TIG torch water cooler on the cheap??

benmychree said:
A carbonator pump pumps water into a carbonator unit that injects carbon dioxide into the water, think soft drink machine that carbonate, refrigerates, and mixes flavored syrups with the water at your favorite burger joint; the pumps are a carbon vane type pump and mount directly onto a special motor.
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Have a buddy at work who made his TIG cooler using the idea. The pump/set up started out life as a drink dispenser at a bar. I'll see if he can send me some photos.

Bruce
 
I see the HTP Arctic Chill 5460 is $449 with free shipping. Much bigger capacity. This Old Tony received one of these from USA Weld for a present. He made some changes to make the fan quieter etc. Works great.
So, anybody tried one of these cheapos?
 
Jeff , you said cheap. You don't even have to worry about the coolant going bad. Any circulating pump with a reservoir will work. If you want to be fancy just add a small radiator and fan.
 
And do yourself a favor, add some antifreeze to the mix, even if you're not in a cold climate it keeps the bacteria down.
 
Nutfarmer said:
Jeff , you said cheap. You don't even have to worry about the coolant going bad. Any circulating pump with a reservoir will work. If you want to be fancy just add a small radiator and fan.
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We had one at work that was a small coil of 3/8" copper tubing, a 1 gallon tank with a cheesy pump & a small fan (maybe $50 total), and it ran for years. No fancy controls, you turned on the disconnect for the welder and it came on. I think they had more in the fittings to hook it up than the cooler itself.
 
Nutfarmer said:
I just run water through the torch from the hose bib and move the discharge hose once in awhile to water the shrubs around the house.
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This is by far the cheapest. But depending on the quality of your tap water, you might wind up with mineral deposits in your TIG torch if you use it a lot. If you have hard water you might want to avoid the "once-through" approach. Circulating systems can use distilled water to avoid the minerals.
 
Just a quick note about carbonator pumps: they're usually pretty high pressure / high volume and have a 1/4 or 1/3 hp motor which means a lot of wasted power; plus they're noisy.

Look into a submersible aquarium or pond pump. Cheap with adequate volume and pretty noiseless. One of these in a bucket with some hoses and fittings is probably 50 bucks or so.

YMMV

Stu
 
10 liters a minute seems adequate for lower amperage
 
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