Ozbow

Going to try overriding the simmerstat on my laminating heat strips with this digital thermostat. It has adjustable set point & dead-band and works on both heating and cooling functions between -20C and 100C. It also displays the current temperature of the probe and is just over $20 posted. Has anyone tried this? Seems like it could also be ideal for converting a chest freezer into a home brew keg fridge (or meat chiller) .
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/281280638271 ... EBIDX%3AIT Cheers... Rod

I bought two of them Rod and cooked both trying to wire them with my extremely limited knowledge of circuitry. ! Think they would work though if someone like yourself hooked them up properly!

I use one of these in my hotbox -

http://www.ozbow.net/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=34&t=15146

My heat source is lacking but the controller works perfectly. I'm looking into getting one for the home brew, a little down the track.

Hi Rod,

It looks like a neat unit but I was wondering about the diameter of the probe and if it would distort under the pressure between the metal strip and the glass back.

rodlonq wrote:......Seems like it could also be ideal for converting a chest freezer into a home brew keg fridge.....

When modifying the freezer to take my beer kegs I removed the freezer thermostat and replaced it with a drink chiller thermostat. From memory it cost about $25.00.

Daryl.

greybeard wrote:Hi Rod,

It looks like a neat unit but I was wondering about the diameter of the probe and if it would distort under the pressure between the metal strip and the glass back.

Daryl.

Hi Daryl,

I drilled a hole into the middle of the form the same diameter (sliding fit) as the probe, right next to the lower pressure strip. I reckon the temperature there will be much the same as the bow so it is more than accurate enough, considering the whole lot is at steady state for a couple of hours. I have a similar hole in all my forms so I can use the one probe for them all. This means I don't have to worry about the probe during lay up and I put it in the hole when I turn on the heat strips. I intend to swap the thermometer probe pictured for the thermostat controller probe.

Sorry about the photo quality, it is a very small section cropped out of a larger photo and blown up.

Cheers... Rod

Hi Rod,

I was using a probe thermometer between the pressure strip and glass on the top side towards the end of the bow. For some unknown reason I decided to use a probe at either end to see if there was a temperature and sure enough there was about ten degrees difference.

I colour coded the probes and swapped their positions with the next bow and sure enough there was a similar temperature difference.

With my next glueup I will lay a heat strip in from each end to see if that balances the temperature.

Alternatively the temperature difference may not be big enough to worry about.

Daryl.

That's interesting Daryl. I have never tested the temperature at different locations. Being a resistive heating element the heat strips should have fairly uniform power density, at least that is what I have found with similar silicone heating devices in the past. I might drill some more holes and have a look, can't really do any harm. I would do the same thing with a probe like yours instead of sticking it between the pressure strip and the glass.

Cheers... Rod

I tell untruths . I have the probe under the top pressure strip on my straight laid form. Cheers... Rod