Running nutrient thru the chiller compared to using a cool coil

[GRAPEGODaero]

I see most people are running their nutrient directly thru a chiller and not using stainless steel coil in epicenter to cool. Does the coil just not work? I read it takes 1ft of 3/8 stainless steel to cool 12.5 gallons of water. I was going to get 3 50' 1/2 wort chiller to drop in epicenters to cool using a 275 gallon chiller rez and manifold and return manifold to feed each wort chiller. If anyone has tried this and found it wouldnt work please inform me. Im about to set up 3 32 site 8gal systems and trying to fix problems that can happen before i start. Any advice or input welcome. Thx in advance.

 

[Kraken.headz]

I used a wort chiller to cool my current culture. At the time,I was running an entirely water cooled garden, hydro innovations style. It was easy to reach balance between water and room temp by adjusting the chiller, I think we ended up running the water temp at about 45f.

 

[GRAPEGODaero]

I used a wort chiller to cool my current culture. At the time,I was running an entirely water cooled garden, hydro innovations style. It was easy to reach balance between water and room temp by adjusting the chiller, I think we ended up running the water temp at about 45f.

So u set the chiller at 45f? I have ran a water cooled garden as well with icebox light coolers as well as cooled our ebb n flo nutes. Was your uc 8 buckets per row? Thats what im wondering the most. If my epicenter is reading 65 what temp is the 8th bucket going to be? Im sure ill insulate each bucket and the pipes but i hear the air pumps are blowing hot air into each bucket. Wish there was an inline coil that could be cooled with chiller that was made for air pumps to remove heat before it goes into the buckets. That might be a fun little diy project. Lol. Thx for the response brother.

 

[Kraken.headz]

Haha! I hear you. Throw that air pump in the refrigerator! I was running a 6 plant system at the time. Yes, chiller was set at 45, which I think was pretty much what they suggested. May take a little fiddling to get it just right.

 

[GRAPEGODaero]

Haha! I hear you. Throw that air pump in the refrigerator! I was running a 6 plant system at the time. Yes, chiller was set at 45, which I think was pretty much what they suggested. May take a little fiddling to get it just right.

Im still a bit concerned with the last buckets on a 32 site system. I guess wont know until i try.

 

[GRAPEGODaero]

Im getting so close to set up day and i think im going to use the 1.5 hp chiller with 275 gallon res that ill insulate and set chiller at about 50. 275 gal of 50f water should keep me between 65 and 72. Least i hope. Rather not pass 69 but is what it is. 50' 1/2 ss wort chiller should be enough coil from what hydro innovations says. They say 1 ft of ss 3/8 coil will chill 12.5 gallons.

 

[GRAPEGODaero]

My gear has landed. Its about to get down

 

[GRAPEGODaero]

The 32 site is just fine with the coil in the epicenter. Wish the coil was a bit smaller tho. Going to have issues with the float valve until i can figure out what to do. No big deal since they just went in the modules. Here couple pix

 

[CropKarma]

I’m about to setup something similar, just a little smaller wish I had more room. Two 8 gal, 24 bucket and one 13 gal with 14 buckets. Trying to figure out my water cooling- use 3 wort chillers in the epicenters? Chill the top off reservoir? How did this run go for you?

 

[QuarterbackMo]

I’ll give you some advice from an old dog now if you’re new to dwc and read this.

It’s a whole lot cheaper and easier to replace a coil if you get root rot or wilt disease or something crazy then it is to replace the whole chiller. Trying to hang on to anything plastic that any kind of bad shit has touched is a bad idea all the way around for future runs you’re almost guaranteed to get it again.

With that said the coil works just as good and will have your dwc just as cold as ice. I had to learn all this the hard way it cost me 3 grows in a row a coupe years back I’ll never pipe a chiller inline again.

I took in some weak clones from my man that completely fucked them up and they got rot even with the chiller @ 68° somehow and I thought cleaning everything and doing the bleach thing was gonna take care of it lol. Within two weeks grow two in that room dropped and same with grow 3 and grow 3 had all new buckets and plumbing the only thing in common was that chiller.

Ever since then I switched to a coil and swapped buckets and lines and pumps and all that good shit again and never saw it again. I once thought the coil must be a fucking joke for how small they were and refused to use one for a long time just to find out in the end they work fantastic 🤦🏻‍♂️.

Don’t learn the hard way just use a coil instead of tainting your chiller for life.

 

[airedog]

I'm setting up a UC4XXL13 system, lit with (4) 640W (at the wall) LEDs; thinking a 1/4 hp chiller with a wort coil in the epicenter. I'll use a separate 44 gallon Brute garbage can for wort coil res and use a Danner Model 5 pump. Any substantive reason/s to go JBJ Arctica rather than Active Air?