How many of you folks in the Valley of the Sun have a Chiller running?

[Lastblast]

I’m just wondering if you tried just blowing air on the surface of the tank with a fan? In most cases people say that it’s enough to do the job. In my case I tried it with a small clip on fan and it cooled my tank down 3 degrees within 1 hour.

Lets say I set my home Thermostat at 80 degrees but the room that the tank is in stays around 82 due to where it is located.
The tank probably will be at room temperature at around 82. Wouldn't a fan just blow 82 degree air over the water so in theory wouldnt the tank stay at 82 degrees? Also I am not running any lighting mostly because it bothers the eel. We do sometimes open blinds occasionally and watch how the eel reacts.
I figured by adding a window AC unit and try and lower the temperature in the room it would also help lower the temp in the house beings the room the tank is in has 2 large entrances into it that have no doors.

Just to add, the eel ate today, one of the largest fish I have ever fed it. Probably around 8"s long. So thats plus beings it was only 18 days between feedings this time rather than around 50 days last time.

I had considered a Chiller for the tank but what I am reading is Chillers create heat so even though I may be cooling the tank with it I would also be heating that room up which would create more heat in the house.

 

[Lastblast]

Eating a fish

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Lets say I set my home Thermostat at 80 degrees but the room that the tank is in stays around 82 due to where it is located.
The tank probably will be at room temperature at around 82. Wouldn't a fan just blow 82 degree air over the water so in theory wouldnt the tank stay at 82 degrees?

You pose a good point, if you thought along those lines then your theory sounds like it would hold water (no pun intended).

However, when you use a fan to replace warm moist air that sits on the surface of the water with dryer warm air it will speed up evaporation. And as energy is being removed in the form of evaporation the water in the tank cools. I wish I could site the laws that support this, but it has been a long time since physics class,,, hehe. Hope that helps

 

[AZMSGT]

Think of it this way, when you are outside on a 100+ day, you sweat. When the sweat evaporates you cool down. The outside air temp is higher than your body but you still cool off.

You can also equate it to using an evaporative cooler on a hot day.

How Does Evaporation Cause Cooling?

Understanding the energy transfers at play makes it clear why evaporation causes cooling and helps you see why the process is exploited a lot in nature.

sciencing.com

 

[Jimmy Long]

Does anyone use AC like what lol. I couldn't live without AC living in arizona, my house is always at 71-74 degrees

 

[vanpire]

You pose a good point, if you thought along those lines then your theory sounds like it would hold water (no pun intended).

However, when you use a fan to replace warm moist air that sits on the surface of the water with dryer warm air it will speed up evaporation. And as energy is being removed in the form of evaporation the water in the tank cools. I wish I could site the laws that support this, but it has been a long time since physics class,,, hehe. Hope that helps

Jimmy is exactly correct. If memory serves me correctly, a fan blowing on water will increase the water evaporation rate. The amount of heat (energy) transfer to the evaporated water is much higher than water in its liquid form. To obtain the heat (energy), the evaporated water "steals" it from the liquid water, and thereby, cooling down water in the the tank.

This is the same principle as evap cooling we used to have. Thinking of it as required energy for a change state from a liquid to a gas.

Try it. It works. You don't have to understand it to make it work.