More on cheap chillers

[narkosis]

Looks like you ppl in S'pore seem to have limited choices as to chillers that are efficient.

Why not do this : We get a titanium heat exchanger (Jap. titanium, assembled in China, of cos!) and a digital controller + sensor for about S$450 here in Malaysia. Then get it hooked up to a regular 1HP aircon compressor located outside the apartment/house. This kind of config is strong enough to drive a 8' X 2.5' X 2.5' easily (proven) lit up with 4 X 400W MH, ambient temp. 33C, chilled temp. 25-26C.

Looking at it from another point, if connected to a 5' X 2' X 2' tank, the chiller works for 15 min. then stops for 1 hour. Dunno about you guys, but I think it's quite efficient.

Things to look out for :
1) You'll need to buy a locally available aircon compressor. Most of these come with a blower AND a guarantee, even though the blower will be useless and hiding in your storeroom for a long time Here, a typical 1HP compressor and blower costs about S$430, in S'pore dunno.

2) You'll need to get a powerhead/water pump at about 2000-3000 lph to pump water from the sump to the heat exchanger and back to the sump. Some piping needed here.

2) You'll need to get the aircon guy to install it for you. I can supply the connection details to the controller & compressor if necessary. Here, labour and installation about S$100. Usually required digging a 1.5" hole in the wall/ceiling for the copper tubes and wires to come through, and sealing it back - might be difficult with plaster ceilings.

3) The compressor will have to be mounted outside the apt./house because of the heat and vibration generated.

So, total cost would be about S$1000. With shipping of the heat exchanger and controller, it shouldn't exceed S$1100, unless you do it by courier.

[narkosis]

Looks like you ppl in S'pore seem to have limited choices as to chillers that are efficient.

Why not do this : We get a titanium heat exchanger (Jap. titanium, assembled in China, of cos!) and a digital controller + sensor for about S$450 here in Malaysia. Then get it hooked up to a regular 1HP aircon compressor located outside the apartment/house. This kind of config is strong enough to drive a 8' X 2.5' X 2.5' easily (proven) lit up with 4 X 400W MH, ambient temp. 33C, chilled temp. 25-26C.

Looking at it from another point, if connected to a 5' X 2' X 2' tank, the chiller works for 15 min. then stops for 1 hour. Dunno about you guys, but I think it's quite efficient.

Things to look out for :
1) You'll need to buy a locally available aircon compressor. Most of these come with a blower AND a guarantee, even though the blower will be useless and hiding in your storeroom for a long time Here, a typical 1HP compressor and blower costs about S$430, in S'pore dunno.

2) You'll need to get a powerhead/water pump at about 2000-3000 lph to pump water from the sump to the heat exchanger and back to the sump. Some piping needed here.

2) You'll need to get the aircon guy to install it for you. I can supply the connection details to the controller & compressor if necessary. Here, labour and installation about S$100. Usually required digging a 1.5" hole in the wall/ceiling for the copper tubes and wires to come through, and sealing it back - might be difficult with plaster ceilings.

3) The compressor will have to be mounted outside the apt./house because of the heat and vibration generated.

So, total cost would be about S$1000. With shipping of the heat exchanger and controller, it shouldn't exceed S$1100, unless you do it by courier.

[narkosis]

Looks like you ppl in S'pore seem to have limited choices as to chillers that are efficient.

Why not do this : We get a titanium heat exchanger (Jap. titanium, assembled in China, of cos!) and a digital controller + sensor for about S$450 here in Malaysia. Then get it hooked up to a regular 1HP aircon compressor located outside the apartment/house. This kind of config is strong enough to drive a 8' X 2.5' X 2.5' easily (proven) lit up with 4 X 400W MH, ambient temp. 33C, chilled temp. 25-26C.

Looking at it from another point, if connected to a 5' X 2' X 2' tank, the chiller works for 15 min. then stops for 1 hour. Dunno about you guys, but I think it's quite efficient.

Things to look out for :
1) You'll need to buy a locally available aircon compressor. Most of these come with a blower AND a guarantee, even though the blower will be useless and hiding in your storeroom for a long time Here, a typical 1HP compressor and blower costs about S$430, in S'pore dunno.

2) You'll need to get a powerhead/water pump at about 2000-3000 lph to pump water from the sump to the heat exchanger and back to the sump. Some piping needed here.

2) You'll need to get the aircon guy to install it for you. I can supply the connection details to the controller & compressor if necessary. Here, labour and installation about S$100. Usually required digging a 1.5" hole in the wall/ceiling for the copper tubes and wires to come through, and sealing it back - might be difficult with plaster ceilings.

3) The compressor will have to be mounted outside the apt./house because of the heat and vibration generated.

So, total cost would be about S$1000. With shipping of the heat exchanger and controller, it shouldn't exceed S$1100, unless you do it by courier.

[narkosis]

Looks like you ppl in S'pore seem to have limited choices as to chillers that are efficient.

Why not do this : We get a titanium heat exchanger (Jap. titanium, assembled in China, of cos!) and a digital controller + sensor for about S$450 here in Malaysia. Then get it hooked up to a regular 1HP aircon compressor located outside the apartment/house. This kind of config is strong enough to drive a 8' X 2.5' X 2.5' easily (proven) lit up with 4 X 400W MH, ambient temp. 33C, chilled temp. 25-26C.

Looking at it from another point, if connected to a 5' X 2' X 2' tank, the chiller works for 15 min. then stops for 1 hour. Dunno about you guys, but I think it's quite efficient.

Things to look out for :
1) You'll need to buy a locally available aircon compressor. Most of these come with a blower AND a guarantee, even though the blower will be useless and hiding in your storeroom for a long time Here, a typical 1HP compressor and blower costs about S$430, in S'pore dunno.

2) You'll need to get a powerhead/water pump at about 2000-3000 lph to pump water from the sump to the heat exchanger and back to the sump. Some piping needed here.

2) You'll need to get the aircon guy to install it for you. I can supply the connection details to the controller & compressor if necessary. Here, labour and installation about S$100. Usually required digging a 1.5" hole in the wall/ceiling for the copper tubes and wires to come through, and sealing it back - might be difficult with plaster ceilings.

3) The compressor will have to be mounted outside the apt./house because of the heat and vibration generated.

So, total cost would be about S$1000. With shipping of the heat exchanger and controller, it shouldn't exceed S$1100, unless you do it by courier.

[Killerwhale]

Poor choice. For that 1 hp compressor, it will consume 746 W of energy. This is not a long term feasible plan. I would rater get a commercially available chiller that has a much less energy consumption rate.

[narkosis]

Clownfish,

It only seems to be inefficient because 1HP = about 750W. But DO remember that on a 5' tank, the compressor only works for 20% of the time, which means in the course of a day, is less than 5 hours. This is equivalent to 3.75KWH per day, which in Malaysia would cost us only RM0.90 per day. If this is not efficient, what would be?

Of course you could use a 1/2 HP, or even a 1/4 HP compressor, but these would run correspondingly longer than the 1HP in order to cool the same tank. The point is, for less than S$1000, you have enough capacity to run a huge tank without needing to upgrade later.

[Phang]

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On 10/13/2002 7:37:20 PM

Clownfish,

It only seems to be inefficient because 1HP = about 750W. But DO remember that on a 5' tank, the compressor only works for 20% of the time, which means in the course of a day, is less than 5 hours. This is equivalent to 3.75KWH per day, which in Malaysia would cost us only RM0.90 per day. If this is not efficient, what would be?

Of course you could use a 1/2 HP, or even a 1/4 HP compressor, but these would run correspondingly longer than the 1HP in order to cool the same tank. The point is, for less than S$1000, you have enough capacity to run a huge tank without needing to upgrade later.
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Hi Narkosis,

Would glady have such a system for my marine.... but place too small and of course requiring permission... but once I get my own place... heeheehee.. []

BTW, Thanks for all the infor you have provided me previously in regards to reef keeping.
Have been great in preparing me as I move on with my 5 footer project...



BTW, You mention a pump of 2000-3000l to be fed into the heat exchanger, is that too much a volume for a RA 680...and if it is... what's the recommended???
Jus got my chiller....[]

[Phang]

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On 10/12/2002 9:24:22 PM

Poor choice. For that 1 hp compressor, it will consume 746 W of energy. This is not a long term feasible plan. I would rater get a commercially available chiller that has a much less energy consumption rate.
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Erhh... Clownfish,
a commercially 1 HP (Teco RA 2000)... would be st 860W rating....

[narkosis]

Phang,

Congrats on your 5-footer, and no sweat on the info I managed to pass you so far. Hope I managed to help you out a tiny bit

As for the RA-680, sorry, can't help you out there. You'd need to ask the manufacturer. As far as possible, I ALWAYS try not to use equipment made for the aquarium industry since they're ALWAYS more expensive - e.g., chillers, lighting, electronics, KW, etc., etc.

[Killerwhale]

TECO Ra 2000 860 W ? Oh my god !!! Is a steal man...... I suggest you turn on your room aircon to cool yourselves and your tank. This way more efficient and more value added, but provided that you have an aircon.

[narkosis]

Clownfish,

I used to use a 2HP aircon to cool my hall which held my 240G reef tank about 4 years ago. In order to cool the tank to 26C, I had to set the thermostat to about 23C. It was fine at first, other than the fact that the girls would be shivering quite a lot, and placing lots of cups of water in the hall, because the air would be too dry. Running 1500W of power for about 3/4 of the time cost the electricity bill to shoot thru' the roof. But that wasn't all.

As time went on, the tank temp. slowly increased, and I had to lower the setting to 22, then 21, then slowly all the way to 16, and the hall didn't feel all that cool. Ended up, I had to service the aircon every 3 months which was not cost-effective at all. That's when I decided to drop the idea, and just get a chiller. Problem totally solved, and cost savings was about 75%. So, I'd still say a chiller would be a better bet than an aircon unit.

[Killerwhale]

Interesting finding. But how come the tank water will raise as times go by ? I thought it is dependent on ambient conditions around your house. Just curious.....

[:]

[narkosis]

Clownfish,

The gradual temp. increase in the tank was due to the fact that the aircon compressor was being stressed for too long - on for 24/7, compr. was actually working 3/4 of that time. I guess it just couldn't handle the load over long term. And that's why I had to service it so regularly after that.

It didn't help that I was using 3 X 400W MHs over the tank, not to mention the numerous pumps and powerheads I was using, and that's why there was such a big diff. between the thermo. setting and the tank temp.

[Killerwhale]

I see... thanks[]

[narkosis]

No sweat, clownfish

[Phang]

I think using a aircon in the hope of getting your reef tank to the temperature desired is not really a feasible idea...


1) firstly , there won't be consistently in the water temp...
due to longer cooling time... with the chiller, the water is in direct contact with the cooling source whereas using the aircon, you must first cool the surrounding that would then indirectly cool the tank...
2) temp of water would always be higher than that of the ambient temp...

And regarding the higher wattage of higher HP chillers, basically uses less amount of time to cool the water, so actually less operational time equals better savings...

I rather run a 1 HP chiller 5 hours a day than a 1/2 HP chiller 20 hrs.....!!!!
[] []

[narkosis]

Phang,

You got that hole-in-one! Bullseye. We're not looking at absolute wattage for the unit, but efficiency. The chiller might be painful to buy, but it's a really worthwhile investment in the long run.