Chiller placement and heat dumping concerns

[NicholasP]

Hello all, I'm currently converting my red sea reefer aquarium from tropical to a Mediterranean reef setup. Currently the water reaches up to 28 degrees during the day, without heater etc, while our apartment is at~25.
I found an aquavie ice 800 chiller for sale in really good condition, and I was thinking about it's placement.
It fits in my aquariums furniture, but will it affect its performance or will it heat up the house too much?
My aquarium volume is 300L combined with the sump, but actual volume is less due to live rock, substrate and skimmer displacement.
The chiller is rated for 800liters and I need to keep a temperature of 18 to 19 degrees Celsius.

What do you think?

 

[bluemon]

it won’t heat the house up to any impactful degree. But I do suggest placing a fan with it to cool it down a bit

 

[NicholasP]

The rear of my aquarium stand is open and exposed, with about 10cm distance from the wall. Should I add a fan blowing towards there, or mount it to the chillers air intake?

 

[NicholasP]

Also does running a chiller reduce evaporation to any measurable degree? Right now I'm going through 20 liters of rodi in the ato a week

 

[Subsea]

Both the chiller and evaporation from your tank will add heat to your home. Somewhere on chiller data plate should be capacity: 1HP CHILLER is approximately 1Ton of refrigeration which is 12,500BTU/HR.

Yes, the chiller would reduce the rate of evaporation of your aquarium system as the chiller adds heat to your room.

PS: I assume France is warm in the Summer. Consider venting chiller warm discharge air from your home.

 

[Subsea]

Thermodynamics 101
BTU, British Thermal Unit is the amount of energy required to increase 1 pound of water 1 degree F.

Heat to remove from water:
300liters of water from 28 to 18 degrees: 10 degrees centigrade equals 18 degrees F

So 300L time 2.2 lbs/L equals 660 pounds times 18F
11,880 BTU/Hr removed from water. If you assume 80% efficiency then the chiller will exhaust
14,850BTU/Hr into the room.

 

[NicholasP]

Both the chiller and evaporation from your tank will add heat to your home. Somewhere on chiller data plate should be capacity: 1HP CHILLER is approximately 1Ton of refrigeration which is 12,500BTU/HR.

Yes, the chiller would reduce the rate of evaporation of your aquarium system as the chiller adds heat to your room.

PS: I assume France is warm in the Summer. Consider venting chiller warm discharge air from your home.

Two weeks ago we had a heatwave that lasted for almost ten days, with temperatures ranging from 28 at night to 37°C at day.
I live in an 38m² appartment, and the living room is air conditioned, so I can easily keep the house at around 22-23c. Also I think the evaporation is increased because the aquarium is directly opposite to the ac unit, and a lot of air blows towards it.
Rigging it outside it's not really possible with the layout of the house, as the pipes would have to go through a big sliding glass Door separating the balcony, and the chiller to be on the other side of said balcony, some 7 meters of piping in total, that I can't hide.
My wife would simply shoot me on the spot if I did something like that haha

 

[NicholasP]

Thermodynamics 101
BTU, British Thermal Unit is the amount of energy required to increase 1 pound of water 1 degree F.

Heat to remove from water:
300liters of water from 28 to 18 degrees: 10 degrees centigrade equals 18 degrees F

So 300L time 2.2 lbs/L equals 660 pounds times 18F
11,880 BTU/Hr removed from water. If you assume 80% efficiency then the chiller will exhaust
14,850BTU/Hr into the room.

This might sound dumb, but even if it gets down to 18c (max 21 is acceptable because I will have shallow water species, I'm only concerned about the soft corals), then the chiller runs when it's at 19c again,to sustain said 18c, the total sum of thermal energy expelled from the unit during the course of 24h would still be the same right?

 

[spicymikey]

I doubt is going to affect the temperature in your entire house unless you're in a small apartment. But it's definitely going to add heat load if you don't have air conditioning it'll need to have some ventilation. Regardless, depending on the room it is in it could definitely affect the temperature in that room. You need to give us more details on the space and ventilation.

Regardless of the heat being generated by the compressor coils, you are going to need to factor in sound if it's right in the room where are you sit or sleep. I have a separate filter room for all my equipment and it's behind a closed door so I don't have a problem, but when I'm in that room I definitely can hear it pretty loudly.

 

[NicholasP]

I doubt is going to affect the temperature in your entire house unless you're in a small apartment. But it's definitely going to add heat load if you don't have air conditioning it'll need to have some ventilation. Regardless, depending on the room it is in it could definitely affect the temperature in that room. You need to give us more details on the space and ventilation.

Regardless of the heat being generated by the compressor coils, you are going to need to factor in sound if it's right in the room where are you sit or sleep. I have a separate filter room for all my equipment and it's behind a closed door so I don't have a problem, but when I'm in that room I definitely can hear it pretty loudly.

It's a small apartment. 38m². But I don't think I'll have a problem with the noise, since it will be in the stand. The water flowing back to the sump is pretty loud anyway, maybe it will drown out the extra noise? I don't know

 

[spicymikey]

It's a small apartment. 38m². But I don't think I'll have a problem with the noise, since it will be in the stand. The water flowing back to the sump is pretty loud anyway, maybe it will drown out the extra noise? I don't know

Sounds like you're going forward with it so I guess you'll soon find out. About 20 years ago I had 140 gallon reef aquarium in my family room. It was a 2200 ft home and I do not recall experiencing any extra heat in that large 20 by 25 ft family room, especially since I had central air conditioning. But I clearly remember the annoying sound of the compressor motor when it was first going on. To help with the sound I tried adding some sound damper material on the inside of the cabinet. Consider something like that if it does become an issue

 

[NicholasP]

Sounds like you're going forward with it so I guess you'll soon find out. About 20 years ago I had 140 gallon reef aquarium in my family room. It was a 2200 ft home and I do not recall experiencing any extra heat in that large 20 by 25 ft family room, especially since I had central air conditioning. But I clearly remember the annoying sound of the compressor motor when it was first going on. To help with the sound I tried adding some sound damper material on the inside of the cabinet. Consider something like that if it does become an issue

Like an eggcrate? I can try that, sounds good!
Also how should I place the intake and outlet? Both in the sump, intake in the sump past the filter socks and outlet in the dt?

 

[spicymikey]

Like an eggcrate? I can try that, sounds good!
Also how should I place the intake and outlet? Both in the sump, intake in the sump past the filter socks and outlet in the dt?

Something like that but not literally cardboard egg crate material. Go on Amazon and you can see professional foam sound insulation board that you can purchase.

But before you invest in all this time and money, and potential negative impact on your living space, just be certain you really need a chiller if you're water temperature is maxing out at 25 degrees Celsius. What makes you think that is too high? Exactly what creatures are you planning on keeping? I have a 400 gallon mixed reef aquarium with crabs and starfish and shrimp and soft Coral and LPS and SPS and about a dozen fish. I live in Florida which is very warm all year round. I do not need a heater even in the winter but I use a chiller to keep the temperature of the water no higher than 26° C, 79 degrees Fahrenheit. In the winter it will naturally hover around 77°. I can tell you with certainty everything is just fine. This current tank has been running for over 5 years . The only reason I need a chiller is because without that, because of the 5 large Ecotech G6 lights and two submerged Abyzz A200 return pumps, my water temperature would probably hover around 83 /84° f in the summer. That definitely is to warm for some LPS Coral that like sitting deeper in a reef along the floor.

 

[NicholasP]

Something like that but not literally cardboard egg crate material. Go on Amazon and you can see professional foam sound insulation board that you can purchase.

But before you invest in all this time and money, and potential negative impact on your living space, just be certain you really need a chiller if you're water temperature is maxing out at 25 degrees Celsius. What makes you think that is too high? Exactly what creatures are you planning on keeping? I have a 400 gallon mixed reef aquarium with crabs and starfish and shrimp and soft Coral and LPS and SPS and about a dozen fish. I live in Florida which is very warm all year round. I do not need a heater even in the winter but I use a chiller to keep the temperature of the water no higher than 26° C, 79 degrees Fahrenheit. In the winter it will naturally hover around 77°. I can tell you with certainty everything is just fine. This current tank has been running for over 5 years . The only reason I need a chiller is because without that, because of the 5 large Ecotech G6 lights and two submerged Abyzz A200 return pumps, my water temperature would probably hover around 83 /84° f in the summer. That definitely is to warm for some LPS Coral that like sitting deeper in a reef along the floor.

The species I'm keeping are local, from the Mediterranean sea. Except for rock puddles and surface, average temperature is 18 degrees Celsius. Most Mediterranean madrepores and sponges die off after 22C and most of the species of fish have a hard time, except for the blennies that can periodically tolerate high heat due to their ability to live in the rock puddles. It's a cold sea with salinity of 1.028-1.033, so it's quite different than the tropical reef system