Mounting chiller outdoors

[Nemo]

Tony, how about I give you the same advice that was given to me. I was going to spend the big bucks and buy a chiller this summer, but after a few discussions I bought an airconditioner instead.

AC is cheaper to buy, you get the benifit of a cool room, amd no extra pump for your tank.

I bought a 10,000 BTU unit from Home Depot for about $350.00 and it cools my entire down stairs area, versus over $1000.00 for a chiller and pump, and only my tank benifits

Just a thought

[StirCrazy]

Originally Posted by golden69_ca

thats right im not a journeyman refrigeration and hvac teck . if any one needs help in this area i will help just pm me as for outher people who are "experts" of all thing and want my help i have a charge out rate .



thanx aaron

why you getting all ****y , I simply asked why you think that???

Steve

[mark]

Again not sure sure how fridges are similiar to chillers, but from the manual that came with our new fridge:

Note: It is recommended that you do not install the refrigerator near an oven, radiator or other heat source. Do not install in a location where the temperature will fall below 55F (13C).

Doesn't say why, but if you are installing the chiller outside, might be a idea to contact the manufacturer for clarification on suitable locations.

[Delphinus]

Well, thanks all for the thoughts. Interesting.

Aaron, when the time comes closer to put something in place, I'll drop you a line. It won't be soon, the summer's over and it will be September maybe even October before I begin work on the basement, and there's usually no need for a chiller on the tank(s) in the winter over here. But don't worry I will remember your offer - thanks.

The reason that got me to asking this question is that it's just something I've been wondering about. If you put a chiller next to a tank that it's chilling, the net heat transfer in the room is zero. If you put the chiller somewhere else then there's a heat transfer away from the tank, and it seems to me that this is a good idea. A/C units work by pumping the heat right outside so that's what got me to wonder about it. Plus, I saw an AdvancedAquarist.com featured tank recently where the guy had the chiller outdoors (looked like a standard A/C type unit though, not a tank chiller -- may have been a custom job - I don't recall, I'll have to look for that article again and re-read it).

A room air conditioner would have been an awesome idea but the problem is I have no window or ventilation in the tank room (this is a basement tank room, concrete walls). I looked into getting a window installed so I could just use a small room A/C unit but I was looking at almost $1000 for the concrete coring and window installation, AND the only place it would fit is right under my deck, so it doesn't really work anyhow.

One of those portable room air conditioners might work but they're $800. At that price you might just consider a chiller anyhow.

I would prefer something that doesn't involve venting air using fans because after 8 years of listening to fan noise for my tanks, I'm simply tired of the constant howling/whining of fans. When I build this tank, I want to see it, and maybe the only noise I hear is a little gurgling of water. Might be a pipe dream but it's something of a goal for this next tank.

Anyhow I appreciate all the thoughts, thanks everyone.

[snaggle]

I don’t see any thing wrong with putting the chiller outside. I would just put a shut off valve on either side of the chiller inside the house on one side have an air spigot that would let you hook up an air compressor on one side, and on the other side have a drain to let the water out. As long as you do it before freeze up you should be ok

Brad

[KarlK]

The reason you can't run the chiller outside is that the lower temperatures cause the pressure in the high temperature part of the system to drop. This will not allow the system to maintain the proper pressure difference between the high and low temperature sides of the system to allow the expansion device to operate correctly.

I other words, as the temperature drops, the performance of your chiller will drop.

Chillers have certain design paramaters. These include the assumtion that you will be removing heat from 80-90 degree water and that it will be exhausting heat into a 70 to 90 degree room. When this engineered unit in now put outside when it is 55 degrees (or lower), it is now operating outside of it's design parameters and will no longer function effectively.

One could probably be modified with slightly different controls in order to have it operate reasonably well.

$0.02

Karl