Chiller or Air Conditioner??

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OMG - I'm so confused about A/C now. There is no humidity in my house from my A/C. It must be different with central air compared to window units? On days where our temps are in the 90s (we're already supposed to be up to 85F tomorrow) with high humidity, it is dry inside. I'm not trying to get this thread off track, but I'm trying to wrap my brain around how running A/C makes a house more humid.

I would say that having a chiller will at least stabilize your tank's temp. You may just need to add another fan to help get rid of the hot air from the chiller.
 
AC's use freon (whatever type) to remove moisture from the air same as in a dehumidifier along with heat exchange. The dry air feels cooler from this affect (If you don't believe me goggle it) LOL. Yea it takes all that moisture & drains it out the back, same deal with central A/C units, we live in high humidity, it rains from the A/C units here. I agree with Don, you can cool that room day & night but that will not keep your tank stable if you running high lighting & large heat producing pumps. You need both, otherwise get the AC unit, reduce your lighting & only keep corals that will fair well under that lighting. When you get enough money later buy the chiller & then turn on the extra lighting & then you can get better corals, short cuts only lead to disasters over time, do you & your corals a favor & do it right. JMO :D take it with a grain of sand!:eek:

What does humidity have to do with my air conditioner?
You're A/C unit works to remove heat from the passenger area and in doing so it also removes moisture. We are most comfortable when the relative humidity is closer to 20 percent than 90 percent, therefore the A/C system expends most of its effort wringing moister out of the air. This is what air conditioning is all about - conditioning the air. It's important to check the condensation drain at the bottom of the evaporator. If you see clear water dripping from your car, when parked… it's a good thing…if it's from the evaporator.
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I agree with Don, you can cool that room day & night but that will not keep your tank stable if you running high lighting & large heat producing pumps.
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I am trying in my decision-making process to factor in this: I've been running the same pumps (eheim...low heat producing) and lighting 2-175 watt halides all winter and my tank has been stable at 76-78 degrees running that equipment. It is only now as the weather gets warmer that my temperature is getting up to 80-81. That's why it seemed like replicating a winter environment would be a viable option. Is my logic faulty here? I do want to do the right thing, and to me, scaling back from my 2-175 watt halides, already at the low end of SPS lighting, is not an option. So if I need to bite the bullet and get a chiller instead of A/C I will do it.
 
Not easy for me to answer this because your far north, the temps. don't go as high as 97 & high humidity like it does here. One thing for sure, it isn't summer yet, so most probably it will get hotter, the problem your facing is the room will probably get warmer, the chiller will up that more. If you cool the room the water will eventually level off If the conditions were the same day & night but you don't run your lights day & night so it changes, also the sun warms up everything during the day more, it take time for the room temp. to equalize with water temps. Like Don said it doesn't happen fast. Sorry I don't have a cure, how much of a day & night change I can't say, you will eventually get into the heat of summer & see. No doubt the AC will help but it will swing, I had 130g with one MH & VHO's & I have central AC, never could stabilize the temps. within reason, the AC eventually cooled the tank some at night but the lights warmed it up a good bit during the day, even with a bunch of fans. What to do? It will get hotter! A chiller will heat the room up but will keep the tank cooler but you will need fans to blow the added heat away & even then I thing you will need to leave a window open or add the AC. I don't want to give bad advise & make you wish you did the other thing IMO I still believe your best option is both. Maybe get one of the two & see how it work out.
 
lol first of all I dont remeber it ever getting hot in washington :) and second I would go with the ac so you can keep your tank cool and you room cool, and its less expensive! what a deal!! lol
 
I am going through this myself, my tank is in a room that in past years stayed fairly cool but now with a 1000watts of lighting is heating up. Last night I added a 6 inch duct with inline fan that vents the hot air outside. I have two fans on the other end of the hood blowing air in. Hopefully this will move the bulk of the hot air outside. I also plan to run a window AC unit on a thermastat once it gets really warm to keep the room around 75. I am trying to avoid a chiller. I will know tonight if the vent outside was worth the effort.
 
I'll be interested to hear the effect of your new venting on tank temperature. Please update us, okay? :)
 
The temp of the tank is not as big of an issue as to the frequent changing in temp. If it gradually rises with the change in climate, no problem. If it is rising from 76 to 82 and back, that is a problem. If one can afford it, a chiller on a controller is the only way to go. This is coming from one who used to try solving with an air conditioner that I still own. My 90 used to be upstairs and got too hot in the days after cool nights. The AC plus fans just didn't do the job. 180 is now downstairs in a cement basement on a chiller. With all the lighting and pumps, the 1/4 hs barely keeps up.
 
Jan, same boat here. I am thinking of adding the A/C first to the room and see what that does... then add the chiller next if I have too.
 
Keep in mind that the chiller will take the heat from the tank and dump it into the room's air. The air conditioner takes it from the room and sends it outside. (lot of power consumption) One could have their chiller outside or vented as such and kill two birds with one stone. Don and or Scooty could elaborate better. For now, I open the window to let out the warmed air and any CO2 accumulation.
 
Yes, I am going to do something like house the chiller outside or vent it to the outside....
 
again, chiller outside works good when its 85 or less. If it is 90 outside your chiller better be rated very high. You will not be albe to get any pulldown if you have plumbing and a hot chiller outside. I garrantee you that your tank will actually heat up from blowing 90 degree air through it even with the frions help. They measure the pulldown on chillers in a 70 degree room. most can only pull a fully lighted and flo tank down a 3-4 degrees. Thats going to work fine for 350 days this year. So if you want to keep tough corals alive you better put them in someone elses tank for the rest. Do any of you actually have a chiller outside?
 
preons said:
Do any of you actually have a chiller outside?
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Every day 365 days a year. :) Nope my tank never overheats. I'll add that there are many folks even those in eastern wa that have chillers outside with no problems what so ever.

Don
 
DonW said:
Every day 365 days a year. :) Nope my tank never overheats. I'll add that there are many folks even those in eastern wa that have chillers outside with no problems what so ever.

Don
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I am sure anyone with a reef tank in eastern washington has AC. Do you guys have airconditioning? Has it ever hit 90 in your tank room. Jan does not have AC, I do not, and the guy in the apartment doesnt. That means when it is 90 outside, it is 90 degrees inside the house and sometimes hotter. Trust me, a fully lighted tank, and a tank room of 90 degrees or more and a $400 chiller is not going to cut it for jan. The only thing that will is an expensive over powered chiller or a normal AC and and normal chiller. Gone through this myself.
 
I am going to buy Jeff's 1/3 hp in-line chiller that he has (had) for sale. For a total volume of 180 gallons, would you consider that a "normal" chiller?
 
Jan, I have seen his chiller and almost bought it last fall. Got a lot of stuff from him. A great unit, US parts. Should be an overkill on your tank.
 
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