guyonthecouch
- 29
- 3
What up, farmers. I'm finally ready to start migrating to a chiller-only setup with ice boxes, a water cooler CO2 genny, etc.. but I would like to start small with some existing equipment if possible prior to dropping coin for a big-boy chiller and big-boy pump. Looking for some advise from the pros... you out there, chillville?
Current setup:
ROOM:
11 x 18 room, 9.5' ceilings. Concrete floor, one side wall is concrete and fully earth covered. Room is split long ways with a poly tarp to make two flowering rooms of 5.5' x 18'. 6,500 BTU window AC installed through wall in rear of room. Keeps room at 82f with lights on currently.
LIGHTS:
4 - 600's on each side in horizontal air-cooled hoods on a flip box. Obviously, only 4 bulbs are one at a time. Cooling for the lights is currently done with a 12" fan in the attic pulling through a 12" insulated flex down the the basement where it is split into two 6" flex runs that pull through each chain of 4 lights. The intake on either 6" chain is a 40" carbon filter. The room is under constant neg pressure but smell is fully in check with this setup.
WATER:
There is a 6 site UC on each side, each with it's own dedicated 1/4 HP chiller. I have it setup so each UC pushes it's nute solution through it's dedicated 1/4 HP chiller (which is outside the room with 3/4" lines running through the wall) then back into the epicenter. I think my chillers are currently oversized for being dedicated to a single UC (1/4 HP to chill 55 gallons is surely overkill). I only recently learned, while reading on this board, that nute solution shouldn't be going through the actual chiller's internal coil. ooops, my bad! lol.
My goal going forward is to start with one of the UC systems as my test site for the new setup. I want to try to setup a dedicted 55 gallon rez with RO and glycol and have one of my 1/4 HP chillers dedicated to chilling that rez. With that chilled rez, I would like to cool a 55 gallon UC via a submerged 3/8" stainless coil and possibly also either an icebox to help cool the room or maybe a water cooled CO2 genny that I have been considering picking up. I currently have some stock of 3/8" tubing in 316L stainless, a 55 gallon rez as well as a brand new Pondmaster 1200 magdrive with 3/4" inlet/outlet ports. I would like to use the 1200 mag pump if possible since I already have it sitting here.
Current plan (let me know if this is whack or a waste of time):
I plan to use the 1200 mag drive (I realize that a huge flotec pump would be better but I'm hesitant to jump into this, wallets a blazin') to pull from the 55 gsl rez, push through the 1/4 HP ciller, then dump chilly water back into the rez. My question is, can I simply run 1/2" reducing Tee's off the outlet from the chiller (with a ball valve installed before it dumps back into the rez that I can close to prime the loops) to feed the submerged rez coil and other device then have those dump freely back into the top of the rez or would it be better to have the reducing Tees in the line right before the chiller (so in between the pump out let and chiller inlet or between the chiller outlet and rez return)? Thanks and sorry for the long ass post.
Current setup:
ROOM:
11 x 18 room, 9.5' ceilings. Concrete floor, one side wall is concrete and fully earth covered. Room is split long ways with a poly tarp to make two flowering rooms of 5.5' x 18'. 6,500 BTU window AC installed through wall in rear of room. Keeps room at 82f with lights on currently.
LIGHTS:
4 - 600's on each side in horizontal air-cooled hoods on a flip box. Obviously, only 4 bulbs are one at a time. Cooling for the lights is currently done with a 12" fan in the attic pulling through a 12" insulated flex down the the basement where it is split into two 6" flex runs that pull through each chain of 4 lights. The intake on either 6" chain is a 40" carbon filter. The room is under constant neg pressure but smell is fully in check with this setup.
WATER:
There is a 6 site UC on each side, each with it's own dedicated 1/4 HP chiller. I have it setup so each UC pushes it's nute solution through it's dedicated 1/4 HP chiller (which is outside the room with 3/4" lines running through the wall) then back into the epicenter. I think my chillers are currently oversized for being dedicated to a single UC (1/4 HP to chill 55 gallons is surely overkill). I only recently learned, while reading on this board, that nute solution shouldn't be going through the actual chiller's internal coil. ooops, my bad! lol.
My goal going forward is to start with one of the UC systems as my test site for the new setup. I want to try to setup a dedicted 55 gallon rez with RO and glycol and have one of my 1/4 HP chillers dedicated to chilling that rez. With that chilled rez, I would like to cool a 55 gallon UC via a submerged 3/8" stainless coil and possibly also either an icebox to help cool the room or maybe a water cooled CO2 genny that I have been considering picking up. I currently have some stock of 3/8" tubing in 316L stainless, a 55 gallon rez as well as a brand new Pondmaster 1200 magdrive with 3/4" inlet/outlet ports. I would like to use the 1200 mag pump if possible since I already have it sitting here.
Current plan (let me know if this is whack or a waste of time):
I plan to use the 1200 mag drive (I realize that a huge flotec pump would be better but I'm hesitant to jump into this, wallets a blazin') to pull from the 55 gsl rez, push through the 1/4 HP ciller, then dump chilly water back into the rez. My question is, can I simply run 1/2" reducing Tee's off the outlet from the chiller (with a ball valve installed before it dumps back into the rez that I can close to prime the loops) to feed the submerged rez coil and other device then have those dump freely back into the top of the rez or would it be better to have the reducing Tees in the line right before the chiller (so in between the pump out let and chiller inlet or between the chiller outlet and rez return)? Thanks and sorry for the long ass post.
