Heat from air pumps!?

  • Thread starter GeneticFreak
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GeneticFreak

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What up my brothren its been a while since I've been on here and since I've used my UC. I'm running UCE18XL13 with only 15 sites. Im running 6K vented, have two 2 ton mini splits cooling, and 1/2hp active aqua chiller. My question is about controlling the heat from my air pumps. I don't remember them getting so hot. I can't chill my water. My pump is the mag 1200. I started with 75f water going in and it only chilled to 74f after two hours. I used to use a 1/4 hp and it worked like a champ. Any suggestions?
 
Capulator

Capulator

likes to smell trees.
Supporter
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the air pump will heat the water. You need a better chiller or scrap the UC and move to a medium like sunshine or chow.

Insulate the buckets if they aren't already, that would help.
 
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GeneticFreak

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Thanks for the feedback. I used my UC once and moved on to super soil and some coco runs. I have experience with lots of mediums. None produced yields like UC and nothing has produced quality like super soil. I'm looking for a happy medium and I believe UC is it. Like I said in my first post I don't remember the air pumps heating up like this. So I'm looking for feedback from a UC practitioner. Someone who is going to look at this a little more closely. My buckets are insulated.
 
Camnibus

Camnibus

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Some kind of restriction in the air lines/stones? About the only thing that would make them run hotter than normal.
 
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GeneticFreak

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How hot do you think is normal Camnibus? The lines are actually hot. The funny thing is that I only used them once. They should be in great shape. I am using large round stones. Maybe I should switch to the blue standard ones that come with the UC.
 
UCMENOW

UCMENOW

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83
May be worth considering changing the diapgragms on your air pumps if they've been sitting a bit. What size and brand pumps are you using?

Water pump shouldn't be heating water.

What does the water temp run with chiller off vs chiller on.

Can't rule out your chiller is letting you down.
 
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GeneticFreak

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Thanks for chimin in UCMENOW. I'm unsing the afp 60 and 80 that were supplied with my UC. I sold my first chiller from the run I did and forgot the size. So i grabbed what i thought i used and got the 1/4 hp hooked up thinking that was all I needed and it didnt cut it. Then went ahead and went up to the 1/2 hp. So I started going through my old threads And found i was using 1/4 the first time and was able to get my temps down to 66. I don't recall having any issues getting the water chilled in short time. It's brand new so unless active aqua changed something then there's another problem. Thats what led my to the air pumps.
So you say it could be the diaphragms? Is there a kit for those? If so where do I get em?
 
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GeneticFreak

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Correction I looked on cch20 site and I think they are the alita al 60 and 80. Ones green and the other is blue I believe.
 
Camnibus

Camnibus

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My lines coming from the air pump are warm, not even close to hot. Try disconnecting the manifold from the pump just to make sure it cools off substantially with no restrictions, that'll clear the pump as the problem. Then it's the lines or the stones.
 
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