$300 water chiller 1/10hp for 6 bucket RDWC: completely useless?

[booort]

Been looking at some water chillers on Amazon, there's a $300 Active Aqua water chiller on there and I was told this is complete garbage and isn't going to get my water temps for a 6 bucket RDWC lower than 70 degrees and will be a complete waste of money. Obviously it won't function as good as one of the $1000+ water chillers, but would it be sufficient for a small setup with about 25 gallons total?

 

[bigbull52]

couple ice cubes will work lol.

 

[booort]

I've been adding frozen 1 gallon ice jugs to the control bucket (diy 12 gal ice chest) and it helps some, but can't hold it under 70 degrees for more than 12 hours. Add them at night, check em roughly 12 hours later and temp is back up to 71 degrees or so. If I can throw $300 at this and never have to worry about water temp again, I'll seriously consider it. Just wanted to confirm if what the hydro shop owner told me is correct: Any water chiller under $1500 or so isn't going to do much. For what it's worth, the control coolers are outside the room, and ambient temp in the entire basement is around 70-71 degrees.

 

[Zheol]

raidiator, box fan and pump and a stainless steel coil and some decent tubing make a closed system with the items mentioned then the put coil in rez fill closed system with Propylene glycol, it will not work at well at an expensive water chiller but it will chill and save money in power and equ unsure if it will be enoght for your setup but im sure you can expand it could use ISO insead of the glycol too hope you find this interestng and helpful

 

[booort]

raidiator, box fan and pump and a stainless steel coil and some decent tubing make a closed system with the items mentioned then the put coil in rez fill closed system with Propylene glycol, it will not work at well at an expensive water chiller but it will chill and save money in power and equ unsure if it will be enoght for your setup but im sure you can expand it could use ISO insead of the glycol too hope you find this interestng and helpful

Thanks for the suggestion, but building something with radiator/coils seems like it might be beyond my capabilities. I have a $100 mini fridge in my garage and looked up some methods here for using it to cool water and felt it might be too much for my limited building skills. Also the fact that I screw things up regularly with even simple tasks like making buckets with bulk heads and grommets makes me think there's a good chance I'd be left with a $100 mini fridge paper weight. I'll do another search here for what you suggested and give it more thought. Appreciate the reply.

 

[bigbull52]

I've been adding frozen 1 gallon ice jugs to the control bucket (diy 12 gal ice chest) and it helps some, but can't hold it under 70 degrees for more than 12 hours. Add them at night, check em roughly 12 hours later and temp is back up to 71 degrees or so. If I can throw $300 at this and never have to worry about water temp again, I'll seriously consider it. Just wanted to confirm if what the hydro shop owner told me is correct: Any water chiller under $1500 or so isn't going to do much. For what it's worth, the control coolers are outside the room, and ambient temp in the entire basement is around 70-71 degrees.

I use soil so this is just a thought..

If u put 300$ into it and it can help drop it at all, then your little 1 gal frozen jug would help keep it down even more.

So even if it helps a little, it will get the 1 gal jug to be more helpful...

Personally, I wouldnt blow 300 on something im not certain will fix my issue... Id get another frozen jug. lol

 

[Dookz]

i know people throwing gal of water in the freezers let them harden up and throw in the water and it keeps it cool, some people use a few gal of water jugs, some only need 1, try simple things like this before spending money bro thats alot of mula right there saved over doin it twice a day aint that bad swappin and refreezing jugs

 

[navyfighter04]

Thanks for the suggestion, but building something with radiator/coils seems like it might be beyond my capabilities. I have a $100 mini fridge in my garage and looked up some methods here for using it to cool water and felt it might be too much for my limited building skills. Also the fact that I screw things up regularly with even simple tasks like making buckets with bulk heads and grommets makes me think there's a good chance I'd be left with a $100 mini fridge paper weight. I'll do another search here for what you suggested and give it more thought. Appreciate the reply.

Just put the res. in the fridge...Jk..Id go with the chiller...its a good idea. If you have 300 bucks. Try this one:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Resun-CL85-Aquarium-Electronics-Chiller-Marine-Fish-Tank-retail-wholesale/517915675.html

I use it and its great. Its comes from china. But what doesnt these days. I have this exact one. Its digital and its a heater/chiller......set the temp to what you want on the front, and thats it...It does the rest...

 

[booort]

Just put the res. in the fridge...Jk..Id go with the chiller...its a good idea. If you have 300 bucks. Try this one:

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/Resun-CL85-Aquarium-Electronics-Chiller-Marine-Fish-Tank-retail-wholesale/517915675.html

I use it and its great. Its comes from china. But what doesnt these days. I have this exact one. Its digital and its a heater/chiller......set the temp to what you want on the front, and thats it...It does the rest...

Mind if I ask how many gallons your system holds and what temperature this holds your water at?

 

[bigbull52]

If you decide to spend money, check this out..


https://www.google.com/search?q=Resun+CL85+Aquarium+Electronics+Chiller+Marine+Fish+Tank&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a#q=Aquarium+Chiller&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=CH4&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&tbs=p_ord:p&tbm=shop&ei=wewbUZPRIYem9gSejoH4Aw&start=10&sa=N&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.42261806,d.eWU&fp=5038a9349473307c&biw=1138&bih=554


Re-order them from low to high, and theres some for under 300$. Worth a look.

https://www.google.com/shopping/product/9385907322730908678?q=Aquarium Chiller&hl=en&client=firefox-a&hs=CH4&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&bvm=bv.42261806,d.eWU&biw=1138&bih=554&sa=X&ei=0OwbUdu2A4La8ATA6oHoDg&ved=0CHAQ8wIwAjgK

 

[navyfighter04]

Mind if I ask how many gallons your system holds and what temperature this holds your water at?

Box says 100 litres, or roughly 50 gallons. The pump can pump out 500+ an hour. My temps fluctuate between 66-68 most the time. Sometimes when the grow room gets warm, it will hit up to 70-72, but for a very short time since the pump kicks on and does its thing.

 

[booort]

For what it's worth, here is the water chiller I am considering:

http://www.amazon.com/ActiveAqua-Chiller-refrigeration-unit-10/dp/B0048IVBT4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360785368&sr=8-1&keywords=activeaqua+water+chiller

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

 

[bigbull52]

For what it's worth, here is the water chiller I am considering:

http://www.amazon.com/ActiveAqua-Chiller-refrigeration-unit-10/dp/B0048IVBT4/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1360785368&sr=8-1&keywords=activeaqua+water+chiller

Thanks again for all the suggestions.

No problem.

look up some details on it if u can. reviews or anything.

Funny, thats the one I saw on another site. i posted the link previously.

Check the link n check reviews. the link is to like 15 sites that carry the same product. youll find some very helpful reviews im sure.

Some sites offer free shipping and no tax too.

 

[booort]

I can't seem to find any reviews of this $300 unit, I looked through all your links and just can't find anything other than the reviews for the vendors themselves.

One last try here to catch someone else who is using a water chiller in this price range. Do they work and how long have they lasted if you're using one?