Copper Rod for Cooling
Copper Rod for Cooling
(OP)
Hi Everyone,
I have an interesting problem that I hope you can
help with. I am building an insulated wine storage
cabinet with a volume of about 13.5 cu ft. The outside
is solid wood and the inside is lined with 1" rigid
foam.
I heard that you can "cool" a cabinet by driving
large copper rods into the ground and have them
stick into the cabinet.
The question is how can I calculate the size and
number of rods that I would need?
Here are some other parameters:
1) We should be able to determine the performance
of the insulation.
2) We should be able to determine the performance of
the dual-pane cabinet glass door.
3) The temperature of the ground at 6' is steady at
62 deg F year round (Santa Clara, California)
4) The temp inside the cabinet does not have to change fast.
5) The ambient temp of the room averages 74 deg F
6) The cabinet is made of 3/4 cherry with a 1" quartzite
counter top covering it.
7) 1"-2" (10 feet long) copper rod is very expensive
The next material down the list of thermal conductivity
is significantly worse and the only thing better is
diamond :)
Is there some way to determine what would work?
Thanks,
Victor
I have an interesting problem that I hope you can
help with. I am building an insulated wine storage
cabinet with a volume of about 13.5 cu ft. The outside
is solid wood and the inside is lined with 1" rigid
foam.
I heard that you can "cool" a cabinet by driving
large copper rods into the ground and have them
stick into the cabinet.
The question is how can I calculate the size and
number of rods that I would need?
Here are some other parameters:
1) We should be able to determine the performance
of the insulation.
2) We should be able to determine the performance of
the dual-pane cabinet glass door.
3) The temperature of the ground at 6' is steady at
62 deg F year round (Santa Clara, California)
4) The temp inside the cabinet does not have to change fast.
5) The ambient temp of the room averages 74 deg F
6) The cabinet is made of 3/4 cherry with a 1" quartzite
counter top covering it.
7) 1"-2" (10 feet long) copper rod is very expensive
The next material down the list of thermal conductivity
is significantly worse and the only thing better is
diamond :)
Is there some way to determine what would work?
Thanks,
Victor





RE: Copper Rod for Cooling
You have the ground as a source of 62F.
You can't get there from here.
RE: Copper Rod for Cooling
62 is better than 74 though.
RE: Copper Rod for Cooling
RE: Copper Rod for Cooling
The can't be driven, but holes would need to be bored and then back filled around them. They are passive.
How cool is the ground 12' down? My hunch is that you should be able to get within 5deg of that temp.
= = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = =
Plymouth Tube
RE: Copper Rod for Cooling
Wine cellars are called cellars for a reason. If there were an easier way, it would already be done that way. The alternatives are non-passive cooling.
RE: Copper Rod for Cooling
TTFN
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