Plumbing a new chiller

ayaws

Angel Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#1
I have a new to me 1/4hp AquaLogic DeltaStar chiller from Uncle Craig. (Just finished cleaning it all up.)

Curious on how people have plumbed them up in the past -- my last chiller was a drop-in.

My thought is this:
Plumb up chiller intake and outlet to center section of sump (Trigger Systems 36S) using 3/4" bulkheads and unions. The fittings would be roughly 12" apart. Is that far enough? I could do the intake on the drain section and the outlet on the center section if that would help. Goal is to make the chiller as efficient as possible.

I also have a Neptune Apex controller which will be running all this and wrote a little program for switching on a circulation pump when a call for chill is made (when the outlet for the chiller is activated) as well as cycling it on once per day at 0300 for 10 minutes.

Program:
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Time 03:11 to 02:59 Then OFF
If Time 03:00 to 03:10 Then ON
If Outlet CHILLER = ON Then ON

See any issues with that program as well?

Thanks!
Adam
 

DyM

Sting ray
M.A.S.C Club Member
#2
Here is my recommendation since you're using an apex, use an osc command to have the pump push water through the chiller every so often. Here's why. In the summer, when it turns on almost every day, the water is not idle. However most times, you're chiller is sitting there doing nothing. The water inside the tubbing gets cold, and stagnent, making a stinky and skimmer go crazy momement when a couple of days goes by without use and the pump turns on. I use to come home with clear water filling my skimmer cup, and it took me awhile to figure that out. 10min seems be way too long, a min or two is fine.

Chiller ] ( 6_3 )
Program Type: Advanced
Program:
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
If Temp > 78.8 Then ON
If TmpSump < 78.0 Then OFF
Defer 000:10 Then ON
Defer 001:00 Then OFF
If Outlet v_OVERFLOW!! = ON Then OFF
 
Last edited by a moderator:

DyM

Sting ray
M.A.S.C Club Member
#3
Opps, forgot the chiller pump program

Chillpump ] ( 8_5 )
Program Type: Advanced
Display Icon: Spigot
Logging: Disabled
Program:
Fallback OFF
Set OFF
OSC 120:00/000:30/000:00 Then ON
If Outlet Chiller = ON Then ON
Defer 001:00 Then OFF
 

ayaws

Angel Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#4
Thanks Dave/Monica!

My time statements between 0300-0310 fire up the pump daily for 10 minutes and circulate. Think that's enough or should I do more with an oscillate statement? I am going to use two outlets on an EB8 to fire up the chiller and pump separately. The reason I was avoiding the oscillate command was mostly to avoid the wear and tear on cycling the pump more than necessary.

If I'm reading the defer statements correctly, after the temp triggers the chiller activation, you defer for 10 seconds to start, then continue running 1 minute after the temp has cooled down. Right?

Thanks again!
Adam
 

ayaws

Angel Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#5
Ah, sorry about that...I jumped the gun in my reply. So am I reading that right in saying every 120 minutes, you fire up the pump for 30 seconds?
 

DyM

Sting ray
M.A.S.C Club Member
#6
Yes on the Defer, and Yes on the Osc command. I've had the same pump in this config for about 3 yrs now, I think the on off it's excessive wear and tear. My opinion though. You could use your time statement and that should work. Just know if you see a watery skimmate or smell eggs, you may need to run it twice a day vice only once.
 

ayaws

Angel Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#7
Thanks again! Any thoughts on the plumbing part -- see any issues there?
 

DyM

Sting ray
M.A.S.C Club Member
#8
If only 12" apart, make sure your output faces the direction of the return pump. I'd hate to say but a lot of this is so dependnat on your setup, that it's best just to trial and error.

For me, I used a temp probe in the sump since the chiller would make the water in the sump 75 deg before the main display would get 1 deg lower. So I programed it to make the sump cooler, but not to cold. No one could know that but me, and I fixed the issue with a tweek here and there. Good luck.
 

ayaws

Angel Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#9
Hmm. Something to think about. How is your chiller plumbed up? I have the standard 3-chamber sump but am not using the refugium in it since I have a separate one (waiting to be installed.)

I can definitely see how the chiller would over-cool the sump before the tank caught up through circulation. I might need to 'upgrade' to a bigger sump. The 36S that I have only has a working volume of roughly 25g. Seems a little small for the 150DT but was great for the 90.
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#10
I run the return through the chiller all the time. Factor in some head loss of maybe 5 feet? You want the cold water to hit the tank and disperse with the largest volume. Temp probe is in the display too.
 

ayaws

Angel Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#11
Thanks -- the only thing stopping me from running it through the chiller full time is the chiller is plumbed 3/4" and my returns are 1". If I did that, I believe I would be running water through the chiller too fast thereby limiting its efficiency.
 

ayaws

Angel Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#12
So -- as mentioned on my other thread, I ended up plumbing another circuit off the return pump. It goes off the return, through the chiller, and dumps back into the return section of the sump right in front of the pump intake.
 

ayaws

Angel Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#14
Yep. 4 tons of AC in the house too...I'm hoping it's adequate or I'm going to be upgrading chillers and adding some 220v electrical in.
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#15
If could short cycle if your sump is not all that big. If it does, then it needs to dump into the display. If you keep the air inside of your house dry, you should hot have many heat issues - exchange some air in the evening when the temp starts to drop but before the humidity starts to get high.

Fans work wonders too.
 

ayaws

Angel Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#16
Thanks for the heads up. If it starts doing that I'll make some changes. On a 150G DT, I'm running a Trigger-Systems 36S which equates to roughly 25G useable volume. Not quite the standard 20% but so far so good. Logging is on in fusion (Apex controlling) and the DT is staying within 0.1 F from the sump with the Apex. Basically a rounding/calibration error.
 

jda123

Dolphin
M.A.S.C Club Member
#17
Are you saying that the chiller will come on with .1 difference? Again, this might cause cycle issues. Whatever you end up with, make sure the chiller is running for at least 10-12 minutes to get the job done.
 

ayaws

Angel Fish
M.A.S.C Club Member
#18
No -- sorry for the confusion. The chiller is set to come on at 79 degrees and go off at 77.4. With the lights fully on, that's about a 45-minute cycle time. However I'm finding that the chiller coasts down to about 77.2 after it shuts down. My guess is due to the remaining coolant in the system evaporating off.

What I was saying is the temp sensor in the display tank is within .1F of the sensor in the sump. The Apex uses the Display Tank temp to make decisions when calling for heat or chill.

FWIW: The heaters come on at 77F and go off at 78F.

We keep the house at 67 during the day and 63 at night during the winter. Summer is 75 during the day and 70 at night. During winter we run a whole-house steam humidifier which keeps it a pretty constant 30% RH. (Much higher than that, we get condensation on windows.) No humidification in the summer of course. Unless the outside temp is in the single digits, the windows upstairs in the master bedroom are always open a few inches. Our furnace/air handler has a DC variable speed fan which runs a constant 30% (can't remember CFM) year round unless heat or cool is called. Then it spins up to whatever RPM the thermostat programming calls. When we replaced the HVAC system last winter, I spent quite a bit of time with my contractor to determine what would work well for my house (3-stories inc. basement.) They ran calculations around windows and doors (can't remember what it was called) but this is the solution we came up with. If I had it my way and the wife wouldn't murder me, I'd install another AC in the top floor attic and control it all separately. When she saw the 18K price tag, she shut me down. ;)
 
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