Will a chiller be ok pumping warm air?

[twilliard]

Hey all.
Well when I got home from work my wife told me the AC has not worked all day. Come to find out after trouble shotting the condenser that the compressor pump is not running. (its an old unit)

So my question is about my tank chiller.
With no AC in the house and being 82 inside the house will my chiller still cool enough to keep the tank cool?
The chiller is in its own little room with all my pumps and is HOT in there.

Are these things efficient??

 

[The Apprentice]

Hi Twilliard It depends on how hot your equipment room gets. The size of your chiller, Is it bigger sized than required for your tank? How long are you running your Halides?
I too live on the east side like you Its even hotter in my neck of the desert and My chillers sit in my garage that gets in the hi 90's And both of the chillers keep my tanks real close to the set point but i sized them bigger for this reason, Can you get a fan to exchange some of the hotter air in the equipment room out?
I would suggest to watch you r temp and adjust you r light time as temperature dictates. You could also put some clip on fans blowing on the sump or the top of the tank till that a/c gets fixed Good luck!
Jeff

 

[twilliard]

thanks Jeff
Well I hear it supposed to get even hotter tomorrow. My pump room gets about 85 with everything at full tilt.

It is sized right to my tank. Its a CL450 from PCI. 1/10th HP. and I have about 130G of water.
My biggest fear is burning out the compressor pump. Two in one day would not be good.
I got an estimate to replace my central air and it was 10K! The unit was installed in 82 and has been a money pit since I bought this place in Dec.

So shortening the halide cycle will help it?

 

[kendog261]

get one of those 6 inch clamp on fans and blow it across the top of the tank it will help allot

 

[The Apprentice]

103 on sunday!

Yea Twilliard I think you will be OK I got home tonight And looked in my garage it was 95 degrees the tanks are both at 78-79 respectively. I have a 1/4 hp on a 75 gallon tank and 1/3 hp on my 150 tank I run my Halides for about 8-9 hours during the summer then kick them back up in the colder months. On another note adjust your start time for early in the morning and shut them down just after noon this will help allot with the heat issues.
Kendog has a real good suggestion with the clamp on fan IT Works!
The only draw back i noticed is a very hi rate of evaporation in l
the house this time of the year with Eastern Oregon Desert heat I would go Thur 3+ gallons a day in water evaporation per tank! If you have auto water top off this is not a issue But if not This will put a swing in you water S.G.
This is what prompted me into chillers My SPS did not like the temp and Specific Gravity swings.
As for So shortening the halide cycle Mojo told me this a few years back Its Just like a cloudy day

thanks Jeff
Well I hear it supposed to get even hotter tomorrow. My pump room gets about 85 with everything at full tilt.

It is sized right to my tank. Its a CL240 from PCI. 1/10th HP. and I have about 130G of water.
My biggest fear is burning out the compressor pump. Two in one day would not be good.
I got an estimate to replace my central air and it was 10K! The unit was installed in 82 and has been a money pit since I bought this place in Dec.

So shortening the halide cycle will help it?

 

[preons]

Most chillers say in there instruction booklet to not run them if the ambient temp reaches 95 degrees. My 1/10hp cant handle my 75g if it ambient room temperature is above 80.

peace
josh

 

[chadmace]

I have a Current Usa Prime Tower 1/3 hp Chiller on my 125g. Total of about 160g. The other day when it was around 85ish I decided to try using a different air conditioner in my house. My girlfriend came home and said it was hotter in the house than outside....she said she opened the door expecting it to be cool in the house but got blasted by heat....and the tank was at 78.8.....I have my chiller set to 78 with a 2 degree differential. My tank sits between 77.8 and 78.6 with a cool house. Guess that hot house cost me .2 degrees. I'm sure the worst case scenario it damages your chiller by not being able to cool down. I need to keep my house cool for our Ferrets so back to my other air conditioner.

 

[lavenderfish]

About the ferrets. I have heard some people put frozen water bottles or ice packs for them to sit next to. Not ideal but maybe good for emergency.

 

[DonW]

Most chillers say in there instruction booklet to not run them if the ambient temp reaches 95 degrees. My 1/10hp cant handle my 75g if it ambient room temperature is above 80.

peace
josh

Thats because your chiller doesnt have enough HP for the system. 1/10 is to small. Chillers will work all the way up to the superheat temp which is usually 20 degrees above the set temp.

Don

 

[burning2nd]

dont chillers use hfc 134a or cfc 12 .... (depending on year)

they arnt just a radiator with water moveing thur them are they????

 

[twilliard]

Its still holding the tank at 80 but it is sure working a lot to do it.

I have the local repair shop comming tomorrow to look at my AC

Whoooo is it hot in here

 

[Snowboarda42]

LOL, I keep the AC in my house at 62* (I love it cold) while its about 98* outside (that AC works hard). Luckily I live really close to a Hydro-Electric Dam so electricity is CHEAP ($.0185/kwHr + $.265/day). My tank sits at 80.5-80.9* all day long and I still see some heat coming off the heaters once in a while.