Chiller fed by return pump

Aquagen · Dec 22, 2022

Hi.
My current setup has fans connected to the power bar, set as temperature cooling. And generally this works fine however my house aircon has died and won't be able to be fixed until after Christmas.
I have a chiller I was going to feed with my return pump. However where it gets tricky is return pump is on a timer on power bar, turns off twice a day when my auto feeder runs.

Is it possible to run the chiller on a temp cooling AND timer so it won't try and run when return pump is off?

Gaël · Dec 22, 2022

Hi,
Yes of course, use a programmable logic for that with temperature AND timer as inputs and set this logic to your switch channel:

Programmable Logic Examples

www.aquariumcomputer.com

Gaël

Lasse · Dec 22, 2022

How long is each shout off period? and how long time are they apart? If the chiller is a compressor driven chiller - you need at least - IMO - half an hour stop period in order not to make to much wear and tear on it. The base function is not difficult to create. You create a PL X that says Temp Y (Cooling) AND Timer Z - knit this to your chiller outlet (function PL X) With this PL you say that both things must active

If you want a fixed shout off period of the chiller - you need to first do a lower level PL - let us say we call it PL xx. It should be Delayed on minus timer Z off period (time should be 30 minutes - the timer z:s stop period - note in the function delayed on - time is in seconds) If your timer stopp 15 minutes for feeding - in my case I had done a PL xx that says - delayed on - timer z - 900 sec.

After this - the PL X should be Temp Y (cooling) and PL xx. Knit PLX to your actual outlet.

Because a compressor driven chiller works best by working (or standing still) for as long periods as possible, there is a weakness in this programming. Temp z can activate the cooler just before timer Z stops - and therefore give a short run time. IME - stopping for a short period of time is worse than short periods of time It is possible that it can be solved if you know how long your cooler is on because of the temperature but it is above my pay grade at the moment

Sincerely Lasse

Aquagen · Dec 22, 2022

Cheers for the replies.

Of time is 10 mins 8am, 10 mins 6pm.

But if the wear and tear thing is a real issue I'll just make a new timer for the chiller that's half an hour off during those times.

So just to be sure I need: pl1 temp control cooler socket X. AND. pl2 timer chiller off when return is off... And set this as pl3

Lasse · Dec 22, 2022

Here is the different PL in GCC

In red - this work (g29) (my numbers - yours are probably different. But in this case - the chiller can start exactly when the timer runs (8:10 and 18:10)

If you do the help Pl (PL 30) like I have done (1200 sec= 20 min)
you can combine this with the temp 1 chiller in the PL G31 and it means that the chiller stops 8:00 and 18:00 but can´t start before 8:30 and 18:30

I have test with a timer 1 as input (instead of your temp chiller) and a timer 2 on cyclic on/of - 15 sec. Delay for working 5 sec. Have done it this way because I want to show with a video, The princip works. S1 shows how it looks like if you run the PL direct with on off. S2 shows that the delay in PL 2 works and if you use it - the start will be delayed. S1 or S2 is for your chiller. You can program your actual S outlet with either the way I have programmed S1 or S2. but using your actual setting as I show first in the post. My video only shows that the principle works. Look directly to the left of S1 and S2 in the right window. Blue indicate on. It start with a delay