Ask your chiller related issues here

ihavtats29

ihavtats29

New member
I am a Hvac/r service tech with 13 years in the business, for the last 3 years ive been repairing chillers for the local reefing comunity , if your having and issues with your chiller i will be glad to help ,

jim
 
I have what may be a silly question.

Do they make an all plastic radiator for some application that would be safe to use in a reef tank?

While reading one of the other threads I got curious and searched for "plastic radiator" and all I came up with was auto applications. And they all have aluminum cores. Maybe some other industry needs a radiator thats non metallic?
 
not that i am aware of they use aluminum for the ability to exchange heat , they do coat some with a thin layer of plastic for harsh enviroments but nothing i know of or would trust in a reef tank

jim
 
please post your issues here and not by PM , that way someone can read thru the thread and find the answer

thanks
 
last time you PM'd your chiller?

not much to do to a chiller to keep it running correctly here are 2 things you should allways perform to your chiller to keep it operating correctly

1) clean filter as often as once a month

2) blow out the condencer coil every 6 months
 
Wow you are just the person for my problem

Wow you are just the person for my problem

Hi my name is Beth. Pretty new to reef keeping. I have a nano artica chiller that stopped pumping or the pump stopped pumping. I cleaned up the pump and reversed the flow through the chiller as was suggested in the manual. I then hooked it back up the correct way and turned it on and thought everything was perfect. I had my temp set on 77 degrees. It didn't shutoff at 77 and continued chilling without an alarm until the tank sat at 65 degrees for a whole day and stuff started dying. Can I fix this problem or should I get a new chiller?? Very pricey would like to fix just don't know what I'm doing or even looking at if I open it up.

Thanks for reading

Beth K
 
TheH said:
How do you blow out the condenser coil?
Click to expand...

a can of compressed air will do fine on small coils , but if the coil is badly impacted more preasure will be needed , they make a compressed air cylender that you can refill at any air pump
 
kilze1 said:
Hi my name is Beth. Pretty new to reef keeping. I have a nano artica chiller that stopped pumping or the pump stopped pumping. I cleaned up the pump and reversed the flow through the chiller as was suggested in the manual. I then hooked it back up the correct way and turned it on and thought everything was perfect. I had my temp set on 77 degrees. It didn't shutoff at 77 and continued chilling without an alarm until the tank sat at 65 degrees for a whole day and stuff started dying. Can I fix this problem or should I get a new chiller?? Very pricey would like to fix just don't know what I'm doing or even looking at if I open it up.

Thanks for reading

Beth K
Click to expand...

did the the chiller work right before the flow was reversed? if so return it to the way it was and see if that works , there could be trash on the thermistor you could try to rise out the chiller with ro water. if tat does not work it could be a t-stat issue .that type of chiller does not have a very acurate thermostat , it is a dial controled stat, the digital ones will be more acurate, i would try to raise the temp on the t-stat untill you get the setting /temp where you want it, also the t-stat may be sticking or going out.if thats the case the stat will need to be replaced, the JBJ chiller you have has a 2 year warrenty , if not expired i would have them take care of the issue.a replacement factory stat you would be able to get from JBJ. if the stat cannot be replaced i would set it to the closest setting you can get it to hold stable and get a reef controler and a hd dc4 to control the temp, another option would be to find someone in the HVAC industry or if you or someone you know is mechanicly inclined , the Johnson controls A419 refridgeration controler will run operate the chiller , you will need to get some heat shrink tubing to seal the thermistor probe. if it gets to that point i will help you wire and program the controler , a replacement factory stat you would be able to get from JBJ

hope this helps if any more questions feel free to ask

jim
 
Last edited:
Chiller not cooling

Chiller not cooling

I have a Pacific Coast C-0500 unit that I am trying to troubleshoot. The unit wont get any cooler that 2-3 degrees below ambient temp, and when I run the unit with waterflow (~1100gph) it actually heats the water up. I opened the unit, removed all the water, and ran it just to try the static test. The fan works, but the coils don't cool. Not sure if I should feel them cooling, or if it should be room temp. No warranty on this unit, it was bought at least 2 years ago, but just attempted the install this week.

Is it low on refrigerant? Or is the compressor bad? Any suggestions? and thanks for your help in advance.
 
Hello, I bought a used JBJ Arctica 1/4 hp chiller last weekend for my 120 gal reef tank. Seems to work great but, if I set the temp at 78 the tank temp goes from 79 to 77 deg back and forth all day( maybe twice a day). Is there a way to get the chiller to come on or shut down in 1/2 deg increments?
I would think that this would put stress on the fish or coral.
Thank you in advance
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by TheH View Post
How do you blow out the condenser coil?
a can of compressed air will do fine on small coils , but if the coil is badly impacted more preasure will be needed , they make a compressed air cylender that you can refill at any air pump


in case you didn't know, the condenser is the coil gives off the heat that has been taken away from the water. In a home split system, it would be the unit outside with the fan.
 
Hello fellow chiller user!

If you have a problem with the chiller that keep switching on and off all the time, a good fix is to have an external temperature probe modification done to your chiller. Normally, a chiller will monitor the water temperature inside itself but this is a flaw. While the water in the chiller compartment may reach the desired temperature, the tank water might have a different temperature reading altogether, which is always higher than the one in the chiller.

Having an external temperature sensor located in the sump, it will measure the water temperature of the tank instead of the water in the chiller. This is a more accurate temperature reading as it is the aim of the chiller to cool the water in the tank as oppose to chilling the water in the chiller compartment.

The issue with chiller turning off and on is that sometimes folks bought the wrong pump, either it is under powered or too powerful. An under powered pump will cause the water in the chiller compartment to be chilled faster and while the water in the chiller compartment reaches the desired temperature,the chiller will switch off for a moment until that compartment is replaced by more water which is always at a higher temperature than in the chiller compartment and the chiller will switch on again.

An over powered pump will continue to push water into the chiller but due to the higher water flow, the chiller would have less contact time to chill the water making it longer to chill the tank water.

But, by having an external temperature sensor in the sump, the chiller is chilling the whole tank water volume. When this sensor reaches the desired temperature, the chiller will switch off it's chilling process for quite a time while the total water temperature naturally rises due to other factor such as heat from pumps and such. From this perspective, this is a better option of chilling the tank water. This is how I have mine configured to.


Hope this helps!
 
sorry im out of town and realy dont have acess to a computer i will answer all your questions when i get back , sorry for any delays
 
Thanks BFG,

I think that the external temp probe would be a great addition.
But I still have the same problem in that if the chiller can cool the tank 2 degrees in say for example 1 hr, and the tank rises 2 degrees in say 4 hrs during the day with lights on I still have the temp in the tank going from 79 to 77, twice during the day.

I would think that I would have 2 options
1. Resize the chiller smaller, to not cool as fast?
2. or, I was hoping to reconfigure the temp setting in the chiller to come on
at .5 deg above set point, and shut off .5 below set point?

Maybe we are better off without the chiller, where the tank went from 77
to 81 once a day?
 
wrimda said:
Thanks BFG,

I think that the external temp probe would be a great addition.
But I still have the same problem in that if the chiller can cool the tank 2 degrees in say for example 1 hr, and the tank rises 2 degrees in say 4 hrs during the day with lights on I still have the temp in the tank going from 79 to 77, twice during the day.

I would think that I would have 2 options
1. Resize the chiller smaller, to not cool as fast?
2. or, I was hoping to reconfigure the temp setting in the chiller to come on
at .5 deg above set point, and shut off .5 below set point?

Maybe we are better off without the chiller, where the tank went from 77
to 81 once a day?
Click to expand...

Twice a day is really good in my opinion. Mine switch on every 2 1/2 hr and took 25 minute to bring down 1 degree celsius, from 26 degree celsius to 25 degree celsius.
 
I have a 1/3hp JBJ chiller on a 180-gl. sps tank. It takes a long time (sometimes 3 hrs) to take the temp. down 2-degrees. I had a local HVAC repair person thoroughly clean the condenser and heat exchanger; both of which were very dirty and now they are spotless. I hook it up yesterday and it still takes a very long time to come down 2-degrees.

I performed a static test on it last night and it takes about 20-minutes to come down about 2-degrees and then does not come down anymore than say from 77 to maybe 75.8 degrees.

Do you know what the problem might be from here? Can it be the compressor? He said the freon should be fine and that there were no signs of leaks? He did not want to test for freon because he stated he would have to pierce the system to test???

Can someone please chime in and let me know what my next step should be? Can I replace a compressor or is it cost prohibitive???

Thanks in advance for any help......
 
Maivortex said:
What do you think about the quality of this chiller?
http://www.horticulturesource.com/h...6397/?osCsid=7989f0af3f9cb351b4c2667cda359622
Click to expand...

im not sure what to think of it they claim its freon free, freon is a name brand of refridgerant distributed by carrier, so im pertty sure it still uses a cfc or hcfc refridgerant or its a ammonia system, either way its not designed for the reef aquaria and may have a copper tubed heat exchanger, i would not get it with out further info from the manufacture
 
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