Winterizing your C02 laser with an aquarium heater and aluminum tank instead of antifreeze.

[@raysalvador7573]

Where do you live? Im about to hit my first winter with a laser machine and might have to go the route youve taken

[@RichardThompsonCA]

I'm a couple hours east of Toronto. It's currently 0 degrees celcius outside and about 4 in my garage. Sometimes it can get down to -30 outside. My garage never goes to less than maybe -5. It's working great so far, but I'll post an update in the comments come spring. The only problem is if there's a power outage. The aquarium heater is set to 17 degrees (it's lowest allowed) but if the power goes out it comes back on with a set point of 27 degrees. This causes it to fight with the chiller. I'm thinking of keeping the heating element but cutting off the electronics and replacing with an arduino (programable microcontroller). Or find a heater than keeps it's setting through a power cycle.

[@archys7]

Do you considered to isolate water tubes? Or make a case for chiller, for freezing temperatures, With option to open it when you are operating on laser?

[@RichardThompsonCA]

@@archys7 Isolating the tubes alone won't keep them warm, I'll still need a heater, same if I make a case for the chiller. Both of which would take up precious room in my garage that I just don't have. This solution is quite small, cheap and is working very well.

[@archys7]

@@RichardThompsonCA i meant this with a heater together, i am just about heating efficiency👍

[@RichardThompsonCA]

@@archys7 I see what you mean, insulating the whole thing, instead of letting it sit in the cold would help the heater work less. I think it would be more work/cost for little reward. My garage never gets down below about 2 degrees celcius and I don't think the heater uses that much electricity to keep it warm. It doesn't seem to run much. Also, I only need to run it for a couple of months in the winter. I would imagine in certain situation it could definitely help.

[@hughmacdiarmid]

Does the system circulate the water continually? what's stopping the water in the laser tube freezing while the water in the tank is a nice temp. I'm in Calgary and thinking about building a CO2 laser.

[@RichardThompsonCA]

I let my chiller run continuously, even when the laser is off. It won't chill if the water temp doesn't rise but the internal pump keeps the water flowing through the system.

[@RichardThompsonCA]

If you've got a different method for winterizing your laser let everyone know in the comments below. Thanks. Edit: The one problem I've noticed with this is that if the power goes out, even for a moment, the aquarium heater resets to it's default temp which is 27 celcius. This causes it to trigger the cooler, and the two start an endless cycle trying to fight each other. I'm not sure how to fix this. Maybe use the existing heating element and replace the brain with an arduino, or find a replacement that keeps it's set temp through power loss.