Water Chiller Problems again!!!!!!!! Help!!!!!

[Reg Dunlop]

When I first hooked up my 1/4 hp water chiller I only had one side of my room going,so I only needed 60 gallons going and it cooled it now problem,actually to cold sometimes.But now I added an extra 45 gallon, and mind you my rez is out side of my room,and insulated with r20 insulation and built with 2x4 and plywood, waterproofed of course. But today the temperature around the rez was 86.5 f and my chiller wouldn't get my rez below 77 and it was actually rising. My res is only about 105 gallons. The chiller says that it's rated for 170 gallons to go down by 10 degree, and 100 gallons to go down by 30 degrees. So if this is the case, why is my rez temps going up after I paid all this money for a chiller!
Is there a special way that I'm not aware of to install this chiller? I read through the manual like 5 times and did everything asked. I'm using a mag pump series 5 not sure of the gph rating but the hydroshop guy said that it should sbe good for that chiller! Any one have any ideas or advice? I'm in desperate need to get thses temps under control befor I have 800 clones sitting in a garbage can!




Reg,

 

[Reg Dunlop]

No one has any ideas or advivce? Surely someone out there has some experience with a water chiller? I was thinking mabey my pump is too small and dosen't cycle enough water throught the chiller? My pump is a mag drive series 5,but I read on here some where that a guy was using that exact pump with his 1/4 hp chiller and it cooling his rez down which was in his grow room,and the air temps were 86,and he said that to keep his rez at 66 was not a problem,but I'm really hoping that is what it is cuz to replace a pump is quick and easy but to sent back a chiller and get a new one is a timely procedure for me.
The fu#$^kin thing is brand new! is it possible that it came with low refrigerant?
Please I need some help it's gonna be a hot one today!


Reg ,

 

[morrisgreenberg]

how many watts of light do you have in your grow room? drip or E&F? i have 1/3HP chillers , i too use one to cool 2 rezis, and i only got this model and not the smaller one cus i wanted to be sure, the number they give you is assuming you have a small aquarium lamp over the rez, my unit says it can cool 175gallons 10F, i only need to chill 50-60 gallons max in a 85F room. the longer the water stays in your system i.e. flooding and getting warm. how did you plumb the 2 rezi's together? 1/4 HP should be able to handle that load especially when your rez is outside

 

[Mickymouse]

I have a 100 gal system 1/4 hp chiller.1046 gph pump(one recomended).Room temp avg 85. 2000w.Mine stays at set temp of 69 degrees.Chiller only runs less than half the time.

 

[Reg Dunlop]

I'm actually only cooling 1 rez. I have 2 systems going and I have them plumb straight away into my rez with a pump going 27/7 always pumping back to the rez so... I 'm going to estimate that water stays in my systems for roughly 3-4 mins cuz I mist every 3 mins for 45 secs. I'll see if I can post a pic so you'll understand a bit better

 

[Lazyman]

FOr a 1/4 hp res you need around 900-1100gallons per hour from your pump, and I'd strongly recommend 3/4" line. I usually end up running that pump (submerged in res) 24X7 for aeration, and chiller kicks on and off as needed. I don't use it any more (res's sit on big concrete slab and stay at 66-71* now) Hope that helps.

 

[Reg Dunlop]

Yeah I went out and picked up a 1256 gph eco plus pump and I am using a 3/4'' line and it's an insulated rez, and it sits on concrete aswell,and my pump runs 24/7, as does the chiller,but my temps are still rising, I just checked and their sitting at 82! I have 4 5 gallon pails with sealable lids that I'm freezing right now cuz I think that I'm in linr for some warrantee work in my near future! For the price that I paid, getting it sent to a safe addy, traveling there to get it and only using it for a week...... needless to say I'm kinda pissed!!!!! Thanks for the help and suggesstions guys.


Reg,

 

[Reg Dunlop]

So I've been reading around about people with chillers, more importantly 1/4 hp chillers,and the general consenses is that it should work with ease to cool down a 100 gallon rez. When I called the shop where I bought it,the guy said that in his experience, he's never used a 1/4 hp chiller for more then 60- 70 gallons! So it got me thinking, why the hell do the specs say 170gallons down 10F and 100 gallons down 30F,and show a graph with the ambient air temp at 90F and how long the chiller needs to work to cool it down to 68? This the only reason I bought the god damn thing in the first place!
So If it's only good for 60-70 gallons then I'll give that a go i said. So I hooked up the chiller,and instead of letting a fan cool the rad in back, I decieded to be nice and use a prtible a/c to cool off the chiller. So now I have 1650 watts of a/c cooling a 480 watts of chiller and guess what happened to my surprise..... The ambient temp around my rez went down to 75F but my rez was still rising, it got to about 81F. I'm about ready to throw this fucking thing down a flight of stairs!
I've used this unit for about a week now, I bought it about 4-5 months ago,(yeah! that's right,my room construction took that long! lol) I'm wondering if they'll replace it with a chiller that actually works, and how long that will actually take, cuz my roots are pearly white right now,but I can almost begin to see streaks of brown which does not impress me what so ever! You know the saying if you fail to plan,then you plan to fail, I wonder what catorgory this situation fits into!!!!!

 

[JohnnyToke]

time for some warranty replacement. that chiller should be more than enough to cool down your system. sounds like the chiller isnt working at all and the water pump is making your temps rise.

JT

 

[Lazyman]

time for some warranty replacement. that chiller should be more than enough to cool down your system. sounds like the chiller isnt working at all and the water pump is making your temps rise.

JT

YEP, this. My first Ecoplus 1/4 Hp unit lasted about 3 months before i got a warranty replacement, the new unit worked no problem for 2 years.

 

[dr.roots]

Check freeon levels. I had the same exact problem. Make sure your pump is strong enough as well...

It should cool 100 gallons to 65* F in a few hours.

 

[Reg Dunlop]

Pump sizing shouldn't be a problem,I picked up a 1256 gph ecoplus.
But I have a question,how long can I run with my rez temp in the 70- 78 F range before I start to see root rot? Cuz it'll be till Tuesday at the very least till I can get my new chiller.Which sucks cuz now I've lost all my R.O water.It's the quickest way to chill my rez is with cold tap water.But now I'm starting to run out of Ph down cuz everytime I do a rez change,my tap water has such a high Ph that I end up using a shit load of it to bring it back down to normal levels! Is there any other way to cool my rez down with killing all my girls? The guys at the hydro shop were really good,their gonna send one out to me and when I recieve it I can send the shitty one back, cuz even if theres a bit of chilling going on I really can't afford to lose it right now! I just need something to get me by till Tuesday or Weds. After that I should be golden!

 

[Carboy]

Personally, I do whatever it took to keep the temp down around 70 or so.
If it meant running straight tap, so be it. A mild solution of H2O2 wouldn't hurt anything either.
Know it's a bitch --- feel for ya.

CB

 

[Reg Dunlop]

Thanks Carboy! I've been running some hygrozyme in my rez and thankfully I think it's actually kinda protected the roots from rotting a bit cuz I saw a slight browning near the top of the roots, butnow it's gone! Must be the hygrozyme working away! I guess that's why I paid $550 bucks for a 5 gallon pail. lol
But I have gone through a shitload of nutes and ph down from constantly doing rez changes after all my ice buckets have melted and I have no choice to or watch the temp sky rocket.Oh well better then losing all my girls. It just kinda pisses me off though! It would be one thing if I decieded to grow during the summer and didn't actually prepare myself for shit like this,but I did . It's just like owning a shitbox of a car,and thinking to your self,well I don't think it'll make it through the winter,I'd better get a new one. So you do and on the coldest day of the year your car breaks down! I think the only thing that would piss me off more is if I saw some asshole with a smile on his face drive by in my old shitbox! Sorry about the rant,but I had a lot of time to think while waiting for water to freeze and doing rez changes all weekend! Not my idea of a good time.
But all the advice was much appriecated.

 

[BigGreen]

Get some aquashield in there asap it will kill off any bad bacteria quick and return that piece of shit and get a new one. Sounds broken.

 

[Vegan]

sorry to hear about your chiller ..



for that kind of cash they should send one out express..

keep us updated to what happens

Vegan

 

[Reg Dunlop]

Well after talking to the hydro shop guys where I bought the chiller,he gave me an idea as to why the chiller may not working proprerley. I have a huge in line pump, I think the intake out take is 1.5 inches! and it's meant to run continuious,so I ran it continiously! lol I have it tucked away back in the corner of my room,outa sight outa mind unfortunatly.If I hear it running and I see water pumping back to my rez well I know it's working. So I went over to check on it this morning and it wasn't too hot too touch,but still fairly warm,so I bet it has been just cooking my water, making my chiller look bad! So during lights off, I shut off all the water,the pumps that run my misters,and my return pump. To my surprise...... the temp actually went down,and fairly quickly too. So now I've exchanged my big ass not too mention power hungry return pump.I made the switch witha 1267 gph eco plus pump at 90 watts and 1. something amps is a lot nicier on the meter wheel! When my pumps turn on,it drains out about 30-32 gallons outa my rez in 1 cycle.It takes the new pump about 3.5 minuites to pump it all back in, so I'm thinking that I should run my eco pump 24/7 to make sure that I don't have an over flow in my room. Or if any one has a better suggestion to go with those parameters I'm more then willing to giver a try.

Oh yeah, after an hour of the new return pump running straight( and no it does run dry as I have spaced out my on time for the mister pumps) the rez is sitting at 72-71 F with lights on.

 

[morrisgreenberg]

smaller pump for chiller, that 1/4HP should use a 200-400gph, this makes a huge difference since that water that passes thru the chiller needs to get cold before being dumped back into your rez, slower flow will allow it to chill before it returns. if you were using a pump that you can feel get warm that means you had a large one, atleast 1000gph, this is blowing water through the unit without enough chill time

 

[Lazyman]

smaller pump for chiller, that 1/4HP should use a 200-400gph, this makes a huge difference since that water that passes thru the chiller needs to get cold before being dumped back into your rez, slower flow will allow it to chill before it returns. if you were using a pump that you can feel get warm that means you had a large one, atleast 1000gph, this is blowing water through the unit without enough chill time

Hmm, all chillers have a recommended pump size, and for almost all of the 1/4hp units I've seen it was 800-1000 GPH. I used a recommended size pump on mine and it worked great, the pump ran continuous, and the chiller kicked on when the temps got too high automatically. I still think his chiller has some issues or his pump is failing.