I need a little help sizing a custom unit for a cheese cave application. I'm finding it's a little more complicated than simply choosing an off the shelf CDU, and may need to go the route of building my own (sourcing compressor, condenser).
The box is a Norlake insulated shell, 6x6x6. Holding temperature of 55F, along with 80%+ RH (very important). Simple math tells me I'll need about 1100btu/hr, with an evap temp around 40/45F. The evaporator coil needs to be oversized to lower the TD, so likely to land on a 1500+ btu coil to hit around 6/7 TD to keep as much humidity in the air as possible.
Does anyone have experience with this? I've checked out Emerson's and Copeland's CDU line, and at that evap temp the minimum BTU rating shoots up to 2000+, which is just WAY too much for this box-- running an evap coil that large isn't feasible, not to mention short cycling. Most of the smallest CDUs I find are 1/6HP, and I think I'm in the 1/10 arena and still might be pushing it.
So now I'm down the hole of just purchasing a standalone 1/10 compressor, and a standalone condenser coil (or bending tube into a makeshift coil with a fan). I'm half tempted to just buy a dorm refrigerator / wine cooler off Craigslist/FBM just for the compressor/condenser coil and pair it up with a low profile reach-in evap coil IF I can pull the specs off the salvaged unit. Will be doing a cap tube for this setup.
Bigger box is an easy solution, but not an option.
That's where I'm at. What would you do different?
[link] [comments]
No comments:
Post a Comment