SSPA Water Cooler - Most Parts Ordered

This past weekend I was busy sourcing the various parts of the Water Cooler for the SSPA I'm planning to build this winter.

I want to have a 5 gallon reservoir to start with, I may up that to 10 Gallon depending on how the initial tests go.  W9DR (Dave) did some work with water cooling his BLF188 (which is what I'm using in my amp as well).   In his video seen here he says that in the test he's running there's about a 4 foot 'head' on the water lines from the bucket to the cooler.  He goes on to say he's using 1 Gal in the bucket, and I believe he's pumping at 1 GPM (gal. per minute) through 3/8 inch tubing.  Dave goes on to say that his 1 Gallon bucket has about a 4 degree per hour rise time [with a single pallet].

My amp will have 4 pallets however will still only be running 1.5kW max.  I suspect that this will generate just slightly more heat for the water cooler maybe as much 25-35% more. (the difference between 800-1000 watts and 1.5kW).  I'm just guessing off the top of my head tho.

Assuming Dave's stats on his rise time and gpm are correct, a 5 gallon reservoir PLUS the addition of 2 large radiators with fans should be more than enough to handle the heat.  This is the barrel I've ordered.  (it's similar to the one I used for my DC dummy Load which was 10 Gallons - the price for them both was about the same, so if in doubt and you have the space I'd opt for the 10 Gal. going forward.  But I wanted to keep the foot-print down for this so opted on the 5 Gal. 

The Radiators I ordered are these.










The water pump is this.


The vinyl tubing for the plumping is this.  This stuff 3/8" ID but when heated in boiling water will stretch over the 1/2" barb fittings.  I'll also use hose clamps on the them.

The heat sink is this.  The cooler plates will mount on the flat surface (the bottom in this picture) which when used will be turned upside-down from it's orientation in this photo.
I will likely also add fans to push air through the fins at some point as well.


And these are my cooler plates (I already have these)

These are the valves I'll use (not ordered yet). These will mount flush on the sides of the barrel.  I didn't have to use valves, but it sure makes moving things around much easier if/when that's required.

I'll also want to order a pressure relief valve or a vent that'll mount on the top cover of the barrel.  I haven't looked for that yet, but that should be easy enough to fine.

This stuff all totaled minus a few misc. bits will cost about $500.00.  Not exactly as cheap and simple as just slapping the pallet amp heat spreaders on a large aluminium heat sink and tossing some huge fans on it.   But definitely quieter, and probably more efficient for heat dissipation.  DEFINITELY at lot more fun and interesting to build. :-)

I may swap out the tubing connector with some of these quick disconnect fittings also.