siskiou Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 My God! The chiller is keeping the tank nice and cool, but our living room is at 81 F! I'm ready to melt! I never thought of the heat output of the chiller, and our little window a/c unit doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell to keep the temp down in the room, with the chiller pumping out the heat. I may just go back to frozen bottles unless we are not at home! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveweast Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 That's why chillers need to be remoted or vented to the outside. Water holds an enormous amount of heat....and the chiller has to dump that heat somewhere. Remember too...that as your chiller heats up your room, the the room heats up the tank....which the chiller has to remove. The goal is to dump the heat outside via ducting or remoting the chiller outside. Having a house AC unit handle the heat is wasteful......you're just double handling the heat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siskiou Posted July 4, 2007 Author Share Posted July 4, 2007 How exactly do you vent a chiller to the outside when it's sitting on an inside wall? Also, I don't really see a way to set up the chiller outside without needing at least 2x25 feet of hose and putting it under the house somehow. I may just have to sell the chiller and deal with the heat another way... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tidalsculpin Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 Fans and triple bagged ice blocks. You won't need them all Summer. Just on the days when your air temp exceeds your tanks limits. You will need more R.O. as your evap rates increase. You will be amazed how much the fans help. My coldwater at school is surviving pretty well, but my room feels like Florida. Good thing I don't have to sleep at school. All my other tanks are steady at 80.5.F Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveweast Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 Well....you got it. Place the chiller either in the crawlspace or, better yet, outside....and run the plumbing to it. For my cold water system, the chiller is in the crawl......and for my main tank, the chillers are located outside (with plumbing well over 25 ft). Some folks (who have equipment rooms and don't care about aesthetics) place ducting at the chiller's exhaust and vent the heat to the outside. The bottom line is....chillers remove heat.....alot of it.....and need to put it somewhere. The trick is creating a place for it to vent so it doesn't heat up the room that the tank is located in. Some folks also employ their house AC to move the heat to the outside.....which works if your AC is large enough....it's just not efficient since you're double handling the heat. Remember....chillers don't provide cold....they remove heat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steveweast Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 Fans and triple bagged ice blocks. You won't need them all Summer. Just on the days when your air temp exceeds your tanks limits. You will need more R.O. as your evap rates increase. You will be amazed how much the fans help. My coldwater at school is surviving pretty well, but my room feels like Florida. Good thing I don't have to sleep at school. All my other tanks are steady at 80.5.F True to a point.....but, it really is system dependant. If your system has few heat imputs....well then...yes....but, if you have alot of heat imputs like halides, pumps, powerheads, UV, etc.....then no. I'm curious as to how you are keeping your cold water tank in the 50's on these hot days without a chiller..... with just evaporatiion ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theron Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 I would be careful with cooling with fans. I am much more worried about adding moisture to the house than heat. Elevated humidity levels can cause mold and bacteria problems. If it was me, and the tank was above a crawl space, I would place the chiller in the crawl. You will have a lot less noise that way too. Theron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siskiou Posted July 4, 2007 Author Share Posted July 4, 2007 Problem is: we have an older house and the crawlspace is not high. Claustrophobic, to say the least. And I'm not sure where to plug in the chiller if I wanted to place it outside. It would at least need to be under cover, and we'd have to install an outside plug. I made it through the summer last year with frozen bottles and our little window a/c, but you have to be home for that and we'll want to leave for a day here or there. I'll have to think about this a bit more... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Theron Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 Not much is easy in this hobby. Well, I would still keep the chiller and have it as a backup to your frozen bottles and A/C. It is a nice piece of mind when you want to leave for the weekend. Theron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tidalsculpin Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 Sorry i was not more specific. I have a 1/2hp chiller on the coldwater tank. It is set to 57F. The Display tank averages 59.5. I am not using ice or fans on the coldwater. I wanted to vent my chiller but found no need for it during the school year with the schools climate controls. I use fans on the tropical tanks. I may use ice if we get a good heat wave. Open canopies are used with the fan placed to blow between the surface and the lamps. This blows the major heat source away from the tank and helps evaporation occur. The classroom lights are not on unless I turn them on to do maintenance. Classroom is also out of direct sunlight. The room is warm the tank temps are stable. Suzanne, Venting is a solution as Steve says. That could be quite a project for 20 days of 90+ weather. I think you have to consider your optimum temp for your tank and figure out the heat that is given off. Fans will also work. But your living room is not a science lab. It is your home and your priority should be your families comfort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
impur Posted July 4, 2007 Share Posted July 4, 2007 I wondered if that chiller would make your house an oven. I would place it outside somewhere, running some tubing under the house and thru the floor. Only real solution, but it should lower the use of the chiller and lower the use of the AC unit. A little extra work, but will save you, the tank, and save some $$$$$ in the long run. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.