- Location
- Washington Heights, NY
I have an aqualogic deltastar 1/3hp inline chiller. The recommended flow thru rate is supposed to be 600gph - 1200gph. I have a 120G, will it hurt the chiller if I run a slower flow thru it @ around 100-200gph?
Chiller question
- Thread starter kimoyo
- Start date
I never had any experience with that chiller but the water coming out of the chiller will be extremely cold. If your refugium is anywhere near the chiller output , it will drop the temp in there severely possibly killing off a lot of bugs.
Depending on where the temp probe is, it will tell the chiller to go full blast until the temp desired temp around the chiller will be reached. If the temp probe is in the tank you will have significant temp changes throughout the day. If the probe is in the sump the chiller will go on and off so frquently it will shorten the life of the compressor.
My advice - go with the manufacturer minimum if you dont want the high flow.
Depending on where the temp probe is, it will tell the chiller to go full blast until the temp desired temp around the chiller will be reached. If the temp probe is in the tank you will have significant temp changes throughout the day. If the probe is in the sump the chiller will go on and off so frquently it will shorten the life of the compressor.
My advice - go with the manufacturer minimum if you dont want the high flow.
- Location
- Washington Heights, NY
hermangareis said:
Thanks Herman, but I'm not too worried about that because I don't have a refugium.
I got this chiller when I was away from NYC in school and wasn't really too concerned about electricty. Now that I'm back to paying electricity and at 0.18 a Kwh my concerns have changed :lol:. I didn't have the tank running during the summer but right now the tank runs at 79 with no chiller. Before I had corals, I shut off my uv and the temp dropped slowly. I didn't want it to drift so far so I turned on the heater after it got to 75-76. So hopefully in the summer I can run the tank around 81-82 without the chiller kicking on. But because I got an inline I need a pump hooked up to it that deals with 2ft of head pressure of the chiller. My dilemma was to either have a strong pump that kicks on periodically during the day and when the chiller was on or get a weaker pump that runs 24/7.
I hear ya!. When I was test running my 92g with the lights running I noticed the temp rise of several degrees. This is without heater or anything. I always have a fireplace running in the winter and it gave me an idea to make a sort of zero clearance chimney in the canopy.
I use two x reefoptix III each is 250w. That produces good heat inside the closed canopy. I found that fans on the side of the canopy really do nothing. I built a box around each fixture so it liooks like the lights are sitting inside the ventilation ducts. Then I cut a hole directly on top of the lights and mounted a fan to suck air out of the canopy. On the side of the canopy I just have vents without fans.
I retested the lights and after 6 hours there was no difference in temp. On cold days I just shut off the fans and the lights will heat the tank and when a certain temp is reached the fans kick in.
That simple little thing keeps the heater off most of the time and I have no need for a chiller
I use two x reefoptix III each is 250w. That produces good heat inside the closed canopy. I found that fans on the side of the canopy really do nothing. I built a box around each fixture so it liooks like the lights are sitting inside the ventilation ducts. Then I cut a hole directly on top of the lights and mounted a fan to suck air out of the canopy. On the side of the canopy I just have vents without fans.
I retested the lights and after 6 hours there was no difference in temp. On cold days I just shut off the fans and the lights will heat the tank and when a certain temp is reached the fans kick in.
That simple little thing keeps the heater off most of the time and I have no need for a chiller
- Location
- Washington Heights, NY
Thats kinda part of my question also. I'm also concerned about the stagnate water a little.jackson6745 said:
With your tank i would be hesitant. If my tank's temp behaves the same in the summer then I'm on the border and hopefully should be able to go for a while without my chiller/chiller pump not working. I'll also have my acII shut off my uv if the temp gets to high. But your tank has a lot of power going to that produces heat, so I would be cautious with shutting the pump on/off.
But I'm still wondering why the chillers need so much flow. When i called aqualogic they said something about the compressor would work harder at a lower flow but that doesn't make sense to me.
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I'm not really worried about the heat from pumps etc, I just don't want to damage the eheim and have the chiller running with no water passing through it.
I tested the temp of my tank without the chiller. I have 4 fans in my system. 1 over the sump, 1facing the surface of the water in my canopy, and 2 other computer fans in my canopy. These fans keep the temp below 83 with no chiller.
But on humid days the tank can really get up there without the chiller
I tested the temp of my tank without the chiller. I have 4 fans in my system. 1 over the sump, 1facing the surface of the water in my canopy, and 2 other computer fans in my canopy. These fans keep the temp below 83 with no chiller.
But on humid days the tank can really get up there without the chiller
- Location
- Wallingford, CT
kimoyo said:
If you run a considerable lower flow then what's recommended, you can freeze up the coils and essentially ruin the chiller.
- Location
- Washington Heights, NY
That's interesting, do you have link?FRY said:
If the water isn't stagnate, why?pecan2phat said:
The slower the flow the colder the water. It can freeze water if you run it too slow. I had a 1/3hp on a 54g and had the wrong size pump running to slow on it and you could see ice crystals coming out of the output end and since the input and output was on the sump it froze everything near the outlet. Fun looking though...
Marine depot sells the flow cutoff switches. $150 each depending on size and amps
Item#AL1911
Marine depot sells the flow cutoff switches. $150 each depending on size and amps
Item#AL1911
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- Location
- Washington Heights, NY
Thanks for the history, I wouldn't have thought the chillers were that strong.Pseudo said:
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