2 in one sous vide and ATC system.

Hey guys,

I posted my sous rig in a couple places here on TVWBB and I also mentioned in one of those threads that there were some bugs with the system as built. Namely, the thermocouple is picking up electrical signal noise from the heating elements.

I also, while cooking some veg at 85C the other day, noticed that both the the submersible pump and the acrylic mounting bracket were struggling with the heat. So to avoid the inevitable pump or bracket failure and downtime or danger, I've decided to switch my design up.

My new plan is to use an aquarium air pump to drive an air stone or two in the water container.

I also replaced my thermocouple with a waterproof one from lightobject which should work better, in theory.

Since I've now got an extra thermocouple (PT100), a PID, a solid state relay, and an air mover, I was thinking this could be adapted pretty easily to a homebrew ATC system. It should be easy to swap the heater assembly in the current sous vide rig with an outlet, and then re-mount the heater assembly by itself with a plug.

Has anyone used an aquarium pump to drive a 18" WSM before?

I see that several members posted about using PID's to control a blower for the WSM. My PID (JL612) has an autotune feature, but any input as to proper settings would be welcome as well (although as I write this I realize it depends on the strength of the fan).

I'll post some updates as I work on this project.

Ok, part 1 of this project is complete:

Here's the guts of the box:



Here's the assembled control box being used to control my sous vide heater and power the water pump.





Next step: mount the thermocouple on the WSM and buy a stoker fan or build a blower assembly and mount.

I have thought about this as well, and will follow this thread.
I have a souse vide magic system, with an aquarium pump to create sirculation in the water. I do not really know, but I would guess that the air from a normal aquarium pump is not enough to feed the coals. I guess the coals will get much more oxygen just from the leaks in the WSM alone.

How are you going to feed power to the fan? Use a 110 volt fan?

Yeah the aquarium air pump is certainly not enough airflow after I researched it further, it comes out to less than 1 CFM even though I bought the big double-output one.

I ordered a 20CFM auber fan today, I've been scratching my head about the best way to build one, but without a metal shop at my disposal I don't want to bother fabricating my own. For power I'll pick up a 12V power supply from radio shack and plug it into the 110V control box mains.

The aquarium air pump does great to circulate water at high temperatures that would kill the cheap aquarium water pump I have in there, and I'm going to use it to power a cold smoke generator I'm building as well. But that's another thread.

Dave... the air-stone... based upon numerous applications: I suggest getting a (or even two if your so inclined) stainless steel stones. Used in brewing and while a bit pricey seem as though they last forever with out breaking down. Had mine now for going on three years.