Garage Systems in Tampa?
- Thread starter WarDaddy
- Start date
Unless the garage is well shaded, it’s going to get warm. The first thing I would do is insulate the overhead door and check the ceiling for insulation. That would keep some of the heat out. But that probably won’t be enough for some of our hot summer days. Like mflamb said, you may need to frame in an area and AC it.
Tampa Aquarium Service
Premium Member
I have multiple holding systems in my garage. Fish, corals,rock, inverts and hospital tanks. Only the coral system has a small chiller on it and everything runs fine 365 days a year I have heaters for the systems in the colder weather. I keep 2 good sized fans running during the hot weather to keep the air moving. warm water is great for helping to ward off ICH!!
Tampa Aquarium Service
Premium Member
Highest I've seen is mid summer, mid to late afternoon is 83*. Mornings and evenings the unchilled tanks usually run at 80*- 81*. For the greater part of the year the systems run around 78*. This time of year the heaters are cycling on and off and all the tanks are kept at 78*-79*.
Tampa Aquarium Service
Premium Member
Front of house points dead north. Garage is pretty well insulated above the ceiling. Small trees, not shaded at all, but it all works.
well there are a lot of options. first off your garage will probably get well above 90 degrees F . you will need some serious insulation for it to stay under 90 on a hot summer day. to keep it under 90 you would also need a low amount of outside air infiltration. it gets about 94-96 max here a few days a year. I would think you would need at least r19 in the walls and well above r30 in the ceiling. if you plan to run lights on the tanks in the garage they will by themselves produce enough heat to run your tanks up to 90 if you don't either condition the space or chill the water. you can get away with warmer temps if you don't run lights because water is naturally cooler than air anyway. ten again you will have pumps running adding heat.
some of the best insulation you can get is the real thin aluminum foil backed insulation. www.insulation4less.com normally runs specials. if your garage is not dry walled I would cover walls and roof with the foil backed insulation and then in the roof add r19 and the walls r13 rolled insulation from lowes or crepot. this is what I did when I used a garage for a fish room. I had almost 300 gallons out there with 4 250 watt metal halides plus vho and kept the garage at 76 with an 8000 btu window unit and the tank stayed below 81 at it's highest temp. the window unit actually cycled off like it's supposed to. I used the foil insulation for the garage door also. may sound extreme but when you invest the time and money into the livestock you need to do things right. or you could just install a heat pump to condition the waters temperature. yes you can use a heat pump on a chiller.
how much water are you talking out there anyway?
some of the best insulation you can get is the real thin aluminum foil backed insulation. www.insulation4less.com normally runs specials. if your garage is not dry walled I would cover walls and roof with the foil backed insulation and then in the roof add r19 and the walls r13 rolled insulation from lowes or crepot. this is what I did when I used a garage for a fish room. I had almost 300 gallons out there with 4 250 watt metal halides plus vho and kept the garage at 76 with an 8000 btu window unit and the tank stayed below 81 at it's highest temp. the window unit actually cycled off like it's supposed to. I used the foil insulation for the garage door also. may sound extreme but when you invest the time and money into the livestock you need to do things right. or you could just install a heat pump to condition the waters temperature. yes you can use a heat pump on a chiller.
how much water are you talking out there anyway?
WarDaddy
New member
This is a serious option that I will look at. I have a pond in the back yard, oh, say 80 feet from the garage. I figure If I get down 8 feet I should hit damp soil, which should be nice and cool. With Geo, i need to have a long trench at the 8ft depth to ward off all that nasty heat. The big question is what kind of piping in the ground to get good heat transfer. I am thinking coper tubing, but I am afraid of how it may corrode over time. I would only pump freshwater through the geotherm system and put a titanium heat exchanger in the tank/tanks.
I have drawn up plans for this in the past, lots of good talk about them, question is can I get a trench deep enough at a reasonable cost?
Now I do plan on having a pool built... HUMMMMMMMMM
Wonder if I could work out a deal with them to dig me a trench... .hummmm....
The more I think, the more I like the idea of the 55 gallon barrels buried in the yard. The barrels are, say 3 fee tall, and I would want the tops, say 4 feet under. That is a 7 foot hole, at at least 2.5 feet across... how hard is it to dig a 7 foot, 2.5 foot deep hole, with a shovel...
Ok, I give, how do you dig such a system without it caving in, etc?
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If it was a deeper pond you might be able to use it, but you don’t want to mess with wetlands. And you don’t want to dig a trench that size with a shovel. For that, you rent equipment.
I wonder if you could bury drums under the pool? You would loose access to them after the pool was in. But it should be deep enough to get the temp you want.
I wonder if you could bury drums under the pool? You would loose access to them after the pool was in. But it should be deep enough to get the temp you want.
WarDaddy
New member
I was thinking the same thing... or even put the barrels next to the pool, it is going to be 5 feet deep, with plumbing and what not. I am worried about the temperature of the pool keeping my tanks too warm
My wife likes her pool warm, 85, I would be afraid that the 13000 gallons of pool would be keeping my tanks at 85 too I am thinking of digging a 3 x 5 x 7deep hole next to the garage, where I will keep my trash cans. I could put 2 55 gallon plastic drums in there, add Bulkheads and then plumb them as a closed loop for the cooling...
King of Geothermal threads
That thread is a good one... I got in it late, although my plans have changed a lot since them. It has all te good science and technical info that anyone could need when thinking about Geothermal. Biggest issue is your local ground temp, and how hard it is to dig in your ground.
I am leaning toward the 2 55 barrels, I could rent something to help me dig the hole, I guess. Interesting.
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