Hot Weather Power Outage Preparation with IcyBreeze cooler box

[ninjamyst]

Has anyone heard of IcyBreeze? Basically, it's a cooler that doubles as a portable A/C and runs on battery or direct wire power. https://www.icybreeze.com/ for more info.

For $300, is this a good choice to keep tank cool during summer power outage? I am thinking about getting one for my 200g tank and during power outage, just point the cool air in my sump. I also plan to get a 4500 watt inverter generator so I can run this continuously along with pumps and lights.

Pros:
- Unlike traditional portable air conditioner, no need to vent the hot air out a window
- Truly portable (my fish tank is far far away from a window where I can vent a portable air conditioner)
- Can run on battery for 6-8 hours
- Useful for beach, camping, sport games, etc

Cons:
- Require ice which may be harder to get during extended power outage
- Cost as much as a traditional portable air conditioner

 

[Saltyreef]

I remember in like 2014 seeing these DIY A/C's being made out of a ice chest lol.

Glad someone finally capitalized on the idea!

Cons for me: That sounds like a lot of work and money to just get cold air blowing at the tank.

You could buy a $300 chest freezer and store it full of waterbottles to float.
Liter or gallon bottles for larger tanks.

If theres an extended power outage, a $300 generator would keep it running.

Just my .02 cents but an awesome idea!

 

[ninjamyst]

I remember in like 2014 seeing these DIY A/C's being made out of a ice chest lol.

Glad someone finally capitalized on the idea!

Cons for me: That sounds like a lot of work and money to just get cold air blowing at the tank.

You could buy a $300 chest freezer and store it full of waterbottles to float.
Liter or gallon bottles for larger tanks.

If theres an extended power outage, a $300 generator would keep it running.

Just my .02 cents but an awesome idea!

So you are saying it's better to just power a chest freezer then power the icybreeze? Last time our central AC went out, I threw in 10 frozen water bottles. Did not do anything for my 200g tank.

 

[Saltyreef]

So you are saying it's better to just power a chest freezer then power the icybreeze? Last time our central AC went out, I threw in 10 frozen water bottles. Did not do anything for my 200g tank.

You arent going to get even close to the same cooling tonnage as central forced air conditioning so, yes. I think it would be more beneficial and economical to setup this system first.

It would be the next best thing aside from an aquarium chiller on a generator or LARGE battery bank.

Keep in mind for a larger tank i would recommend multiple gallon frozen bottles. 10x 16oz bottles is only 1.25 gallons and the larger surface area of 10x small bottles vs one large gallon is much more so they wouldnt last as long as single gallon bottles.

 

[MarineandReef Jaron]

Living in Phoenix heat is a real concern. One thing I would consider is getting a small window AC or portable unit and running it off a generator. If it is truly hot then you will want an area with AC when the power goes out and if your tank normally stays the proper temperature with central air then as long as the portable unit is rated for the square footage of the room it should be able to keep that room at a normal temperature as well as the tank.

 

[Snoopdog]

I bought two roll around portable AC units last year, one is a 12k inverter unit. Between the both of them they can cool my downstairs as well as my 4 ton unit, somehow. As much money as I have in my tank, the two units seem like a drop in the bucket for an insurance policy.

 

[Reefering1]

You arent going to get even close to the same cooling tonnage as central forced air conditioning so, yes. I think it would be more beneficial and economical to setup this system first.

It would be the next best thing aside from an aquarium chiller on a generator or LARGE battery bank.

Keep in mind for a larger tank i would recommend multiple gallon frozen bottles. 10x 16oz bottles is only 1.25 gallons and the larger surface area of 10x small bottles vs one large gallon is much more so they wouldnt last as long as single gallon bottles.

This. Blowing cool air from a cooler of ice isn't going to do anything for a 200g tank. Better off putting money into a generator that will run tank and central air or chiller

 

[ninjamyst]

I have a 5 ton central AC and I am not skilled enough to get a big enough power generator and install a transfer switch to run my entire house. I do plan on getting a 4500w generator to run two portable ACs. But my house is stupidly designed. My tank is in my living room and we actually don't have a window in the living room. That means the portable ACs can only go in the master bedroom and the kitchen. I am worried the living room will still be hot. Hence why the icybreeze intrigues me because it is truly portable. When our central air went out last summer, two portable AC units still couldn't keep the house under 80 degrees. My tank was running at 83-85 degrees for 3 days....and I lost quite a bit of acros and torches.

 

[Saltyreef]

I have a 5 ton central AC and I am not skilled enough to get a big enough power generator and install a transfer switch to run my entire house. I do plan on getting a 4500w generator to run two portable ACs. But my house is stupidly designed. My tank is in my living room and we actually don't have a window in the living room. That means the portable ACs can only go in the master bedroom and the kitchen. I am worried the living room will still be hot. Hence why the icybreeze intrigues me because it is truly portable. When our central air went out last summer, two portable AC units still couldn't keep the house under 80 degrees. My tank was running at 83-85 degrees for 3 days....and I lost quite a bit of acros and torches.

Sounds like that freezer and or chiller idea will be best suited then.

The chiller you could likely run off a battery bank if it was big enough and if you didnt want to string an extension cord through your home to power it up with a generator.

Portable generator would be the most simple to impliment without pre planning a system.

 

[Reefering1]

Sounds like you need a chiller then... even if you only use it for power outages

 

[BeanAnimal]

You arent going to get even close to the same cooling tonnage as central forced air conditioning so, yes. I think it would be more beneficial and economical to setup this system first.

It would be the next best thing aside from an aquarium chiller on a generator or LARGE battery bank.

Keep in mind for a larger tank i would recommend multiple gallon frozen bottles. 10x 16oz bottles is only 1.25 gallons and the larger surface area of 10x small bottles vs one large gallon is much more so they wouldnt last as long as single gallon bottles.

You better have an endless supply of ice...
As always math is our friend.

Let's ignore the appliance and just melt the ice in the tank!

It takes 144 BTUs to melt 1 pound of ice.
It takes 1 BTU to raise (lower) 1 pound of water 1 degree F
Let's say our target temperate is 80F and the Tank hits 85F

Let's assume our ice is 30 F
So 1 pound of ice to go from 30 to 32 is 2 BTUs
The phase change at 32 is 144 BTUs so we are at 146 BTUs

The ice then removes heat from the water until it can't anymore (80-85 range but lets avg it to 82)
So 82 - 32 = 50 degrees and there is 1 pound, so 50 more BTUs of cooling.

In other words 1 pound of ice plopped into the tank will give about 196 BTUs of cooling....


The tank is 200 gallons or roughly 1700 pounds of water. That means it takes 1700 BTUs to lower the tank temperature 1 degree and we have to move 8500 BTUs to cool the tank from 85 to 80.

8500 / 196 = ~43 pounds of ice fully melted to tank temp.

******************************


Now to the appliance.... it is blowing some cold air into the room (removing 8500 BTUs or less of heat from the room depending on room temp) by melting that 43 pounds of ice...

How much of that cools the aquarium? Only a small fraction.

So that cooler basically gets you the same as an 8000 BTU window AC if you can get it to melt ~50 pounds of ice an hour. But, alas, it will not melt 50 pounds of ice an hour... Let's say it can do half that so 4000 BTU/h....

Like I said, you better have a lot of ice.

 

[ninjamyst]

Sounds like that freezer and or chiller idea will be best suited then.

The chiller you could likely run off a battery bank if it was big enough and if you didnt want to string an extension cord through your home to power it up with a generator.

Portable generator would be the most simple to impliment without pre planning a system.

Yea you are right. I am just being cheap and don't want to drop $1000 on a chiller. Hahah

 

[Reefering1]

Another option it to put the portable a/c in the doorway, exhausting into a room with window open- trying to block off the rest of the doorway. Not as efficient but will keep the room cool, and if you set it up before the tank gets to 85- it should maintain the temp. How big is the portable a/c?

 

[Reefering1]

Yea you are right. I am just being cheap and don't want to drop $1000 on a chiller. Hahah

200g tank sounds like way more than 1000$ of livestock...

 

[vetteguy53081]

I run a chiller unit which would easily run off generator if needed.

 

[Saltyreef]

You better have an endless supply of ice...
As always math is our friend.

Let's ignore the appliance and just melt the ice in the tank!

It takes 144 BTUs to melt 1 pound of ice.
It takes 1 BTU to raise (lower) 1 pound of water 1 degree F
Let's say our target temperate is 80F and the Tank hits 85F

Let's assume our ice is 30 F
So 1 pound of ice to go from 30 to 32 is 2 BTUs
The phase change at 32 is 144 BTUs so we are at 146 BTUs

The ice then removes heat from the water until it can't anymore (80-85 range but lets avg it to 82)
So 82 - 32 = 50 degrees and there is 1 pound, so 50 more BTUs of cooling.

In other words 1 pound of ice plopped into the tank will give about 196 BTUs of cooling....


The tank is 200 gallons or roughly 1700 pounds of water. That means it takes 1700 BTUs to lower the tank temperature 1 degree and we have to move 8500 BTUs to cool the tank from 85 to 80.

8500 / 196 = ~43 pounds of ice fully melted to tank temp.

******************************


Now to the appliance.... it is blowing some cold air into the room (removing 8500 BTUs or less of heat from the room depending on room temp) by melting that 43 pounds of ice...

How much of that cools the aquarium? Only a small fraction.

So that cooler basically gets you the same as an 8000 BTU window AC if you can get it to melt ~50 pounds of ice an hour. But, alas, it will not melt 50 pounds of ice an hour... Let's say it can do half that so 4000 BTU/h....

Like I said, you better have a lot of ice.

This reminds me of the time my chief engineer tried to cool off a chiller cooling tower by putting ice in the basin after the fan failed.
We spent so much money on ice and still ended up losing the chiller.
That was #1ofhisbettermoments

 

[BeanAnimal]

This reminds me of the time my chief engineer tried to cool off a chiller cooling tower by putting ice in the basin after the fan failed.
We spent so much money on ice and still ended up losing the chiller.
That was #1ofhisbettermoments

I spent a week on a hilltop in Southern Ohio with D9 dozers pulling ice trucks up a muddy 3 mile slope, then hand dumping blocks of ice into an 10,000 gallon rusty water tank that was being being baked by the sun. It was 95F outside and we needed 60 degree water to pump lightweight concrete through 1 1/4" hose into a coal mine... It was long week and a LOT of ice and a LOT of plugged hose.

When I did the math and told them how much ice we would need... nobody believed me until we went through the first truck in matter of hours