temp question

[HUNTER01975]

if I keep my house at 70 all year via heat and a/c will I still need a chiller for summer time running?

My thoughts would be no cause the ambient temp of the house .being cooler but just thought i would double check.

My tank is running leds and is a open top. so no heat build up. well i hope not.

 

[Tuku4u]

IMHO I would say no. In my experience my tank still stays balanced during summer BECAUSE I air condition my home.

 

[user 26995]

Agreed, you wont need a chiller. Nice to have air conditioning!
I thought about installing a heat pump. I like having my house opened up though. There are a few days of the year it gets pretty warm over here, but not too bad.

 

[Gryphon]

If you have a sump you can rotate bottles of frozen water inside your sump to help keep temps down if for some reason your a/c craps out. Sadly for me my new apartment's windows open sideways, so my A/C unit won't fit in them.

 

[HUNTER01975]

a/c is a only 6 years old so lets hope it holds up a few more years. it is trane..lol

sweet less money to have to spend..

We also love to have the windows and doors open. But hey I am sort fat and mix hot in and that don't make good sleeping..and fat and sweaty is no good either..

GRyphon- I can show you how to fix your window issue with a/c.. I use to have window a/c in all sorts of slide open windows. I would be glad to help you one of these weekends.

 

[burning2nd]

No i doubt it... at 70 your tank should be able to manage it self... you might want a small fan though

 

[Gryphon]

Its tempting, but I'm not too worried about it, its an ancient in the window model, I'd rather not go through all the effort of getting it in and have it crap out on me.

 

[mfinn]

I do have central ac, and I did need my chiller.
What I had on my tank was what made the need for a chiller.
What you have may be different, so the situation would be different.
On my 240 I had 3 x 250 watt mh and 4 x 160 watt VHO. I also had 2 of the higher heat producing pumps on the market. I had 2 Poseidon pumps. One for return and one for a closed loop.
The tank and all the lights, pumps, everything creates heat. If you keep your house cool, then you may not need a chiller as bad as a warmer house.
Before my 240, I had a 180 without a chiller. It had 3 x 250 watt mh and 2 x 160 watt VHO. I used one of the Poseidon pumps.
I also used a couple 9" clip-on fans. One in the sump, one on the tank.
In the summer, I did have to use frozen gallon jugs of water to help keep it cool, even though I had ac.
I had 7-8 jugs I would use and rotate them as needed.

 

[HUNTER01975]

I will just keep a few jugs of frozen water threw the summer months to make sure.

 

[mfinn]

What I also found I was doing during the years I did not have a chiller, just about everything I did during the day revolved around the temp. of the tank. Mostly during the summer. When I got up in the morning before work,,,, had to check temp and add ice jugs as needed ( always). My wife would also swap out or add a couple. When I got home at night, same thing. whenever I would walk by the tank, I would glance up at the thermometer on the wall. Just to check. Leave for more than a day or two. Forget it. So, don't completely rule out a external chiller. Best money I ever spent on my tank.

 

[HUNTER01975]

well i guess if it starts to warm up i will just have to set the a/c to 60 in the house..

mfinn-- check my build pics again and see what you think.. I am pretty sure it should be more than fine special if I open the cabinet up and run a big fan at the tank and stand.(worse case..) it is a open top DT and the return pump is external so those 2 items should help a ton. But please i am open to input and suggestions.

 

[mfinn]

There are alot of ways to keep it cool. I'm just saying that having one eliminates a ton of worry, knowing the chiller will handle the temps.
I still check the temp on my tank and fuss with this or that, but I have more time now. lol

 

[mfinn]

My tank is running leds and is a open top. so no heat build up. well i hope not.

I completely spaced over this part. Hopefully having leds will eliminate completely the need for a chiller. At least that's what I told my wife, when I bought 3 Radions for my 240.

 

[HUNTER01975]

I completely spaced over this part. Hopefully having leds will eliminate completely the need for a chiller. At least that's what I told my wife, when I bought 3 Radions for my 240.

hey man I tell my wife all sort of crazy BS too..............lol

 

[Katchupoy]

I believe this has been answered already. But in my case, I just needed a small fan blowing at the water surface of tank. Ever since I switched to LEDs 2.5 years ago, heat is no longer an issue. Unless of course your heater is acting up. But Ranco controller fixed that for me, and now my arduino keeps everything in check.