hydro chiller

[jhale]

I'm thinking about cooling my tank using cold tap water, before you say :givebeer:

listen to this.

If one was to run a line off the cold water through coils of RO type tubing in the sump, would this not help export some of the heat from the tank.

My question is how fast would the cold water need to flow vs. how hot the water was in the tank. and is there a way you could automate this?
make it simple and use a contoller to open a soleniod once the tank water hits 82 degrees lets say and shut off at 81.

any kind of equation I could use to figure this one out?

I could route the water into the RO intake somehow maybe.

 

[inkblue]

i beLieve FRY maY have buiLt a protoType of tHis...

 

[jhale]

cool I'll ask him tomorrow.

my only concern is having a bunch of water lines running to and from the tank

 

[cali_reef]

jhale, I don't have a formula for this

However, I do have a few practical matters for you to consider:

1. How are you going to control the amount of cooling if your cold water cooling coil is effective in transferring the heat?

2. Using the "waste" water for your RO is practical and prevents waste, but how much RO water you think you will end up with on a hot summer day?

3. Is water (the large amount needed for heat exchange) going to be much cheaper than a properly vented chiller running a few hours a day?

Just FYI, plastic is one of better "insulating" material, using it to exchange heat is not efficient at all. Metallic tubing will be much better.

 

[pecan2phat]

Jon,
The titanium tubing to run this effectively would cost 10x over a chiller. Plus water waste is not a sound idea unless you have figured out how to recycle the water.

 

[inkblue]

yup, i pRiced out a smaLL titanium coiL... $400+

 

[jhale]

I was going to use a controler to open and close a solenoid to allow water to flow through the tubing when the temp got to high. when the temp gets low the controler would shut off the water flow.

I was not going to use waste water, i was thinking I could route the water back into the RO intake somehow so whne the RO was using water any extra water from the coling tubes would flow inot the RO. when notin use the water would have to be either wasted or collected.

Which brings me to the third point/question I don't pay for water, but I don;t want to waste too much either. This is why I was wondering how fast the flow would ned to be to remove the heat.

what kind of metal tubing can I use in the sump? Titanium? how much will that cost, ouch.

 

[jhale]

I would like to build one on a small scale to get an idea then.

something to sleep on :tired:

 

[cali_reef]

jhale, take a few temp measurement of your cold water coming out of tap and give me some specs on the tank, I think also estimated hottest water temperature you think it will see without chiller while with lighting on normal schedule, total wattage of the lights and duration, room temp, and what ever else you think will add heat to the water. I will see if I can get someone at JPL to run some scenarios.

 

[meschaefer]

Jhale

This method of cooling is often used by homebrewers to cool the "wort" (unfermented beer) after it is brewed. look here

The chiller that I use is made of copper (bad for a reef tank) and is dropped into the brewing vessel. It takes a 10 gallons of boiling wort down to 70 degrees in a little over half an hour. There is another type called a conterflow chiller, that you can also find on the above referenced site.. same idea... different implementation.

Others have suggeted titatnium, the other choice is stainless steel (i don't know if this is bad to put in a reef tank). While i have never seen a wort chiller made from it, it is used to cool beer down in a draft box. look hereTHe coil is placed into an ice bath and the beer is run through it as it is dispensed.

Hope this is helpfull.

 

[meschaefer]

:biggrinpa :givebeer: :beer:

 

[herman]

Jhale

This method of cooling is often used by homebrewers to cool the "wort" (unfermented beer) after it is brewed. look here

The chiller that I use is made of copper (bad for a reef tank) and is dropped into the brewing vessel. It takes a 10 gallons of boiling wort down to 70 degrees in a little over half an hour. There is another type called a conterflow chiller, that you can also find on the above referenced site.. same idea... different implementation.

Hope this is helpfull.

NOW HERE IS A MAN THAT KNOWS WHAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT!!!!!!!!!!

 

[jhale]

cool, i will check these out,

Cali I still have to get the specs to you, i will try today to figure it out.

 

[jhale]

damn, I looked at the first cooler, that's impressive.

is there any way to isolate the cooler from the tank water like in a plastic bag?

 

[meschaefer]

damn, I looked at the first cooler, that's impressive.

is there any way to isolate the cooler from the tank water like in a plastic bag?

It might work, and the bag might be thin enough to keep it from acting like an insulator. The only problem I see is since the copper is in a coil, and if you put the coil into a bag, then the water wouldn't get inside the center of the coil. Did that come out right? Try and picture it and you might get what i mean. Also remember that these are realtively big, maybe 10 to 12 inches in diamter. I would think that you would want to make a custom one.

They also make cold plates, which might work better in an application where space is at a premium and would be easier to put into a plastic bag. These are designed for draft boxes (like the stainless steel coils i posted above), where the beer runs through the plate, which is submerged in ice water, but I don't see any reason you couldn't reverse the process.

 

[meschaefer]

NOW HERE IS A MAN THAT KNOWS WHAT HE IS TALKING ABOUT!!!!!!!!!!

I take my beer as serious as I take my reefing.:givebeer:

 

[TimberTDI]

John,

Going back to your original idea. I have my RO unit setup in the garage, tapped of the line feeding my outdoor spigot. In the winter the incoming water is ice cold, this severely cuts my water production. It takes almost three days to fill up a 55 gallon drum. What I did was use 75' of RO tubing, put in a 5 gallon bucket full of water, added a heater and presto my RO production was back to normal. I can't see why this wouldn't work in reverse.