Chiller or AC unit.....

[SPotter]

I am already having heat issues. My fish room is reaching temps of 79 degrees and the tank is hitting 81 degrees. I have no windows in my fish room so using a portable ac unit is out because they arent strong enough to push the hot air as far I would need it to (at least thats what I am told) the nearest window. I have an exhaust fan in there but its not helping. So I am looking at either a ductless AC system or going with a chiller. Both will cost me approximately the same amount of money.

Which would you go with?

 

[matiLanza]

I cant really chime in on the topic of a chiller since i dont own one but i see it this way.. I much rather ac the room to a nice temprature than a chiller, 79 is too hot to be hanging out in your fish room. A portable A/C unit can get a room down to high 60's which will help the tank.. Thats me though, you can hang out in the room and your tank is happy.. Win/Win

 

[SPotter]

thats a great point of view on this. I was doing some work in there last night and after 15 mins or so I was sweating. I might even be able to find some energy rebates if I find the right system. Now if I can get a lazy boy, beer keg and a flat screen in there I will be all set!!!!

 

[sirreal63]

I use one of the Mistubishi Mr. Slim a/c and heat units in our utility room, it does a fabulous job in a room with very little insulation. It is also the quietest a/c unit you never heard. Is there an exterior wall in the fishroom? The problem with chillers is they exchange the heat right back into the space they are in, raising the ambient temp which makes the chiller work harder.

 

[SPotter]

I have been looking at those and other brands. My fish room is in the basement but it does have an exterior wall that I could use for something like this. this might be a better way to go.

 

[sirreal63]

They are not exactly cheap, but the only thing going through the walls is power and a couple lines. I had a good friend in St Louis that just cut a hole in the basement wall and put in a nice window a/c. You don't have to have a window to install one, you just have to make the right size hole and would be a lot cheaper and still work well. We used the Mr Slim because the space is large and doubles as an extra bedroom, so it had to be quiet and it is, you have to be right under it to hear it.

 

[SPotter]

definitely not cheap. I saw some other brands online for around $700. Since its purely a fish room I'm not too concerned about noise or appearance. I just need it to cool the room down.

 

[sirreal63]

This the one we have, 9000 btu may be a lot more than you need.
http://www.goductless.com/Mitsubishi-Mr-Slim-mitsubishi-air-conditioner-p/94601.htm

I would probably just put in a window unit, you won't need all of the features that the mini split unit offers. I can say that if we had to do it all over, we would get the same unit, it has truly been impressive. Your needs could be met with a window unit from walmart.

 

[SPotter]

I would love to but there not enough room to cut an opening for a window unit so I am very limited. I might have an hvac guy come out and just take a look at the room to give me some ideas on what else I can do.

 

[sirreal63]

Space limitations suck, I understand that all too well, we went from 3000 sq ft to 1860, a lot had to be left behind. The ductless units take up some wall space as well. Ours takes up 12x32. The only issue with using the house a/c is you need a separate thermostat for just the fish room, and a separate duct controlled so that the fishroom gets cooled independently. If just cooled when house a/c is on, and the fishroom gets warmer than the house, it would only be cooled when the house gets cooled, not the best solution. Adding that second zone shouldn't be hard, but won't be inexpensive either.

The joys of a large tank.

 

[Donkeykong]

Looks like you are on the right path of cooling the room rather than a chiller. I just wanted to add another point about the chiller, if it is located in the room then yes it will chill the tank but it will actually heat up the room even more causing it to work against itself. With a system as big as your signiture states, cooling the room is probably going to be the more efficient route. Having a HVAC guy look at your room and then be able to give you specific ideas for your house will be good.

 

[SPotter]

thanks for everyone's input. It really helps to be able to post stuff like this and then get feed back. When we were remodeling the basement I got into an argument with my contractor over not putting AC into that room or the whole basement and now its an issue already. The rest of the basement is very cool and dry because of the santa fe dehumidifier we installed. Its just my 210sq ft of a fish room thats a sauna.

 

[CHSUB]

i use a chiller and would not be without it....maybe you could put the chiller outside and run the plumbing to it; that is what i do...

 

[Dr. Reef]

i honestly think chilling a whole room to 72-75F is going to cost you more in long run because it will keep your ac unit running most of the day and few times during night, while a good size chiller will keep you water at 78f. it will come on and off few times a day and hardly at night.
i personally have a 1.5 hp commercial grade chiller on my 300gal total volume. its in wall in the garage. garage gets 110f during day time. even then that chiller comes on and off very few times.
i think a chiller will be more beneficial in 3 ways.
1. it a direct solution of your problem. (problem is your tank temp not the room: if the tank was not there u wouldnt care for temp control for that room)
(79f is not bad in a room, some people keep their houses at 78-79F temps).
2. saves money in long run. (as ac will draw more energy and run more often that a chiller)
3. Ac will require more installation work, a professional install, electrical outlets maybe etc more costly than putting a chiller in.
just my 2 cents

 

[twelvebeer]

Can you branch off of your main duct and add another vent in that room?

I was considering a chiller last year but wound up replacing my AC unit due to its age. Now the whole house is cool and the tank stays at good temps.

 

[SPotter]

I would probably have to add another zone to cover the basement in order for it to work. We didnt do AC in the living area of the basement as it stays cool and seems to get cooler when we run the ac on the two floors above. I could branch off of the first floor zone but that wont really help.

 

[Donkeykong]

1. it a direct solution of your problem. (problem is your tank temp not the room: if the tank was not there u wouldnt care for temp control for that room)
(79f is not bad in a room, some people keep their houses at 78-79F temps).

just my 2 cents

But he has already stated that the room is to hot for his liking, referring to it as a sauna. Now if he cools the whole room he will be solving both problems.

Can you branch off of your main duct and add another vent in that room?

I was considering a chiller last year but wound up replacing my AC unit due to its age. Now the whole house is cool and the tank stays at good temps.

If he just adds another duct, one the ac unit might not be able to handle the extra square footage and two the thermostate would have to be in that fish room so that the ac stayed on long enough to cool that room

 

[SPotter]

So hvac guy came by and he's suggesting a heavy duty exhaust fan that would require physically removing two cinder blocks from the foundation and then its installed like a gable fan. He's sending me info on it tonight. my initial reaction is thats a little too drastic but he says it a very simple job and a lot cheaper than ac.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2

 

[James77]

I'd run an A/C personally, besides cooling the room, it gets teh heat out of the room and out of the house. If you are using the ttypical chiller setup, that heat it extracts will be warming the room again as well as the tank. You could also run it on a timer to just cool for a few hours a day.