Hi all, I just bought a used 1/5 hp chiller for my 120 and I'm wondering how much flow I should have going through it. I currently have it hooked up to a mag 5 and with the distance the flow has to travel I estimate its probably getting ~400gph? Is this too little? It seems to take awhile to cool down to the specified temps on my aquacontroller? Just wanted to make sure this flow wasn't too slow. If it is I could easily upgrade to the mag for more flow? Thanks!
1/5 HP Chiller...How much flow through??
- Thread starter hatfielj
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jtarmitage
Active member
If the house is air conditioned or doesn't get overly hot, they you should be fine. If you have an extrodinarily hot spell, open the canopy, if you have one, the cabinet doors, and if that is not enough, then use a fan or 2, though I doubt you would need to go that far. Even without a chiller on my tank, my house air conditioner set at 80, with the wonderful Sacramento summer high of 116, all I needed to do was open the canopy and cabinet doors.
Okay so right now its about 75-80 degrees in my house. The lights have been on since 10am (about 5 hrs) and the tanks temp is 81.7 with the controller set to turn the chiller off at 79.7 degrees. It doesn't seem to be able to pull the temp down into the 79 range where I'd like to have it. There are 3 things I'm wondering to be the cause.
1. The chiller is not powerful enough to do the job (either because it needs the refrigerant recharged or its just not big enough)
2. The feed pump is too slow
3. The chiller is sitting in a hot room in a hot house and can't perform well in those conditions
Which do you think should be the first one of these to remedy? Should I try to get a bigger pump going on it and see if thats the problem? I estimate that my pump is only running at 380 gph or so? Should I take the chiller to a refrigerator repair place and get it recharged/tested? I'm not happy right now as I'm worried it won't be able to perform very well this summer when the house temps get higher than they are now.
1. The chiller is not powerful enough to do the job (either because it needs the refrigerant recharged or its just not big enough)
2. The feed pump is too slow
3. The chiller is sitting in a hot room in a hot house and can't perform well in those conditions
Which do you think should be the first one of these to remedy? Should I try to get a bigger pump going on it and see if thats the problem? I estimate that my pump is only running at 380 gph or so? Should I take the chiller to a refrigerator repair place and get it recharged/tested? I'm not happy right now as I'm worried it won't be able to perform very well this summer when the house temps get higher than they are now.
jtarmitage
Active member
I assume it's running? That one's easy to figure out. Is it working? That is tougher, you may want to get it checked out before summer. The house is not that hot for any real impact on the chillers performance, though, sure, the cooler the better. I don't think that a larger pump would make much difference, but if you have access to one give it a try. You may want to go ahead and upgrade the chiller to a more appropriate size rather than spend money to get this one checked or buy a new pump, and possibly upgrade later anyhow. Looking on RC, you can find something in the $400-$800 range and then rest easy. Also, do you have a cooler place to put the chiller? In my previous house, I drilled a hole through the floor and put it in the crawlspace which was much cooler. Now it's just in another room, but still works.
Drilling through the floor into the crawlspace might just be the answer I am looking for. However, that will be a pain in the *** crawling under there with that thing, but it will definitely be cooler down there and I won't have to worry about ventilating the 'fish room' (a closet under the stairs) that its in now.
jtarmitage
Active member
Don't crawl under there with it. Drill through the floor, then run the plumbing under the crawlspace right up to the where ever your access point is, and place the chiller right there. It will be easier to access that way. My access point was in the hall closet, and if I needed to access the chiller, I just pulled up the floor panel and layed on the carpet to reach down. Then I ran the temperature controller up into the closet for easy access.
80 degrees is not to high of an ambient temperature for your chiller to be located in. Mine sits in an 85 degree room when lights are on during the day. 1/5 HP is undersized but it should pull down your tank to 79.7 degrees. Depending on the situation, it could literally run for hours and still be working right. If it's undersized, its undersized. If end up buying a new one, use this chiller calculator, it's the best I have seen.
http://www.jbjlighting.com/prod_chiller_size.asp
http://www.jbjlighting.com/prod_chiller_size.asp
Thanks for that link. I am considering just gettting a larger unit. I think it might end up saving me on electric if the other one is going to literally be running all day when it gets hot and its very slow with bringing the temp down as it is now. I'm also going to vent the space that its in so that there is no build up of hot air anymore. That should hopefully be all that I need to do.
jtarmitage, if I had access to my crawlspace anywhere near the tank I would do as you suggested, however my access point is all the way on the other side of the house and outside, so I would need a whole lot of tubing to run to that and I would also have to install a new out let near by as there is not one there currently. So, I think I might have to scratch the crawlspace idea.
jtarmitage, if I had access to my crawlspace anywhere near the tank I would do as you suggested, however my access point is all the way on the other side of the house and outside, so I would need a whole lot of tubing to run to that and I would also have to install a new out let near by as there is not one there currently. So, I think I might have to scratch the crawlspace idea.
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