Need Advice: Heater and chiller

jam583

New member
This is cross posted on Neptune's site, but the forum on the chiller section seems dead. So, hoping someone might see it here as this forum is very active

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Hoping for some advice here. I have a heater and chiller (recently installed chiller) programmed to run off my Apex. Here are my settings and I am hoping for advice:

Heater:

Fallback OFF
If Temp < 77.0 Then ON
If Temp > 78.0 Then OFF
If Temp < 70.0 Then OFF


Chiller Apex Settings:

Fallback OFF
If Temp > 79.0 Then ON
If Temp < 78.0 Then OFF


Chiller Pump Apex settings:

Set OFF
Fallback OFF
If Outlet Chiller = ON Then ON
Defer 05:00 Then OFF

Physical chiller temp setting: 77

My questions:

1. Does the programming for the chiller, heater, and chiller pump look right?

2. I am trying to ensure the chiller pump turns on, when Apex turns the chiller on. When Apex turns chiller off, Apex will run chiller pump for 5 mins and turn off at that point. My goal is to ensure water flow while chiller turns off

3. I want to figure out how to turn the chiller pump on, a few times a day, to ensure if the chiller is not running no stagnated water will just sit. Perhaps 10 min bursts a few times a day. Would something like this work:

Set OFF
Fallback OFF
If Outlet Chiller = ON Then ON
Defer 05:00 Then OFF
If Time 01:00 to 01:05 Then ON
If Time 03:00 to 03:05 Then ON
If time 06:00 to 06:05 Then ON
If time 09:00 to 09:05 Then ON
If Time 12:00 to 12:05 Then ON
If Time 15:00 to 15:05 Then ON
If Time 18:00 to 18:05 Then ON
If Time 21:00 to 21:05 Then ON

A better way to do this?

I just want to ensure I don't have the chiller/pump off, for days at a time (such as the winter) and have excess water sitting in it so when it turns back on, that flows into tank.

4. Any issues turning the chiller on/off like this? Does it need some deferred statement instead of just cutting off?

Thoughts?

Any help is appreciated.
 
Is there a reason you don't want to just leave the chiller pump on all the time? That would be my recommendation.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Is there a reason you don't want to just leave the chiller pump on all the time? That would be my recommendation.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

In the winter, when the chiller will never turn on, I don't want to waste energy consumption running the pump 24x7 for no reason. So, I have this statement now in Apex on the chiller pump:

Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/001:00/239:00 Then ON
If Outlet Chiller = ON Then ON
Defer 005:00 Then OFF


it will run for 6 minutes every 4 hours, and whenever the Chiller is on plus for 5 minutes after the Chiller outlet turns off.
 
When I ran a chiller I had it in the main pump circuit. A separate pump is just a waste of electricity.
 
I was playing around with something similar to what you are trying to do aswell, in the end I found that sometimes my pump wouldn't start pumps water sometimes, plus turning a pump on and off repeatedly couldn't be good for it, I did have my chiller turn on and off via apex but when it turned off it would make a loud sort of clunk noise, I also thought that can't be too good for the chiller either, my chiller is in Celsius, and cools 1 whole degree before it stops chilling, so I manually set it to read a touch higher than my tank, now the other thing I did was put a couple of cooling fans on my tank, one on top of the display, and one on the sump, so they now do the majority of the cooling work, and the chiller is there as a back up, my chiller and chiller pump are both on full time, I do like the idea of plumbing the chiller off the return line as mentioned above
 
I run a chiller and heater. I use a simple program just to stop run away and disable if i turn off main pump.

--Chiller

Fallback OFF
If Tmp > 77.0 Then ON
If Tmp < 76.5 Then OFF
If Output RETURN_2_1 = OFF Then OFF
Defer 003:00 Then ON

-- Heater

Fallback OFF
If Tmp < 80.0 Then ON
If Tmp > 80.5 Then OFF
If Output RETURN_2_1 = OFF Then OFF
Defer 003:00 Then ON


Im still playing with the exact values. I let the heater and chiller regulate the temp for the most part. I just shut them off if they go outa range.
 
In the winter, when the chiller will never turn on, I don't want to waste energy consumption running the pump 24x7 for no reason. So, I have this statement now in Apex on the chiller pump:

Fallback OFF
OSC 000:00/001:00/239:00 Then ON
If Outlet Chiller = ON Then ON
Defer 005:00 Then OFF


it will run for 6 minutes every 4 hours, and whenever the Chiller is on plus for 5 minutes after the Chiller outlet turns off.

The water in the chiller will become stagnant really fast if you don't keep water circulating through it. When the pump turns on, you will be putting stinky nasty water into your system which can create water quality issues. I would choose an efficient pump and leave it running full time. Also, if the pump fails for any reason and the chillers temp probe is in your sump and not in the chiller itself, the chiller tank will freeze up when it turns on. When it freezes, the ice expands and it can crack the chiller tank. Again, I would run it all the time or better yet, setup a manifold on your return line and use that to feed the chiller. That is what I do when I setup systems that need chillers.
 
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