Ask your chiller related issues here

ihavtats29,

I have a JBJ 1/15 hp chiller. It's accuracy is +/- 1 degree F. I want to control temp with my ReefKeeper Lite to a range of 78 to 80 degrees. The heater is already running on the RKL with a setpoint of 78F and hysteresis of 0.1 My chiller has a dial to set it's temp. What should I set the dial at with the chiller's set point of 80F on the RKL and what should be the hysteresis be? The hysteresis of the RKL runs in increments of tenths of a degree F.
 
ebman74 said:
I bought a Pacific Coast Imports C-0500 1/2hp chiller from another rc member. I just now installed it 7 months after getting it and found the water inlet is broken. The threaded pvc piece and the grey plastic housing arround the coils is cracked. Where can I get parts for these things, is it bassic ac parts that can be purchased? Can this be fixed with pvc glue or weld-on? Any help would be appreciated.
Click to expand...


cracks can be easily repaired by scoring the crick with a dremel tool the applying superglue gel and let it dry for 24-48 hrs to fully cure, as for the threaded pvc piece a pic would be helpfull
 
there are many ways a chiller can be hooked up to you system , the best way is what suits you the best , i perfer to have the chiller in the system to be hooked up so that is can be removed with out shutting down your whole system, either i a closed loop fasion or t'd off your return line with a shut off valve.
 
what would be the best way to cool a 240g reef tank in the desert, the room temperature during the day fluctuates between 78 to 90f since its an office and the AC is not turned on 24/7

The office building has a central AC set to 78F during the day and it gets turned off at night, but I have to my advantage that the room (260 square feet) the reef tank would be in has a 17,800 BTUs minisplit AC on the wall that could help during the hot summer.

The temps outside reach 110 during the hot summer season, would it be wise to plumb a large chiller to the outside and would it work?
 
yes plumbing a large chiller in the system will do the joib, also having your lighting on timers so they are off a hr or 2 before the a/c is off and having a fan or 2 blowing across the sump will also help keep temps down. i would go with the evaporative cooling before purchasing a chiller , i was able to save my self from running a chiller that way
 
thats even better, at the lfs i work for they have a 300 gal with 3) 400w halides and in the summer it stays warm in the back and there is no chiller on it just fans bolwing on the water surfaces,
 
ihavtats29 said:
thats even better, at the lfs i work for they have a 300 gal with 3) 400w halides and in the summer it stays warm in the back and there is no chiller on it just fans bolwing on the water surfaces,
Click to expand...

There are too many variables to correlate one environment to another. The fans blowing on the water cool the tank by forcing evaporation. For every gallon evaporated, you get about 8,100 BTUs of cooling. The large tank also has a large thermal mass that helps even out the temperature swings.

1 BTU of heat removed from 1 pound of water will drop its temperature by 1 degree Fahrenheit

So for a 300 gallon tank:
300 gal x 8.5 lb/gal = 2550 pounds of water

For every gallon of water evaporated out of the system you get 8100 BTU / 2550 pounds = 3.17 degrees of pulldown. Thats a pretty darn efficient "chiller" considering that the fans required to effect that 1 gallon of evaporation only consumed a few tenths (hundredths) of a kWh.
 
cherubfish pair said:
ihavtats29,

I have a JBJ 1/15 hp chiller. It's accuracy is +/- 1 degree F. I want to control temp with my ReefKeeper Lite to a range of 78 to 80 degrees. The heater is already running on the RKL with a setpoint of 78F and hysteresis of 0.1 My chiller has a dial to set it's temp. What should I set the dial at with the chiller's set point of 80F on the RKL and what should be the hysteresis be? The hysteresis of the RKL runs in increments of tenths of a degree F.
Click to expand...
bump
 
A few thoughts..

There is no need to hold the temperatuer of your aquarium to a tenth of a degree, let alone a full degree.

In asking for .1 degree hysteresis, you are cycling your environmental controls far too often and subjecting them to a tremendous amount of thermal stress. In any case I would not allow the RK to control the chiller other than turning it off in a fail-safe fashion. Set the JBJ thermostat to turn off at 78 degrees and set the RK to turn it off at 76 or 77 degrees so that if the JBJ were ever to stick on, the RK would cut it off.

You do the opposite for the heater. Set the heater to SHUT OFF at 81 or 82 degrees and set the RK to shut it off at 80 degrees. If the RK sticks, your heater will shut itself down.
 
thats good advice , sorry i missed the post , as BeanAnimal stated the chiller and the heaters thermostats/controls should be set up in a fail safe manner
 
it should be listed on the data plate for the unit. it will list the type of refridgerant and the weight in oz or lbs
 
Its 134a and no it dose not have any kind of smount listed on the plate. I thought it had to be there as well? what are typical charges of other 1/3 hp chillers maybe I can play around with it till I am close
 
what you need to do is charge is under load meaning have water running thru the chiller,aim for a subcooling temp of 5-8 degrees , sub cooling is measured by subtracting the liquid line temp from the temp on the highpreasure guage 134a scale adding more 134a will lower the subcooling temp removing will raise the temp. if your guage does not have a 134a scale on it you can look up 134a preasure charts online or get a preasure chart for a hvac supply house when looking at a preaseur chart find 134a and cross referance the preasure to the temp and subtract that temp from the temp measured on the liquid line using a digital thermometer, you can also contact the manufacture and get the correct weighed in charge from them
 
Great stuff ihavetats29!

I too bought a used chiller and have had a problem. The chiller works just fine...cools water and all...except the temp sensor took a crap.

Called the MFG and they said there is no replacement...it is an older Current USA model.

I was considering a Ranco, but have decided to buy a Neptune Apex system and would prefer that control the chiller.

However, I would like to remove the old controller. I know that you previously stated that when you do this, you lose some freeze protection?

I would prefer to just wire the compressor up directly to a plug. If I take a pic of teh wiring can you provide some instructions on what to do?
 
i will ned a upclose pic of the terminals on the compressor. most of these sensors are a 10k ohm thermistor that can be bought from Kele the only issue with a aftermarket sensor is if it is a type1 or type 2 the diferance is the temp curve of resistance . buying one of each will eliminate this issue and hook 1 at a time to you chiller controler and check the temp to your actual water temp find the thermistor giving the correct trmp reading , be sure to get the sealed sensors for outdoor use and check the probe length they can custom order them for you at what ever length you like.
 
having the same issue with an aquaeuro usa chiller--the temperature is reading about 10 degrees too high. hoping to get some manual from the mfr to see if i can calibrate it
 
Help with replacement fuse

Help with replacement fuse

anyone know where i can find replacement fuse for my CURRENT 1/4 HP chiller. I tried Radio Shack and HomeDepot and some appliance stores and i need 15a 250v but the problem is the physical size i guess...all of the fuses at Radio shack and Home depot dont fit into the sleeve on the chiller even though they have the right specs...I am told a need a (5mil by 20 mil) size fuse...that is the size i guess. I have found 15a 250v but they are bigger in size than what i had. any help suggestions on where to shop would be appreciated...thanks much
 
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