Winterize Your CO2 Laser - Alternative Aquarium Heater Approach

I was afraid the water inside my glass CO2 laser tube would freeze and crack the glass during the freezing winter months out in my unheated and uninsulated garage. Neither of the aquarium heaters I bought would fit in the hole of the chiller. So, this was my work-around using additional silicone tubing and a bucket with an aquarium heater as a work around.

1 . Supplies:
-Aquarium heater (50w - https://a.co/d/fHNj3F0)
-5 meters (16 feet) food grade silicone tubing (8mm inner diameter, 12mm outer diameter (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0852HYVW4?ref=p...)
-Small Pump: (https://a.co/d/0aMfqp0)
-Flow indicator (https://a.co/d/9kaRIGY)
-Tiny hose clamps (I got mine from Harbor Freight in a kit).

2. Order of Assembly- Chiller, Chiller outlet hose, pump inlet, pump outlet, 16 feet of silicone tubing (coiled in bucket filled with water and aquarium heater submerged in bucket of water), other end of 16 foot tube comes out of bucket and attaches to flow indicator inlet, flow indicator outlet attaches to tubing that goes INTO laser. Tubing that comes out of laser and into the chiller is untouched.

3. Directions: clamp the chiller outlet tube and cut (keeping location of pump in mind so you cut in the right place). This leaves two exposed tube ends on either side of the cut (one end coming from the chiller and one end going into the laser). Clamp the end that goes into the laser and leave it for a later step. Attach the end of the cut tube that comes out of the chiller to the pump inlet and tighten down with hose clamp. Take the 16 ft / 5m silicone tubing you bought and attach it to the pump outlet and tighten with hose clamp. Attach the other end of the 16 foot tube to the flow indicator inlet. Attach the flow indicator outlet to the cut end of tubing that goes into the laser (the one we clamped in the previous step and left for later). Tighten inlet and outlet of flow indicator with hose clamps. Fill a 5 gallon bucket with warm tap water and put aquarium heater fully submerged inside. Take the 16 ft of coiled tubing (between pump and flow indicator) and drop the coil into the bucket of warm water. Plug in little pump. If you don’t see water moving (check the flow indicator), then the pump needs to be primed. I was dumb and sucked water into it, but if you turn on the chiller and let the chiller’s pump push water into the little pump, that should also prime it. Plug in aquarium heater to keep water in bucket warm. Refill the chiller with distilled water as needed.

The distilled water that runs through the 16 feet of tubing in the bucket will get warmed by the tap water and aquarium heater that is sitting in the bucket. The water in the tube and the water in the bucket never mix.