Chiller questions???

[Ninong]

Who has a chiller located outside their house?

I can't put the chiller in the room because of heat issues. I'm thinking of putting a chiller just the other side of the wall on a covered porch. It would be out of the sun or rain but the "environmental" temperature here in south Louisiana routinely hits 97-98F in the summertime and the manufacturer's operating manual for the Aqua-Medic Titan 1500 (1/2hp) chiller says that the "environmental temperature" cannot exceed 35C (95F). What happens if it does? Would the unit operate but just not as efficiently?

My tank is 120 gallons with a 22-gal sump but I want a unit large enough to use on my next tank which will probably be around 375 gallons. The house has central A/C but my tank's water temperature routinely hits 87F in the afternoons this time of year thanks to my metal halides and miserable Little Giant pumps. I just want to be able to hold the temperature at a constant 81-82F. I'm not trying to drop it all the way down to 75F or anything like that.

Any suggestions? Recommendations?

Thanks,

[Ninong]

Bump

[Ninong]

One of the online vendors contacted the manufacturer's representative for me and it turns out that Aqua-Medic's chillers have a thermal shut off at 35C (95F), so if the surrounding air gets up to 95F, the chiller will shut down.

[Reefland]

That's not going to be quite high enough for you will it? I would imagine during the summer months, your biggest concern, that you guys hit over 95 routinely, not including humidity.

Scott Z.

[Ninong]

Scott,

Our typical July and August highs are between 94-98 F with high humidity, so it looks like locating the unit outdoors would not be an option.

I did receive a reply, in English, directly from Germany this morning and they didn't mention a thermal cutoff but they did say "if the environmental temperature exceeds 35°C the chiller will not be a little less efficient, it will be a lot."

[Poseidon]

CAn you some how vent the exhaust air from the chiller into a duct of some sort and then route that duct outside... Kinda like a gas dryer vent?

[Ninong]

CAn you some how vent the exhaust air from the chiller into a duct of some sort and then route that duct outside... Kinda like a gas dryer vent?

Maybe, but there are several problems with that idea, too. For starters, there is no room near the stand for a chiller and no room inside the stand's cabinet. Then there would still be the noise factor to deal with in my bedroom even if I could handle the heat factor by venting the exhaust through the wall to the outside.

It has turned out that my choice of location for my tank was not a very good one. I probably should have gone with something like a 60-gal tank with just VHO lighting. My room does not have good circulation because it was originally the dining room with a double-wide open archway to the hall. We permanently closed off that archway so that my bed could go against that wall. It could not go anywhere else in the room because two walls have windows and the third has the doorway to the kitchen.

So now I have a 120-gal tank evaporating two gallons of water daily into my bedroom and a metal halide fixture with onboard magnetic ballasts acting as a year-round room heater. And to keep the sump from overheating I have to leave the doors to the stand's cabinet open 24/7. Which adds to the noise factor in the room thanks to my two miserable Little Giant pumps.

When the metal halide fixture is running, my room is a good 4 degrees warmer than the rest of the house, sometimes more. So when the rest of the house is 75F, my room is 79F or 80F. We have two separate central A/C units but that makes no difference whatsoever for my room. We usually set the downstairs unit on 75F but even if we set it on 73F (which is too cold for my sister) it still doesn't make much difference in my room if the metal halides are on.

[golfish]

Ninong,
What happens is the compressor gets too hot and kicks out. My Aqua logics kicks out around 110. I just took the cover off and it stays a lot cooler.

I don't see how you'll have a problem. The chillers going to be in the shade. If it does kick out it should reset itself and come back on when it cools down.

I had my AL out on the pourch for 2 years, some days reached 110 and it never kicked out once. Now I have it in a crawls space under my central air unti. It gets hot down there when the chiller runs, the compressor was kicking out all the time. I just removed the cover and no more kick out. It just runs twice as long tho. I'm going to move my central air unit in to the attic in a few eeks. That'll open up the whole area for my tank and give me better chiller location options.

Good luck

[Ninong]

Mark,

Your explanation is the same as what I am hearing down here from people who run chillers outdoors and matches up with what the guy from Aqua-Medic in Germany told me. Basically they are saying that the chiller will be much less efficient if it is located outdoors and the temperature outdoors gets into the 90's. A couple of people who have their chillers outdoors down here told me that you have to buy a much larger chiller than you would otherwise need for your size tank if you plan on putting the chiller outside.

Even the guy from Aqua-Medic told me that I would probably be OK with a 1/2 hp chiller located outdoors since my tank is only 120 gallons and I'm not trying to keep it at 75F, but they don't recommend locating the chiller outdoors. He thinks I could get away with that now on my 120-gallon tank but he told me that it wouldn't work on a 375-gal tank. For that size tank, the 1/2 hp chiller would have to be kept indoors.

I haven't decided what I want to do yet.

[golfish]

George,
I guess I kind of agree. It also depends on the chiller. My 1/3 hp AL worked 100x better outside then it does in the huge crawl space its in now and that was on a bigger tank. My goal is to get it outside the house where it can get more air flow through it. The area I'm living now gets about 5 degrees hotter then the area I lived before, where I had the chiller outside. I still believe mine will run a lot better outside.

If you can get good air flow around it then inside would be ok but its going to heat the house up and make the AC work harder. Be ok during the colder months tho...

Whats the recommended GPH range need for your chiller?

[golfish]

I had to do some checking. I have a buddy who bought a 1/2 aqua medic (old yeller tang) for his 220 gal tank. It didn't work worth a darn on that size tank. He tried to swap it out for AL chiller but had to settle for a 1 hp aqua metic chiller. From what I hear its not doing much better.

The flow rate on these chillers is really low. Even a 1/2 hp is on the high end for a 220.

[Ninong]

Hmmm... I guess if I decide to get a chiller I will have to make some more inquiries to see what models other people like.

[Ninong]

This is why I might have problems locating a chiller outdoors:

My weather as of 4:00 p.m., June 18th. = 97 degrees F (feels like 111 degrees F).

:eek3:

Current Conditions for Ponchatoula, LA.97°FMostly CloudyFeels Like 111°F
UV Index:2 MinimalDew Point:77°FHumidity:53%Visibility:10.0 milesPressure:30.08 inches and fallingWind:From the West at 9 mph
Yesterday's Weather
As reported at Hammond Municipal Airport, LA Last Updated Friday, June 18, 2004, at 4:01 PM Central Daylight Time (Friday, 5:01 PM EDT).Airport delays for:
Louis Armstrong New Orleans International:0:00change airport
Check your flight status

Tomorrow's sunrise/sunset times for:
Ponchatoula6:00 AM/8:06 PM Find vacation destinations

Weatherize your car

[golfish]

George,
I'd look at another chiller. Why are you set on that chiller? I see your getting some info from Germany but right on the box that the Aqua-Medic chiller comes in says "made in China" ...Don't get me wrong, its a great looking chiller but the amp draw alone is going to kill you. I just came back from Roland's house (old yeller tang) His tank is a 225 with a small sump, the 1/2hp A-M chiller was worthless. That's a good size chiller for a 225, don't you agree?

Now he's using the 1hp chiller and its kicking off his 15 amp dedicated circuit\breaker. everytime it starts. What really kills me is the gph rating. its the same as the 1/2hp 250-500 gph.

1hp chiller on a 225 gal tank

[Ninong]

George,
I'd look at another chiller. Why are you set on that chiller?

I am going to look at other chillers.

I see your getting some info from Germany

Yeah, I sent them an email on a Friday afternoon (already late evening over there) and they got back to me first thing Monday morning. Just wanted to see what their "official position" was on locating it outdoors. They don't recommend it. They say it would shut off a lot, etc.

but right on the box that the Aqua-Medic chiller comes in says "made in China"

:eek3:

I guess we're not the only country exporting jobs to China!

...Don't get me wrong, its a great looking chiller but the amp draw alone is going to kill you. I just came back from Roland's house (old yeller tang) His tank is a 225 with a small sump, the 1/2hp A-M chiller was worthless. That's a good size chiller for a 225, don't you agree?

Now he's using the 1hp chiller and its kicking off his 15 amp dedicated circuit\breaker. everytime it starts. What really kills me is the gph rating. its the same as the 1/2hp 250-500 gph.

1hp chiller on a 225 gal tank

According to Aqua-Medic's website, the recommended flow on the Titan 1500 1/2 hp chiller is 800-2500 l/hr 213-665 gph and on the Titan 2000 1 hp chiller it's 2000-4000 l/hr (532-1064 gph). I have found that some of the U.S. online vendors have some really ridiculous specs for Aqua-Medic's products because they are unable to convert metric to the quaint measurements we use over here. One website even converted 5C and 10C to 5F and 10F... big difference. And they all seem to give the recommended flow for the 1/2 hp chiller as 200-500 gph instead of 213-665 gph.

The German guy told me that their 1/2 hp chiller would work for my 120-gal tank even if I located it outdoors but he wouldn't recommend that and that I shouldn't expect it to work for anything over 200 gallons if it were outdoors. Maybe he was being optimistic???

I haven't decided what I want to do yet.

[dougc]

I am running a 1/4 hp CSL drop-in chiller on my 210 gallon tank and it is able to keep up even on the hottest days NJ has to offer. I did have some heat buildup problems, which I have solved by installing a greenhouse exhaust fan (750 cfm) in the equipment room where the chiller is located. This vents heat into the garage, pulling cooler air from the house. The fan is controlled by a greenhouse thermostat. On 90+ degree days, the central air is usually on, so the room stays pretty cool.

I am surprised that a 1/2 hp unit cannot keep up with a 220 gallon tank. I was considering going to to a bigger chiller, but after speaking to the guy who built CSL chillers, I decided to hold off. He said it won't hurt the chiller to run for long periods of time, since it starting and stopping that wear out the compressor.

The builder of the CSL chillers is now selling chillers under the Tradewinds name. Maybe rating chillers by HP alone does not indicate the efficiency or true cooling power.

[golfish]

I am surprised that a 1/2 hp unit cannot keep up with a 220 gallon tank.

I was shocked to find that out. But when you look at the amount of flow suggested for these chillers its not surprising. I guess the 1 hp is working out ok but when it starts up it kicks out the 15 amp dedicated breaker. That's a hec of a lot of draw to kick out that size breaker.

Another thing that I don't get is why the 1/2 hp and 1 hp AM chillers don't run on 220 volts, they run on 110....I've always thought that anything over 1/3hp ran on 220..

[orlandito]

it works great, trust me.

the chiller is placed so far from the tank that the water has time to cool down while it travels thrugh the lines (in my case) and the other thing is noise, you won't hear it,plus it has air flow so the fan and coil work better.