New Teco TK1000 not working as expected.

[Brad Wilkins]

Hi!
Ive been running a TK1000 on my 600L reef tank with a water flow of 650l/h and i'm finding it a little frustrating. My first issue is that the temperature when chilling doesn't match or keep up with the actual tank temp. E.g. I set the chiller to turn on at 27°c ,chilling to 26°c but the chiller temp stays at 27°c while the tank temp reduces down reaches about 26.6°c before change to 26.9°c resulting in the tank being chilled 25.5°c and the chiller saying 26°c. Ive now resorted in using my Inkberd controller to switch it off at the correct temp.
My tank has 3 independent temp gages and all read the same temp.
If i immediately turn the power to the chiller off and then on again it will change from 26°c to 25.5°c matching the tank.
Ive been in contact with Teco and they have sent me a new thermostat which unfortunately didn't change a thing.
Since then Teco haven't returned my messages.
Second question. Is it supposed to take 1hr 52 minutes to cool 1°c , water temp 27°c down to 26°c ambient room temp 27°c
It was a warm day two day ago and the room temp got to 30°c. Two hours in and the chiller was still chilling and only managed 26.7°c proper through Inkbird, until i turned on the aircon.
Cheers, Brad.

 

[Reefing Madness]

 

[2una]

Hi!
Ive been running a TK1000 on my 600L reef tank with a water flow of 650l/h and i'm finding it a little frustrating. My first issue is that the temperature when chilling doesn't match or keep up with the actual tank temp. E.g. I set the chiller to turn on at 27°c ,chilling to 26°c but the chiller temp stays at 27°c while the tank temp reduces down reaches about 26.6°c before change to 26.9°c resulting in the tank being chilled 25.5°c and the chiller saying 26°c. Ive now resorted in using my Inkberd controller to switch it off at the correct temp.
My tank has 3 independent temp gages and all read the same temp.
If i immediately turn the power to the chiller off and then on again it will change from 26°c to 25.5°c matching the tank.
Ive been in contact with Teco and they have sent me a new thermostat which unfortunately didn't change a thing.
Since then Teco haven't returned my messages.
Second question. Is it supposed to take 1hr 52 minutes to cool 1°c , water temp 27°c down to 26°c ambient room temp 27°c
It was a warm day two day ago and the room temp got to 30°c. Two hours in and the chiller was still chilling and only managed 26.7°c proper through Inkbird, until i turned on the aircon.
Cheers, Brad.

How did you get on with this?
Kinda sounds like the refrigerant is low.
Contemplating switching from Hailea to one of these.
I'm also same size tank, you happy with the 1000 or think it would have been better to have gone with the 2000?

 

[DanyL]

I've been using a Teco TK2000 on my 780L system for about 3-4 years, and Hailea for close to 2 decades.
The temp readings on chillers are always funky, that is because the probe location is within the chiller itself, which isn't optimal. However - the difference as you noted isn't significant and I never put much attention to it other than to calibrate it once in a while.

As for the chilling time - it shouldn't take as long as you describe, and I believe the issue is with your flow rate - just do a quick math and you'll notice that you have 600 liters to chill, and only 650L are going through it in a single hour, which is likely also enough time for the water to heat up again, and thus makes it even slower.
I'm not sure what's the recommended flow rate for the 1000 (or the 2000 for that matter), but I usually tune mine based on the performance - too slow to chill? I ramp it up. Is it turning on and off too often? I ramp it down.
If I had to guess, it'll likely land somewhere between 800 to 1200 LPH.

 

[twentyleagues]

How did you get on with this?
Kinda sounds like the refrigerant is low.
Contemplating switching from Hailea to one of these.
I'm also same size tank, you happy with the 1000 or think it would have been better to have gone with the 2000?

Sounds like I would say probably not happy. Wonder if they ever got it figured out?
What I will say is while 600l isnt at the largest capacity that this is supposed to handle its in the upper portion. Like a lot of aquarium products I think the manufacturers are a little ambitious with their sizes. to go from 60-200g is a big stretch. Like skimmers I would say the size rating is actually about half to 3/4 of what they are saying. So if your tank is about that size I would go with the next size up. Its possible if they slowed the flow a bit it would have performed a bit better. Seems counter intuitive but giving the unit more time to work on the water and trusting in the ability of the aquarium to maintain temp.

I have not had a chiller in years but not much has changed. This is also very akin to room a/c units if it says 1000sq its more like 500-750 comfortable 1000 is going to still be a bit sticky. Again like above turning the thing to full blast doesnt necessarily cool any faster or more efficiently especially if its at its max size or close. These I have become very versed on since my "new" house does not have central air or a way to hook it up no duct work, boiler for heat.

 

[2una]

I've been using a Teco TK2000 on my 780L system for about 3-4 years, and Hailea for close to 2 decades.

Any quirks you've found about one versus the other ?
I have a 1/2HP Hailea HS90A, (1200L/317gal rated) happy with it but the TK1000 is 1/4HP, TK2000 is 1/3HP.
Wondering if it would in fact kick some power usage down or whether its just a paper ghost and would run for longer anyway.

Sounds like I would say probably not happy. Wonder if they ever got it figured out?
What I will say is while 600l isnt at the largest capacity that this is supposed to handle its in the upper portion. Like a lot of aquarium products I think the manufacturers are a little ambitious with their sizes. to go from 60-200g is a big stretch. Like skimmers I would say the size rating is actually about half to 3/4 of what they are saying. So if your tank is about that size I would go with the next size up. Its possible if they slowed the flow a bit it would have performed a bit better. Seems counter intuitive but giving the unit more time to work on the water and trusting in the ability of the aquarium to maintain temp.

Yeah maybe it was just something simple like the flow or low on gas.
I'm with you on the over spec is usually always better.

 

[DanyL]

Any quirks you've found about one versus the other ?
I have a 1/2HP Hailea HS90A, (1200L/317gal rated) happy with it but the TK1000 is 1/4HP, TK2000 is 1/3HP.
Wondering if it would in fact kick some power usage down or whether its just a paper ghost and would run for longer anyway.

From what I understand, The Teco is using a more efficient gas compared to the Hailea, which allows it to conserve power. As in practicality - I've personally could not observe the change because I upgraded the chiller together with a whole system upgrade, so I couldn't really compare it Apples to Apples.
That being said, I do have a friend that upgraded his 1/3 to a Tk500 and claimed that the power usage dropped significantly, but I don't recall by how much.

As for quirks - I got an early model where they physically removed the inline heaters after a total failure they had on release, and this eventually resulted in an internal leak after about 2.5 years of usage.
I guess the cap they screwed in the heat-exchanger where the heater should've been wasn't screwed tightly enough because that was the point of failure, I assume after 2.5 years of vibrations it eventually unscrewed itself.

Noise - they are quieter then the Haileas, but the real difference is with the models up to the Tk500 and below which are considered "silent" (I mean, it isn't. but it is enough for you not to notice it).
I'm not sure about the Tk1000, but the Tk2000 I have is on par with the Hailea 1/2 in terms of noise, which is too load in my opinion - but likely better than the comparable model from Hailea.

Overall, and even though it leaked (don't get me wrong - it was a major failure imo) - I'm still pretty happy about it, it allows you to cool down to a precision of 0.5C, which is better than the 1C the Hailea offers, the materials and design are of a higher quality, it's far easier to clean, the fan is on top so I can safely put things behind it, and it looks much sleeker.

 

[2una]

From what I understand, The Teco is using a more efficient gas compared to the Hailea, which allows it to conserve power. As in practicality - I've personally could not observe the change because I upgraded the chiller together with a whole system upgrade, so I couldn't really compare it Apples to Apples.
That being said, I do have a friend that upgraded his 1/3 to a Tk500 and claimed that the power usage dropped significantly, but I don't recall by how much.

As for quirks - I got an early model where they physically removed the inline heaters after a total failure they had on release, and this eventually resulted in an internal leak after about 2.5 years of usage.
I guess the cap they screwed in the heat-exchanger where the heater should've been wasn't screwed tightly enough because that was the point of failure, I assume after 2.5 years of vibrations it eventually unscrewed itself.

Noise - they are quieter then the Haileas, but the real difference is with the models up to the Tk500 and below which are considered "silent" (I mean, it isn't. but it is enough for you not to notice it).
I'm not sure about the Tk1000, but the Tk2000 I have is on par with the Hailea 1/2 in terms of noise, which is too load in my opinion - but likely better than the comparable model from Hailea.

Overall, and even though it leaked (don't get me wrong - it was a major failure imo) - I'm still pretty happy about it, it allows you to cool down to a precision of 0.5C, which is better than the 1C the Hailea offers, the materials and design are of a higher quality, it's far easier to clean, the fan is on top so I can safely put things behind it, and it looks much sleeker.

Great, thanks for the info much appreciated.

 

[Brad Wilkins]

How did you get on with this?
Kinda sounds like the refrigerant is low.
Contemplating switching from Hailea to one of these.
I'm also same size tank, you happy with the 1000 or think it would have been better to have gone with the 2000?

Teco said they cant see a problem with the time it takes to cool and that it is in the normal range.The hotter the ambient temp the longer it takes to cool down.They believe i'm expecting to much of the chiller and the thermostat numbers. I'll just keep using the inkbird controller to run the chiller as the TK1000 is unreliable.

 

[2una]

Teco said they cant see a problem with the time it takes to cool and that it is in the normal range.The hotter the ambient temp the longer it takes to cool down.They believe i'm expecting to much of the chiller and the thermostat numbers. I'll just keep using the inkbird controller to run the chiller as the TK1000 is unreliable.

Thanks, sorry only saw your reply now.
That seems pretty off that they say that, I live similar temp area as you & there's no way the chiller runs for that long.
When they sent you a new thermostat did they also give a new sensor with it? Those are pretty good at being troublesome if they didn't. I assume inside is a probe running into a line that is connected to the controller/display unit.
If it's not that i'd be highly suspect the refrigerant is low or has air in the system.
Flow you have is bang in the middle of what they call for so shouldn't be a problem there if its measured flow vrs just a pump rating.

EDIT: yes it does have - probably the 1st wire he pulls off here.That would be the 1st suspect item I would try & replace.



I use similar control units with temp sensor's attached on a fishing boat & we probably go thru maybe 6-10 probe replacement swap outs to 1 controller so not a bad place to try.

 

[Brad Wilkins]

Thanks, sorry only saw your reply now.
That seems pretty off that they say that, I live similar temp area as you & there's no way the chiller runs for that long.
When they sent you a new thermostat did they also give a new sensor with it? Those are pretty good at being troublesome if they didn't. I assume inside is a probe running into a line that is connected to the controller/display unit.
If it's not that i'd be highly suspect the refrigerant is low or has air in the system.
Flow you have is bang in the middle of what they call for so shouldn't be a problem there if its measured flow vrs just a pump rating.

EDIT: yes it does have - probably the 1st wire he pulls off here.That would be the 1st suspect item I would try & replace.



I use similar control units with temp sensor's attached on a fishing boat & we probably go thru maybe 6-10 probe replacement swap outs to 1 controller so not a bad place to try.

Yep! they said they would send both thermostat and sensor but only sent the thermostat. They reckon it's in my head and it's running normally. Ive bean in contact with Teco for months now and had a gut full. They no longer answer my messages. I wont attempt to pull it apart or talk further with Teco, they are a bunch of grubs. I'll rely on the Inkbird to turn the chiller on and off at the right temperature. The chiller, chills faster at lower ambient temps from 1hour 15 minutes to 2hour 45 minutes on a 35°c+ day They say its normal. At this stage i'm over arguing with them.

 

[DanyL]

We have similar temps here in Israel, sure - on a hot day (~38C) it can take longer to chill than on lower temps, but it still only really takes around 30 minutes. Not even close to 3 hours.
And on normal summer days (~30-34C) it averages around the 15-20 min runtime.

The Hailea runtimes are similar, really only very slightly longer than the Teco (5-10 minutes difference give or take).

So something is most definitely wrong with your chiller, there’s no doubt with that.

Have you tried to contact your local representative or did you contact Teco directly (the company itself in Italy)?

I did not purchase mine from our local representative, but at least from watching it on the side they seem to be responsive and keep spare parts locally.

 

[Brad Wilkins]

We have similar temps here in Israel, sure - on a hot day (~38C) it can take longer to chill than on lower temps, but it still only really takes around 30 minutes. Not even close to 3 hours.
And on normal summer days (~30-34C) it averages around the 15-20 min runtime.

The Hailea runtimes are similar, really only very slightly longer than the Teco (5-10 minutes difference give or take).

So something is most definitely wrong with your chiller, there’s no doubt with that.

Have you tried to contact your local representative or did you contact Teco directly (the company itself in Italy)?

I did not purchase mine from our local representative, but at least from watching it on the side they seem to be responsive and keep spare parts locally.

We have similar temps here in Israel, sure - on a hot day (~38C) it can take longer to chill than on lower temps, but it still only really takes around 30 minutes. Not even close to 3 hours.
And on normal summer days (~30-34C) it averages around the 15-20 min runtime.

The Hailea runtimes are similar, really only very slightly longer than the Teco (5-10 minutes difference give or take).

So something is most definitely wrong with your chiller, there’s no doubt with that.

Have you tried to contact your local representative or did you contact Teco directly (the company itself in Italy)?

I did not purchase mine from our local representative, but at least from watching it on the side they seem to be responsive and keep spare parts locally.

Are you sure on the time you have given me? We are talking 600Liters/158.5 gallons At room temp of 30°c and you're saying it should take 15/20 minutes to get down from 27°c to 26°c That sounds way fast for me. The guy at the shop reckons his TK's will run practically all day at that temp in the shop and he has a few of them on his floor.

 

[Brad Wilkins]

Its been 30°c in my room all day and at the moment and it took 4hrs and 45minutes to lower from 27°c to 26°c . The humidity was 55% at 1:30pm when the chiller started to 77% at 5:45 when the chiller stoped. Im also running two 40w UV on my system which the shop owner said that they could also increase the run time as well as my lights.

 

[DanyL]

Are you sure on the time you have given me? We are talking 600Liters/158.5 gallons At room temp of 30°c and you're saying it should take 15/20 minutes to get down from 27°c to 26°c That sounds way fast for me. The guy at the shop reckons his TK's will run practically all day at that temp in the shop and he has a few of them on his floor.

I keep my tanks between 26 to 25C (or 25.5 to 25.0 on the Teco).

My main system is 780L and runs the Teco Tk2000, so it's not Apples to Apples comparison.
My frag tank is 330L and runs with the Hailea 300A, again not an Apples to Apples comparison.
My previous tank was 500L and ran with that same Hailea 300A - once again not an Apples to Apples comparison.
We also had the Hailea 1/2HP for a short period of time on the 500L (it was too load) - not an Apples to Apples comparison here either.

That being said, they all ran for around the same time intervals, and same temps - give or take 10-20 minutes (mainly for the 500L with the 300A). As for what the room temps are - I honestly can't tell, but I gave you the runtime for when no AC is running given the temps outside.

As for the UVC- given the amount of light and pumps I'm running over my systems, I doubt the UVC adds much in comparison.

 

[2una]

I'm also not apples to apples but I doubt its over 45mins it runs in a 30C room to push mine back to 27 from 28, 650L, call it 600L net tank.
1/2 HP Hailea which will be on the R134A, will try catch it & time it.

 

[DanyL]

It’s not summer right now, but for what it’s worth - I just measured the runtime on my frag tank (330L, Hailea 300A).

Room temp is 29C, humidity 60% - 26.1 to 25.1 took around 10 minutes, and another 10 for the chiller to turn off at 24.9C (I didn’t observe the temp change closely at this point, but the Hailea fan usually keeps running for a few more minutes after it already reached the desired temp so it likely took overall around 17 minutes).

 

[Brad Wilkins]

Are you sure on the time you have given me? We are talking 600Liters/158.5 gallons At room temp of 30°c and you're saying it should take 15/20 minutes to get down from 27°c to 26°c That sounds way fast for me. The guy at the shop reckons his TK's will run practically all day at that temp in the shop and he has a few of them on his floor.

I keep my tanks between 26 to 25C (or 25.5 to 25.0 on the Teco).

My main system is 780L and runs the Teco Tk2000, so it's not Apples to Apples comparison.
My frag tank is 330L and runs with the Hailea 300A, again not an Apples to Apples comparison.
My previous tank was 500L and ran with that same Hailea 300A - once again not an Apples to Apples comparison.
We also had the Hailea 1/2HP for a short period of time on the 500L (it was too load) - not an Apples to Apples comparison here either.

That being said, they all ran for around the same time intervals, and same temps - give or take 10-20 minutes (mainly for the 500L with the 300A). As for what the room temps are - I honestly can't tell, but I gave you the runtime for when no AC is running given the temps outside.

As for the UVC- given the amount of light and pumps I'm running over my systems, I doubt the UVC adds much in comparison.

It’s not summer right now, but for what it’s worth - I just measured the runtime on my frag tank (330L, Hailea 300A).

Room temp is 29C, humidity 60% - 26.1 to 25.1 took around 10 minutes, and another 10 for the chiller to turn off at 24.9C (I didn’t observe the temp change closely at this point, but the Hailea fan usually keeps running for a few more minutes after it already reached the desired temp so it likely took overall around 17 minutes).

 

[Brad Wilkins]

It would be good if we could talk to a technician from Teco who could trouble shoot our individual problems. As it stands i've seen posts on other sights with similar run times as mine from Singapore and Teco Australia have looked at videos i've sent and data ive provided and they think its normal.

 

[2una]

averaging about 40-50min here room temp 27-31C area - chart is 24h - measured the flow 600L/H
Thats a Hailea unit so controller turns on at 28.0 and off at 26.9