My Chiller Setup **Lots of pictures**

ichthyman said:
Shawn,

Lee's original unit was also built by Dennis Galloway. Merle Sanders' also had a split chiller built by Dennis. Heck, Dennis had a split unit built by Dennis.

I am not questioning Robââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s abilities at AC repair/installation or Tonyââ"šÂ¬Ã¢"žÂ¢s knack for finding anything out on the internet.

Just wanted to be historically accurate by giving credit to were credit is due.
Click to expand...

I don't doubt his original unit came from Dennis infact I figured it did. Not too many people around here were doing this sort of thing that long ago. I can guarantee one thing, Dennis did not invent this either so I'm not sure he deserves all the credit either. I'm possitive this concept was being done much earlier than the 90's. These type of systems have been built for many years on lobster tanks. This concept was just refined and made better. I have seen the coils that Dennis made and it is literally one small piece of titanium bent into one loop, nothing special but it did the job. It would be very difficult to be historically accurate with an item such as this.
I just wonder why you feel the need to quickly respond and try and take away from all the efforts they have done learning how to perfect these systems, after all without Rob you would still be running all-in-one chillers. Be nice, he did a lot of work for you at the drop of hat and at a minimal cost to you.
 
at this point it doesn't matter how invented this the truth is that it is a good design and if it gets a few modifications to make it better hey :thumbsup: to who ever started
I just have a question how far can you run the freeon lines on a
6000 BTU unit ?
I am trying to eliminate some cost my idea is to run the freeon lines direct to the sump and have the titanium coil contact with the water this way I can eliminate the cost of one pump and the
the casing that surrounds the coil
 
RGibson said:
Yes you can run it that way but it will not work very well ,buy the the pump and due it right the first time. RGibson
Click to expand...

why not the flow going in to the sump would be the same amount of the pump that is in the sump?
 
The older I get, the more I want to pay the money and buy a ready made unit! My time is so important anymore.
On my flow through unit, I use a Eheim pump to pump the water through the chiller. The Eheim uses a prefilter sponge as we all know. Then between the pump and the chiller there is a 40 watt UV unit.
So cleaning the inside or having to flush it out is of minimal concern.
This do it your self chiller is a excellent deal though I am sure for many people.
Reef Central is awesome!
 
aquaglobal said:
The older I get, the more I want to pay the money...My time is so important anymore.
Click to expand...

Amazing how that works! I agree 1000%.

If I may, since there seems to be a few people qualified to respond on this thread, I would like to hijack for a second or two. I currently run an AquaLogic 1/4hp DeltaStar chiller on a 180 reef with 3 x 400 halides and two large closed loop pumps. The chiller is located on my patio in the shade with the plumbing going through the wall. As you can imagine it runs the good majority of the day as it is undersized (it was cheap, real cheap!). Oh ya, I've done everything I can outside of the chiller to cool the tank. Before I go out and buy a larger one (not build, although this thread is one heck of an arguement) I have two questions: one, is the flow through canister on my DeltaStar coiled titanium or just a loop?, and two, why couldn't I just take the old canister off and install a larger one as shown on page one? We have several A/C certified techs at our shop that can be bought for a 12 pack! So you qualified responders, let me have it! Thanks, MM
 
Marqarita man-with the Deltastar outside you can spray water on the cond to lower the head on the chiller, the spray can be turn on each time the chiller comes on,a small amount of water is all that is needed.It makes the chiller put out more BTUs. RGibson
 
John I never claimed to invent the refrigeration cycle. We did the research to put these together. We found sw wilson. But you are right I am not an inventor.
Olemis refrigerant lines can be ran quit a distance if you size the piping correctly. Use oil traps if the pipe is over 10ft tall. Refrigeration piping needs to maintain a certain amount of velocity to insure oil return to the compressor. as to what size pipe you should run I can't really tell you but research can be done and books can be read and your a/c tech can help you with this. I would also spend the money on the cased evaporator. I don't think it's a good idea to have the copper piping that would connect to the titanium coil so close to your water since saltwater is very corrosive and copper is very toxic in your reef.
OH yeah JOHN you have a pm coming.
 
Hi
Im not trying to throw a wrench in your project..but I did alot of reading on homemade chillers..heat pumps.

This artical at Florida State says that air cooling and water cooling capacitys are much differant.

Im not saying yours wont work cause you've already built it and it does work (mabey at a differant capacity than thought)..Im just sharing the report for those who are interested

This is the Heat pump I want to build to use for my facility only with a titanium exchanger instead of painted copper as used in the artical

http://darc.cms.udel.edu/AquaPrimer/heatpump.pdf

or does your 1/2 ton chiller use a 1/4 ton compressor as stated would be needed in the artical?I mean did you change the compressor in a 1/2 ton ac unit to a 1/4 ton to make a 1/4 ton chiller.

it says to change the 2ton compressor in the 2ton heat pump to a 1ton in the artical..I guess u need a 2ton outside air exchanger for a 1ton compressor & water exchanger in other words

I quess this keeps it from over heating the unit

I may have misunderstood though..I planed to buy a 1hp titanium exchanger get a old 2 ton heat pump disgard the compressor and swap it out with a 1ton as mentioned
 
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in the southeast

near fayettville

not sure really if I need one at all Ive set some 300 gal rubbermaids in direct sun and the temps only got to 86-87 in
95 degree weather

kinda high but I also have a 1000watt halide that heats a tank that high sometimes and everything seems fine

I would do what scuba dudes doing with the geothermal pipe but Im afraid the EPA would have a heart attack youve heard the cliche about salting the earth(a major leak) Im sure

they also make geothermal swimming pool heat pumps on another note that use a ground loop so the water would never go underground
 
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A guy in our club (DFWMAS) had this setup on his tank, using a normal window A/C unit, and it worked perfectly. He recently took down his tank to upgrade to a large one, and put it up for sale.

The concept introduced in this thread works great. I've not had the need for a chiller on my own tanks, but if I did I'd probably get a DIY chiller built like this one.
 
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