Chiller on Controller?

[Ripperj]

I wondered how many people run a chiller with the temp setting maxed out and use a controller to turn the power on/off? Is this harmful to the chiller??
How long have you been running like this?
I want to set my heater to ON at 77, OFF at 79
Chiller- ON at 80, OFF at 78
This would give me a 3 degree band, I assume that because the same temp probe is running both devices that I can keep the band narrow?? Correct??
Thanks Keith
Tha controller is a Neptune Apex

 

[thor109]

How big is your tank and what is normal room temp, is your house using ac

 

[Ripperj]

No central air, house goes from 70 in winter to upper 80s+ in summer.
Tank is RSM 130D, chiller is 1/10 Deep Blue Kryos.
The tank was running up to 85 a couple weeks ago when the house temp was 88ish(pre-chiller)
Tank has some soft corrals,liverock,fish, typical CUC

 

[thor109]

I would run chiller at a little higher temp just to save money. 82 will not hurt anything. Maybe 82 on 81 off. If your worried about temp swings you could run heater at 78 for summer. If you don't all ready know its not good to turn chiller all the way down. It's best to plug chiller in a set it to maybe 77 and than let your controller run it at 82 to 81. If you turn it all the down and accidently pull temp probe out or it fail your chiller will only cool tank to 77. Do same thing with heater but in reverse

 

[Ripperj]

So I can just turn the 110V on and off to run the chiller with no effect on chiller?

 

[thor109]

Do you mean by letting your controller control it? Is there another way to use your controller to control it? If its digital controls, when you power on and off does it reset to a certain temp.
I don't want to turn any compressor off and back on in the same few minutes. Most have a built in timer to prevent this.

 

[Ripperj]

There is no other way that I am aware of to let the controller run the chiller. The only other option is letting the chiller use its own control circuits, but this is a concern because the heater and chiller could both be on at the same time.

 

[thor109]

You could just let chiller hold tank at 81 or 82 and set the controller to be on at above 79 and off below 78. Let heater be on below 77. You will have to let chiller run by it self and than check your data log to see how precise it is.

 

[DaveMorris]

I agree with the above post. If you don't have a good way to let the Apex control your chiller, then reverse it...Let the Apex be your failsafe to the chiller's built in controller. Just make sure that you figure out whether or not the chiller's temp probe is the same as the Apex. Nothing worse than having the heater and chiller on at the same time.