Feeding chiller off of closed loop?

Conesus_Kid

Premium Member
The way things are panning out, it looks like I'll be using a chiller on the school tank and venting it outdoors. The next question is: What's the best way to feed it?

Ideally, I'd feed it off of my return manifold (powered by a Reeflo Barracuda), but the room where the sump, etc. will be located is in the opposite direction of the window I'll be venting through.

For part of my flow solution, I'll be using a Dart on a closed loop. Would you run a valved tee off of the CL return to feed the chiller, or would you used a separate pump on a separate loop (something like a Velocity pump)? I realize that if I tee off of the closed loop, the water from the chiller will be returned directly to the aquarium (not reintroduced into the closed loop return).

The tank will (hopefully) be a 265 G and flow will be coming from the Barracuda return, the Dart, and two Vortechs.

Thanks!
 
Most flowthrough chillers will not be capeable of dealing with the raw PSI from the sequence pumps. If you do use one make sure you either gate before the chiller, or have the chiller feed running wide open.

Good Luck!
 
The trouble with running it off the Dart is where do you send it back to? Like, you Tee off the outlet of the Dart somewhere, go to a valve, go to the chiller, but then where? You cannot go back to the sump, doing so creates a recipie for disaster in a power outage, you'd have to go back to the display.

In the end, I'd do whichever is easer plumbing wise. Either Tee off the dart and return to the display, or Tee off the Barracuda and return to the sump. Either way you'll need a hefty ball valve for flow control
 
I figured I'd valve the branch of the tee that feeds the chiller, and have it empty back into the display (separate from the CL manifold).

Most flowthrough chillers will not be capeable of dealing with the raw PSI from the sequence pumps.

Wouldn't the pressure (PSI) be dependent on the flow rate that goes through the chiller?

I'm looking at the Tradewind chillers at this point. The 1 HP can handle a flow rate of 1500-3000 GPH. If I go this route, do you think I could just throttle back the Dart a bit and run the whole CL through the chiller?

If I go with a smaller chiller w/ a lower flow rate, I'll definitely plan for a separate branch to feed it.

Thanks, guys!
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12917714#post12917714 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Conesus_Kid

Wouldn't the pressure (PSI) be dependent on the flow rate that goes through the chiller?

I'm looking at the Tradewind chillers at this point. The 1 HP can handle a flow rate of 1500-3000 GPH. If I go this route, do you think I could just throttle back the Dart a bit and run the whole CL through the chiller?

If I go with a smaller chiller w/ a lower flow rate, I'll definitely plan for a separate branch to feed it.

Thanks, guys!

Wow that's a CHILLER! 1HP is not to be trifled with. Is this thing 110VAC or 220?

Pressure and flow can be a tricky concept. Where to start explaining here... Ok first, your pumps. The Barracuda is a beast of a pump, you might even be able to run a small pool off one... They're designed to be able to create massive head pressure and still maintain high flow (requires quite the hefty electrical draw to do this).

The Dart on the other hand is optimized for high flow and low pressure (ideal for a closed loop). I believe the Dart is designed for around 3600gph max right? And at 4' of head it's about 3000gph. Now it's not likely at all that you're going to get 4' of head pressure naturally, you'd need to provide a ball valve restriction to throttle it back as you say. Trouble is, when do you know what 3000gph is? IE, when is it throttled back enough?

But, you're planning on multiple returns for the CL right? So why not this, Wye the oulet of the Dart and put the chiller directly in-line on one of the Wyes. This will put you prolly around 1500gph through that wye section, where the chiller wants to run anyways.

You can run it off the barracuda if you want, as long as your ball valve is in the circuit in between the chiller and the pump. That way the ball valve holds back most of the pressure so you don't break the chiller.
 
And you know what, I'm gonna add something here. How many electrical circuits are you gonna have for this tank? I mean, just thinking about all these lights and massive pumps and a freaking 1horse chiller (would love to know what the startup induction on that thing is), and I'm betting you're gonna need 40+ amps of service...
 
The classroom that I've moved to has gaggles of GFCI protected 20 AMP wall circuits. I need to confirm, but I'm guessing that there's at least 3 or 4 separate circuits that feed them all.

Good call on putting a wye in there. I was reluctant to lose the flow from the CL, but I'm guessing that the Barracuda can make up for it. Now that you mention it, I could also branch off the return from the 'cuda close to the display. (I was previously envisioning branching off in the equipment room.) This may actually work out best, esp. if it means the chiller and the Barracuda are on separate circuits.

The draw on the 1 HP chiller is 15.8 amps, 3/4 HP is 13.3 amps.

Thanks for the feedback!
 
Why such a large chiller if I may ask? Wouldnt a 1/4 to 1/5hp be suffice? Im new to the game and I am just wondering.
 
Can you get a branch off your overflow back to the chiller? if you have enough head available in your overflow line you can use that to flow through the chiller. you may want to put a "safety" overflow should anything happen to cut flow through the chiller, but it would save flow loss to the display from the barracuda or dart.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12919676#post12919676 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SkiFletch
Big tank, lots of light, high ambient temp, no possibility for AC. That about covers it right Scott? :)

Yup. :D

Walter:
I'm planning on two 2" drains from the overflow. The drains will have to travel about 9 feet horizontally to make it into the equipment room. If I were to feed the chiller from the overflow, I'd have to build a stand to elevate the chiller so the overflow water could make the horizontal distance.

I'll be starting a thread once the build commences in earnest. I spent some time yesterday removing the back counter in the classroom to make room for the tank and breeding rack system. They should have her spackled and painted for me by next week, so I'll be sure to post lots of pics once I start getting my hands dirty!

Thanks!
 
Why would you have to elevate the chiller? If the outlet of the chiller is too low just pipe it up an over to the sump.
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12921682#post12921682 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by captain7359
Why would you have to elevate the chiller? If the outlet of the chiller is too low just pipe it up an over to the sump.

Wouldn't the water just go from the overflow and "rest" in the chiller rather than flow down to the chiller and up again to the sump? I was thinking I'd have to elevate the chiller in order to keep the water flowing downhill.
 
If you ask me the real problem with using the drain line for the chiller is that neither drain line will have 1500 gph in it... The 'cuda is good and big, but I don't think it's that good
 
<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12924509#post12924509 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Conesus_Kid
Wouldn't the water just go from the overflow and "rest" in the chiller rather than flow down to the chiller and up again to the sump? I was thinking I'd have to elevate the chiller in order to keep the water flowing downhill.

So long as the piping outlet back to the sump is lower than the overflow the water will flow through the chiller, up the outlet and to the sump.

to get more flow through an overflow you could lower the chiller side standpipe and cause most of the water to go through that one and turn the higher one into a safety overflow. looking at the overflow calculator, 1500 gph might be pushing it through a gravity overflow.

search for "siphon overflow" and you might be able to get a quiet overflow that feeds all the water through you chiller and uses the other standpipe for the safety.
 
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