-
Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.
Heat Exchanger
- Thread starter PaulM
- Start date
I am considering one of these hooked up to a geothermal loop to cool a larger tank in the near future. But you could probably have a radiator/fan outside instead of the loop in the ground.
http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/listings.categories/ssid/380
http://www.aquaticeco.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/listings.categories/ssid/380
Strictly speaking it wouldn't be a wise idea because of both oxidation and galvanic corrosion of any metal. Here is an intersting article about rusting of metals on boats which at first glance might not be a problem for us until you realize that those floating ions will float in your tank:
http://www.boatus.com/boattech/MarineCorrosion.htm
Jcurry, those heat exchangers are SOOO expensive
For that money he might buy a chiller.
I would suggest another cheap solution: Instead of putting the radiotor in the water, put the water in the radiator - as the water comes from the return pumps in the sump, wrap radiator around those pipes. True, there will be a smaller heat exchange because of the isolating nature of the return pipes, but you might be lucky and drive temp a bit lower.
Anyway, as previous stated in this thread, evaporation helped with the fans is your best way to reduce the heat if you don't want to spend a lot of money. I think Carlo made a small analysis of heat benefits of evaporation in one previous thread, so you might search for it. Don't underestimate the evaporation - it captures tremendous amounts of energy.
http://www.boatus.com/boattech/MarineCorrosion.htm
Jcurry, those heat exchangers are SOOO expensive
For that money he might buy a chiller. I would suggest another cheap solution: Instead of putting the radiotor in the water, put the water in the radiator - as the water comes from the return pumps in the sump, wrap radiator around those pipes. True, there will be a smaller heat exchange because of the isolating nature of the return pipes, but you might be lucky and drive temp a bit lower.
Anyway, as previous stated in this thread, evaporation helped with the fans is your best way to reduce the heat if you don't want to spend a lot of money. I think Carlo made a small analysis of heat benefits of evaporation in one previous thread, so you might search for it. Don't underestimate the evaporation - it captures tremendous amounts of energy.
Thanks for the input. I think I might also try running my 2 mag 7 pumps out of the sump. That's @140 watts of heat right there. The tank is only dropping down to about 80 degrees at night and hits almost 84 with the halides on. So, If I can get the tank to go lower at night it will not be to big of an issue.(besides the 4* temp swing)
You could also make a swamp cooler. They work pretty well also. Deltec makes an outrageously priced one.
http://www.deltecaquariumsolutions.com/coolers.php
Only problem with them is that we live in a bad area for them. They work less then stellar in high humidity environments and face it that is what NJ is.
You can make a knockoff using an old sump or something similar filled with sponge like material or floss with water sprayed on the media. Then a big fan is blown over the media causing evaporation to occur.
Works more or less like a fan blowing over the tank/sump but with 5 to 10 times the affect depending on how well you build it. I made one for a friend out of a 40g breeder for less then $100 in total parts (including fans and fittings) and it'll rival the deltec $1800 model (just not as pretty looking). We installed it in his garage and put a vent in the window to exhaust out the heat. I believe he also ran a dehumidifier a couple of summers ago (not this past summer) as the humidity was very high that summer. He could have also installed it outside but his condo association wouldn't allow it.
Just some other food for thought.
Carlo
http://www.deltecaquariumsolutions.com/coolers.php
Only problem with them is that we live in a bad area for them. They work less then stellar in high humidity environments and face it that is what NJ is.
You can make a knockoff using an old sump or something similar filled with sponge like material or floss with water sprayed on the media. Then a big fan is blown over the media causing evaporation to occur.
Works more or less like a fan blowing over the tank/sump but with 5 to 10 times the affect depending on how well you build it. I made one for a friend out of a 40g breeder for less then $100 in total parts (including fans and fittings) and it'll rival the deltec $1800 model (just not as pretty looking).
We installed it in his garage and put a vent in the window to exhaust out the heat. I believe he also ran a dehumidifier a couple of summers ago (not this past summer) as the humidity was very high that summer. He could have also installed it outside but his condo association wouldn't allow it.Just some other food for thought.
Carlo
Your mag7s are water cooled regardless of whether or not they're sitting IN the water, so while you may find that it is a tad cooler you're not going to notice a 2-4* drop or anything of the sort. They are definitely contributing to your heat problem. Can you eliminate one of them all together? Maybe replace the 2 with one air cooled pump made to run exclusively external.
Have you installed a fan over your sump? That's been a great help to our tank temps on our 65.
Have you installed a fan over your sump? That's been a great help to our tank temps on our 65.
mladencovic: I wouldn't want to run tank water through the radiator for a couple of reasons. 1. corrosion, unless you bought a titanium radiator ($$$$) 2. organisms will grow in the radiator and then die when the water flow is shut down. Therefore you need a heat exchanger to isolate the tank water from the coolant. You then need a way to dissapate the heat from the coolant. That can be either a geothermal loop (either in the ground or a body of water) or a radiator with a fan of some type (preferably setup outside). I'm not sure about the aluminum heat exchangers being saltwater compatible. Phosguard is just aluminum oxide pellets so I would assume that you could use the aluminum ones. The others I believe are titanium thus the big price tag.
My experiance with chillers is that it becomes a never ending thermal loop when installed in a small space. The chiller blows hot air into the room thus heating the room & tank. Which then turns on the chiller to blow more hot air into the room.
Agreed for a small tank a chiller is the 3rd cheapest solution if it can be vented to the outside or even a different area of the house. The cheapest is the fan on the sump and the 2nd is replacing the pumps.
My experiance with chillers is that it becomes a never ending thermal loop when installed in a small space. The chiller blows hot air into the room thus heating the room & tank. Which then turns on the chiller to blow more hot air into the room.
Agreed for a small tank a chiller is the 3rd cheapest solution if it can be vented to the outside or even a different area of the house. The cheapest is the fan on the sump and the 2nd is replacing the pumps.
Jcurry@wesketch said:
I ment: take the water out of the system through plastic pipe and then chill the pipe. Not efficient at all, but you do not worry about the rust or the growth inside the pipe.I wouldn't trust aluminum in the tanks. I know that it will easily corrode and erode in several ways but I simply don't know if it will bond into something harmfull or not so I don't want to experiment.
Not sure if you have a basement setup or anything like that but if so you can "cheat" and tap a cold water pipe and run it into a heat exchange sump. I got a good quality hose and coiled about 50 feet in a small tub. I then used a controller to pump water into the "exchange sump" when needed. This "auxiliary sump" would normally be much cooler due to normal household use of water. It's not something you would rely on 100% of the time but just from daily use of the sink & toilet you'd be surprised what something as simple as this "free cooling" can do for you. This and a fan was all I ever needed back in that house.
Carlo
Carlo
A loop of tubing from the cold water to the RO unit in the sump works pretty well also.