anyone used window ac unit for chilling - how effeceint ?

[j-123]

hi,

our reef tank is right in front of outdoor window,

thinking about putting in window ac unit to keep temps cool for summer.


just seeing if anyone else tried this and if it seem to be ok solution as far as electric bill ?

we have central ac in house in houston , like to keep temp 82 during day in summer time.

so hopefully small window unit would be less cost than cooling entire house for the fish tank.

other option is chiller , but then only fish tank gets the cooling.


also , window ac unit helps with humidity , so this would be plus also.

anyone else has a feel for the cost pros and cons ? chiller vs window ac unit ?

thanks for any input.

joe

 

[snorvich]

Temperature controlled fans would work better but require auto top off because of evaporation. Also, a shade to keep the sun from heating the tank would be advised.

 

[Lemeshianos]

If you can keep your house ambient temperature at 82 then you will have the same temp in the tank. From what I read windows AC seem to do the best job at keeping a house and tank cool. However you are looking at running the AC during hours that you are not in the house.

ie: You leave for work at 8:00 and you get back at 19:00. You can set it on a timer to start at 18:00 so the house is cool when you get back, but during 8:00-18:00 that's ten hours where the temp will peak in the house and so in your aquarium.
If you get an AC unit, it will keep both the house and the tank cool but in exchange for electricity consumption.
If you get a chiller then you will have less consumption as it only has to cool the water volume. But you won't get any cooling for you.

Depends on what you want to pay for. I believe the AC unit will cost you more when looking at it long-term as you will be paying for cooling that you won't be "enjoying".

Anyway, if you plan on getting a chiller make sure you get enough cooling power for your tank volume. I have a Deltec 300 something that barely brings the temp to 82 during July-August.

 

[mess7777]

these guys are about right. if your house is cool, your tank will be too. i am going the AC route, as I cannot afford both an AC and a chiller. good point on electricity consumption though, over time it will end up costing money as I pay to cool a house that no one is in.

 

[droth335]

I did this when I had a 125 in a room that i could install a window air rather than reduce the temp in the whole house (because I could shut the door and cool just that room). This actually worked pretty well in terms of managing the heat and since the a/c unit was temp controlled it only ran when it needed to based upon the temp in the room.

What size tank are you talking about? That would make a difference in determining whether an a/c unit or chiller would be cheaper in the long run. If you are talking a $100 window air vs a $700 1/2 HP chiller then that would be a bit different than a 1/10 chiller.

Also, what type of lights are you running? I run MH on my tank and my tank temp will rise about 4-5 degrees above the set temp of our central air (in large part due to the lights increasing the ambient temp in the room the tank is in).

Anyway, the window air "chiller" worked for me but now I have my 210 in another part of the house so no longer use that strategy. Good luck with whatever direction you go!

 

[j-123]

thanks for input everyone,

the tank is 58 gal , with (5) t5 ho lamps

i saw where controlling humidity is important to feel cool in house,,

between the water evap from the tank and a doggie access door to outside not sealed very well , our humidity is pretty high starting out. ,,

so i was thinking a small window ac unit would help bring humidity down also .

seems like something i will need to just try..

the $100 for ac unit , seems better than the $500 to $700 for the chiller...

in long run strictly chilling ,,, the chiller cost less to operate ,,, so i will see if the other benifits of ac unit seem to really help.

thanks for thoughts, joe

 

[JMartin104]

IME, your tank may not stabilize to your environment temperature. I run hot MHs and my room temp is 77 but my tank eventually makes it to 82. In your case, you might be better off getting a chiller.