinking about adding a heater into the loop to provide heat if and when required BUT I cant think of away to do this without using 2 solenoids to separate the Rimms & maxi parts.

Am I making this too complicated and just use the soil heater + switch the maxi pump + STC to control both?

As an experiment I`ve disconnected the pump, left the maxi on to see what happen, I`ve also read on an old post (vossey) that he had either moved the recirc pipework or had insulated it in someway.

Again ideas & thoughts very welcome.

Cheers

[mrlard]

I have just rewired the pump to an stc1000 leaving the chiller on all the time - never had any problems. As for heating i just use a heating belt no need for any great deal of heat this time of year.

this winter i plan to use my HERMS pot not sure how thats going to work yet

[darkonnis]

Hmmm, I'm about to encounter this problem myself!

Is there any real issue with just turning it on/off again? I assumed like a fridge this would work just fine for a single FV, obviously with 2 FV's you need more control either with a solenoid or pump.

Humour me a second please guys, how big exactly is the maxi reservoir? I might be being dumb, indeed, it does happen, but if freezing is a problem couldn't you just put methanol or ethanol in with water at a 30:70 mix. You could even go less than that as cheap Vodkat doesn't freeze much either and thats 20%, if you want an icebank go as low as 5% or 10% which wouldn't stop it freezing but would slow the process. The viscosity isn't much different from water nor and the density isn't too far off. At those low concentrations it won't ignite..... Can't see a problem but then, I mine hasn't turned up yet :/

Cheers
Cooky

[barneey]

Having been experimenting with mine over the last couple of days, leaving it switch on with the pump disconnected doesn't seem to freeze anymore than it should, connect the pipework back up again and the pump still runs as normal.

Having spoke with WB again, I`m going to trial the all in one approach of a single coil and stick a 150w heater in the pipework, everything is then left switched off until needed. Just waiting for the heater to arrive now. Failing that the soil heater is always in the box.

[darkonnis]

Thats good to know. I'm going to go grab some copper pipe tomorrow aswell as some spade fittings (any ideas on size?) and a plug (3A or 13A?) then as soon as my brew is done and out of the FV the build will begin...
Anyone seen one of these before? I've enquired a price but thus far I'm unimpressed by the lack of heating function when I know it'll cost a fortune


That said, now I've got the maxi infront of me it makes perfect sense how to run 2 conicals off it.... if only I had another conical....

[Kev888]

Wen I considered this I decided switching the pump would be better than the whole cooler; if the FV needed no cooling for a while then the cooler's icebank could begin to melt and have to be rebuilt, and it just seems more responsive and repeatable to be controlling a cold reservoir thats constantly on tap and of a consistent temperature. I'd also wondered if maybe cycling the cooler with an extermal thermostat could in some cases increase the frequency or duration of on/off cycles over whatever was intended by the designers.

As you may have seen I actually decided to put in a bottom drain and use separate solar pumps for my FV recirc, partly in order to leave even the main pump running as normal and partly to better control several FVs, but its not been tried as yet (between issues at work and family health, I'm barely getting time to visit JBK, let alone complete the projects I started).

Cheers
Kev