Chiller Plumbing

[Foooz]

I am planning my new tank and intend to use a chiller. My current 75 is a continuing battle to maintain temperature. Looks like there are several options for plumbing the chiller. I do not have the chiller yet so this is a general question about the routing. As most things in life everything has a trade off.

My current plan is to use a separate pump in my sump to provide flow to the chiller. the return from the chiller will be routed to my DT return pump sump area. Ultimately I also plan to use this pump to feed any reactors, uv sterilizers or any other apparatus I may want to include in my system in the future. The downside I see is an internal pump adds heat to the sump thus reducing the overall efficiency of the chiller.

The other method I see is "T"ing off the return pump to DT line to feed the chiller and routing the chiller return to the DT. The downsides I see to this are the flow rate of the return to the tank is going to reduced some amoun (I think) and adding water that may be a degree or two cooler than the overall DT temperature doesn't seem right to me.

What else am I missing or not thinking about?

scott

 

[tzylak]

Not a bad setup. That will work. However, keep in mind that the chiller works fraction of the time. With your setup, you are working a pump 7/24 for a fraction of its effective use time. Consider the return pump water going thru the chiller to the DT. -Two birds with one stone. True, there is an additional head loss but that's way smaller than running an exclusive pump.
Regardless of all this efficiency talk, keep in mind that your tank is YOUR creation. Do what works for you.
Have fun.

 

[Dundermifflin]

Have you tried using a fan over the sump or tank. I used to run a chiller which hikes up the electric bill quite a bit. We live in So Cal so the outside temp is often above 80 and 90 throughout the year. When I rebuilt the tank setup this year I took out the chiller and put a $25 turbo fan from target above the sump. It works great. The sump is in the tank closet behind the tank, which is in the wall. We keep the house no higher than 78 so it doesn't get too hot in there, but when it does I turn the fan on medium. You do have to check the temp daily when it's hot out, but it can save a lot of money and time of having to plumb out for a chiller and the exhaust.

 

[Foooz]

tzylak - you bring up a good point I had not considered. guess the required flow of the chiller will determine how large of second pump is required and ultimately the impact to the energy bill. I may have to replace my return pump so could size to account for the chiller as well.
Dundermifflin - Short answer is yes I have a fan over my sump. Longer answer is I live in south florida so heat and humidity is typically high. We are having to adjust the fan high, medium, low based on whether lights are on or not and how much the door is opened with the kids going in and out. Unfortunately I believe a chiller is going to be the answer for stable temperature to support corals I want in the future. The fish handle the 2-3 degree swings relatively well, the corals not so much. Thanks for the response.
scott

 

[Roccus]

tzylak - you bring up a good point I had not considered. guess the required flow of the chiller will determine how large of second pump is required and ultimately the impact to the energy bill. I may have to replace my return pump so could size to account for the chiller as well.
Dundermifflin - Short answer is yes I have a fan over my sump. Longer answer is I live in south florida so heat and humidity is typically high. We are having to adjust the fan high, medium, low based on whether lights are on or not and how much the door is opened with the kids going in and out. Unfortunately I believe a chiller is going to be the answer for stable temperature to support corals I want in the future. The fish handle the 2-3 degree swings relatively well, the corals not so much. Thanks for the response.
scott

on my smaller and fresh water tanks. I run 4" axial fans over the sumps or displays.. then control them with a aqualogic controller... they double as a control for the heater in winter( depending on the setting)....my return pump on my reef runs the return, 2 reactors and the chiller... the chiller was and add on but I sized my return pump with the plan of adding a chiller ( 2 years latter)

 

[Foooz]

Roccus where is the return from the chiller plumbed