Chiller Questions

[windcharm]

Hi,

I just got a chiller, Hailea HC 300 for my 150 litre tank. I set my chiller temperature to 25 degree celsius. The chiller will kicks in when the temperature reached around 26 degree celsius (+-0.1 degree celsius).

Now I have a question, the chiller will kicks in every 5 mins for about 1min (to cool the temperature down to 25 degree celsius) when the temperature reaches around 26 degree. Which mean in 1 hour, it runs in about 12 times (which is about 12 minutes in total). By the way, I am using an ehiem external cannister filter with the flow rate of 1050 litre/hour.

Is this normal? If not what can I do?

Thanks

With regards
Windcharm

[christopher.wtc]

Hi Wind,
This is unusual for the chiller to kick in every 5 minutes, I am using this same model for a 200 liter tank and it kicks in about every 30 minutes on a hot day, 45 minutes on an average day. At night, the chiller seldom gets activated. Chances are your chiller is faulty or your inlet of the filter or chiller is block. No worries about the flow rate coz your spec for the filter sounds good. Flow rates is only a specification rating for the filter, a far fetched example is if you only have a 2 drops of water going through your filter, how ever powerful your filter is, you are not going to have a good flow of water in the tank.

[Shadow]

Flow rate problem. The chiller required 1000 - 2000 l/h (according to web site) and you are using filter with 1050 l/h flow. Normally filter will lost 30% of it flow once you put in media, thus you have effectively ~700 l/h.

What happen with slow flow rate is cold water inside the chiller is not replace fast enough by warm water from the tank. Thus the chiller prematurely stop the compressor thinking that it reach the set temperature though actually it isn't. 5 minutes later the warm water warm up the sensor and chiller start the compressor again.

You can fix this by either external sensor put inside the tank or get independent pump.

[Loopy]

My TECO Chiller performs heaps better now that I have an External EHEIM Pump (Not Canister)

It is something like this:
http://www.charterhouse-aquatics.co...._plus_pump.gif

I personally never liked hooking anything to the external canister, that is just me.

And about your chiller, that does not happen to me and what Christopher and Shadow said is correct.

One thing, do you have a lot of ventilation?

[windcharm]

Thanks all for the informations.

After researching, I have decided to go with this approach.

I have disconnected the temperature sensor in the chiller compartment and connected a new temperature sensor directly to my fish tank. It really helps alot in term the temperature control and reduces run in frequently of the chiller. This is because, now I can get the "true" temperature of the water in my fish tank instead of water temperature in the chiller compartment.

[neon]

If you have a weak flow rate , the chiller becomes not effective to chill your tank and waste electricity bill.

[windcharm]

If you have a weak flow rate , the chiller becomes not effective to chill your tank and waste electricity bill.

Noted Neon. The reason of not increasing the flow rate is because I find my fishes and shrimps are struggling to swim if I increases too much of the flow rate.

After reconnecting the temperature sensor to the water in my fish tank directly. On an average, it runs in around 20 minutes for every hour which is about 18 times/day (24hrs). Althought it may not seem to have cut down the monthly cost (due to the slow flow rate), but it helps to extend the life span of the chiller and maintain a more stable temperature.

This monthly bill estimated is about

Using a Hailea HC 300A
Power = 240v x 1.8A = 432W

Avg bill per month:
((432/1000) x 6 (of run-in everyday) x $0.2293 x 365 days)/12 = $18.08 (est.)

[o2bubble]

i think $18 is too optimistic. I had a 1/5 hp arctica for a 4ft tank with kicktime of average 45 mins every 1.5 hour. Monthly around $20 electricity bill.

[Shadow]

I had resun CL-280 with external sensor, monly bill increase around $10. I do not know how long does it kick and kick for how long. I'm using power measurement device, something like kill a watt but for 240V supply. So confirm accurate.

By the way, for chiller you need to multiply it by the power factor to get the right wattage. Power = Volt x Current apply only for DC and Incandescent light bulb.

[windcharm]

i think $18 is too optimistic. I had a 1/5 hp arctica for a 4ft tank with kicktime of average 45 mins every 1.5 hour. Monthly around $20 electricity bill.

With the new electricity consumption rate per hour of 0.2293 cents, maybe.

I had resun CL-280 with external sensor, monly bill increase around $10. I do not know how long does it kick and kick for how long. I'm using power measurement device, something like kill a watt but for 240V supply. So confirm accurate.

By the way, for chiller you need to multiply it by the power factor to get the right wattage. Power = Volt x Current apply only for DC and Incandescent light bulb.

This may be a good device to get . Thanks for sharing

[Shadow]

Just did some reading over 24 hours, it shows 1.17 kWh per day. With the rate of $0.2507 per kWh, per day will cost me $0.293319 and per month $8.79957. Cheaper than previous reading probably because of the recent cold/windy weather.

I bought mine from ebay
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Electricity-Po...d=p3286.c0.m14

Sim lim do have it for $80, more expensive than ebay + delivery charge

[blackBRUSHalgae]

My TECO Chiller performs heaps better now that I have an External EHEIM Pump (Not Canister)

It is something like this:
http://www.charterhouse-aquatics.co...._plus_pump.gif

I personally never liked hooking anything to the external canister, that is just me.

And about your chiller, that does not happen to me and what Christopher and Shadow said is correct.

One thing, do you have a lot of ventilation?

Yes, I totally agreed with you on external pump. I drive both my Eheim 2028 canistor and HC 300 chiller with an eheim 1260 pump, rated at 2400L/H. This setup has been running since 3 years ago.

But I'm sure if I change the temperature sensor to an external one, the chiller will be even more efficient.

[neon]

Yes, I totally agreed with you on external pump. I drive both my Eheim 2028 canistor and HC 300 chiller with an eheim 1260 pump, rated at 2400L/H. This setup has been running since 3 years ago.

But I'm sure if I change the temperature sensor to an external one, the chiller will be even more efficient.

Definitely . Search and see my thread on DIYing external thermostat.

Few adv to name with external thermostat :
a) more accurate in tank water temperature as water temp changes in tank is slower than chiller.
b) I purposely delay the kick-in time for the chiller when the temp reach the threshold by 20mins. Imagine each kick-in delay by 20mins, the number of definite hours less for running the chiller in 24 hours period.
c) you can calibrate the temp
d) you can set with bigger gap in temp rather than just within 1 deg difference, ie I can set the chiller to chill from 24.0 to 26.5

[windcharm]

Definitely . Search and see my thread on DIYing external thermostat.

Few adv to name with external thermostat :
a) more accurate in tank water temperature as water temp changes in tank is slower than chiller.
b) I purposely delay the kick-in time for the chiller when the temp reach the threshold by 20mins. Imagine each kick-in delay by 20mins, the number of definite hours less for running the chiller in 24 hours period.
c) you can calibrate the temp
d) you can set with bigger gap in temp rather than just within 1 deg difference, ie I can set the chiller to chill from 24.0 to 26.5

Hi Neon, to calibrate the temp. Is it by holding the up & down button together for about 3 sec before the temperature display starts to blink for calibration?. It that the same way of how I can set with bigger gap in temperature too?

Currently, I am setting it to 0.9 so that the reading is almost the same as my thermometer shown in my fish tank.