venting chiller

[pascal32]

I'm planning the new tank in the new house. it's a 93 cube. the room it is going in gets a ton of solar load, with a wall of windows it gets warm fast. I'm looking to put in a chiller, only thing is that I would like to push the hot air through the roof so I don't heat the room up.

Any thoughts on how to do this? I haven't seen any chillers with a vent kit

thanks!

 

[Conesus_Kid]

IME, having a chiller in the room is like having a window AC unit installed backwards. I'm not sure how you could effectively vent the hot air since there isn't a single exhaust vent. Rather, it's just like the back side of an AC unit.

Is there central air in the house? If so, I think the ideal solution is to have that room on its own zone with its own thermostat. That way you can control the aquarium temperature without filling the room with hot air.

 

[dadeosr]

Chiller vent

Chiller vent

Thin gauge sheet metal shaped to fit back on square chillers like tradewid others may need a little work to come up with something good vent it like a dryer foil duct tape is very useful for sealing up small gaps and is very durable they have flexabe duct and rigid duct at lowes or homedepot a little thought while looking at differnt things available to you and you could Come up with a good game plan to exhaust heat out of room I have had good success with heat causing lights like this

 

[pascal32]

IME, having a chiller in the room is like having a window AC unit installed backwards. I'm not sure how you could effectively vent the hot air since there isn't a single exhaust vent. Rather, it's just like the back side of an AC unit.

Is there central air in the house? If so, I think the ideal solution is to have that room on its own zone with its own thermostat. That way you can control the aquarium temperature without filling the room with hot air.

yes, there is central AC. I prefer to keep use to a minimum due to the size of the house. Looking for something focused on the tank.

Trying to minimize fans also for humidity reasons

 

[pascal32]

Thin gauge sheet metal shaped to fit back on square chillers like tradewid others may need a little work to come up with something good vent it like a dryer foil duct tape is very useful for sealing up small gaps and is very durable they have flexabe duct and rigid duct at lowes or homedepot a little thought while looking at differnt things available to you and you could Come up with a good game plan to exhaust heat out of room I have had good success with heat causing lights like this

that's a thought. not sure how to figure out what size fan to put in the duct to move the air though the pipe...

 

[Conesus_Kid]

If you're going to try to duct the hot air out, this may be an option: http://m.homedepot.com/p/Suncourt-Inductor-4-in-In-Line-Duct-Fan-DB204/100073963

If that room is on its own AC zone, I don't think you'd be spending much more money using central air vs. a chiller. Plus your AC will help address humidity. A chiller will not.

 

[dadeosr]

Chiller vent

Chiller vent

If vent is sort of straight and out you wont need an extra fan heat rises and the air flow out of the chiller should do the trick if not they have inline duct fans you could run when chiller kicked on too pull heat trough if that's not enough or you have a long way to vent they have exhaust vans with speed controlers to adjust the amount of air they pull through these type of fans are great a pulling air through long runs and could cool my metal halides no problem all 3 on one fan may be over kill on chiller unles used with a speed controller and buy a small cfm fan they are real work horses and last for years buy a quality one if it's close to tank or any rooms cause they can be quite loud

 

[pascal32]

hmmm, thanks. Those fans look promising. The house a very open layout with no zones on AC. Considering the age of the house I'm happy someone put AC into it!

thanks for the help

 

[EGD]

Have you considered relocating the chiller to a different area? Would it be possible to locale outside in a small butler enclosure or in the garage? If seems easier to run water pipe/hose than air duct.

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

My tank was next to a window(slider) so the chiller went up on a shelf level with the window.
I took some cardboard, made a vent and then went to the ductwork shop & had it made.
Worked like a charm.

 

[pascal32]

Thanks for the ideas. I would love to go through a window, unfortunately that is not an option where the tank is going to be. The only rooms nearby are the bedroom, bathroom, and dining room, none of which I would like to turn into an oven

 

[kcrush4989]

Thanks for the ideas. I would love to go through a window, unfortunately that is not an option where the tank is going to be. The only rooms nearby are the bedroom, bathroom, and dining room, none of which I would like to turn into an oven

What about a basement? Can you run a basement sump and have all equip and the chiller down there?

 

[pascal32]

I wish. The basement is fully finished living space. Part of why I'm going smaller

Tough tough tough

 

[Vinny Kreyling]

Chillers do have a built in fan.
Contact one of the Mfg's and ask about a vertical run.
All it costs is a phone call for peace of mind.

 

[SkiFletch]

What kind of chiller are we talking about here? You basically have 2 options... Leave the chiller in the room, create a duct with a duct fan and blow it out the house. Or, put the chiller outside and run insulated coolant lines into the house. Remember, installing a vent in the roof isn't the easiest thing in the world, and you should really have a pro do it, cause if you screw it up it's a COSTLY repair. Going out through the wall would be much easier and safer if you want to DIY. Of course the location of the tank would be key as to which option is available to you. Also remember, if you are going up through the roof and want to duct through a wall, be CAREFUL you don't cut out any top plates on load bearing walls. Bulkheading isn't the most pleasing-to-the-eye thing, but there's usually good reason it's done...

 

[S2minute]

You know...

You know...

...I`ve never used a chiller before. I have looked at them a lot. One question I have is concerning the "drop in" models, why is the drop in cord length limited to 4' ? That`s why it`s so tuff to vent them. Distance seems so limited.

 

[SkiFletch]

Because those short drop-in ones, you're literally dropping the condenser in the water. If you try and increase the length of the lines, you'll need a more powerful compressor to prevent condensation in the line, and even then you're really decreasing the efficiency of the compressor. There's a reason the condenser, pump and evaporator are all close together in a vapor compression system. Physics sort of drives the problem. The realistic way to get your cooling away from the compression loop is to have a heat exchanger tied to it and then pump the "cool" where you want it. In a seawater case, you'd take water from the display, pump it to the heat exchanger and then return it to the tank on an insulated line. This of course jacks the complexity and price way up.

Edit: Air conditioning and fans are WAY cheaper/easier and lead to a more palatable environment for you AND your fish, IMO