Water Chilling Q & A

[nevilledout]

I fear your 1/4 hp chiller will be way too small.

Rule number one about water chilling; excess capacity does not automatically mean higher bills or wasted power!

Get the biggest chiller you can.

I learned this the hard way..

 

[dixie420]

I'm not sure it was my first, but it was definitely the most popular! I've heard gripes about the farm's organization for years. I think the most glaring issue is that the equipment and installation threads are buried and have no place of their own.

I plan to start my own indoor gardening equipment company. I would like to have a clear section for all things equipment, from McGuyver specials to Current Culture. If I'm going to advertise here, I want my innovations to be accessible. It's overdue, and it's missed.

I'm a nobody, but I agree with ttystikk that the lay out of the farm could be made easier to find stuff. That being said, there's some serious knowledge on here, I've been growing for 20 some odd years, and I've learned some stuff in the couple of weeks I've been cruzing the farm, and I'm honored to be here thank you.
I've got to get a chiller or alternative before summer, if I wanna stay in DWC, and I do, but I don't want to put all of my plants on the same system, and I think I can solve that with a little extra piping, and valves, amy input would be appreciated ttystikk.
I'm running a hydro farm waterfarm 8 site along with 8 to 10 individual buckets, I don't mind doing 2 5 site recirculating systems, but if I get enough chiller shouldn't I be able to just separate it coming out of a large res, and then pipe it in to 3 different control buckets that I can add my nutes to, for different feeding needs of different strains?

 

[sixstring]

you can find tyy blathering on over at riu lol.make sure to wear some waders hahahaha.

 

[epitome]

Im sure hes still here just not as vocal as a few years ago...sixstring do you play as good as you grow? Your trees are inspiring to say the least... ✌

 

[RareLoudness]

I'm running 8k open lamp of light on a flip (two rooms get 8k twelve hours each). The room dimensions are H 7'- W 11'- L 16' for a total of 1,232 cubic feet. Rooms are very well unsalted. The summer highs are around 100°f here in Michigan.

I've been taking advantage of the cold weather and cooling the rooms with just inline fans. This is NOT gonna cut it after the weather breaks and I was looking at split units before I ran across this thread.

What size chiller do you guys think would be best suited for my needs?

I would like to pull air through a radiator with a 8-10" inline and push that cool dry air through a carbon scrubber. Or I guess I could pull through the both (radiator, scrubber, fan) whatever fits the bill.

I'm planning to use a 55gal res and have separate coils and pumps to run each room and exchange air between the rooms.

Just not to sure of what size chiller to get. I would guess a 3-4 ton would do it but don't really know.

If you guys could shoot me in the right direction it would be most gratefully appreciated.

 

[MendoAdome]

I fear your 1/4 hp chiller will be way too small.

Rule number one about water chilling; excess capacity does not automatically mean higher bills or wasted power!

Get the biggest chiller you can.

Also those "Hobby" Chillers are not true to spec. Half the claimed capacity to be more accurate.

 

[MendoAdome]

Thanks for starting this up TTY! I just picked up a 1/4 HP Active Aqua chiller, got 2 Hydro innovation ice boxes, and 1 cool coil.

Gonna use these in veg. Room is 2x 250 watt hid air cooled, 1 T-5 200 watt, ballasts are in the room too. 4 x 40watt oscillating fans, 1x 6" inline fan in there as well. wattroom is 10'x10' Temp right now is 82-85 degrees F day and night.

I've only used a water chiller for a aero cloner, so this is definitely a step up for myself. I'm not even sure what type of water to run(r.o./tap/distilled.

Can I daisy chain all three pieces(coil, 2x ice boxes) in 1 run? I'd imagine i'd run the cold water through the cool coil first, then through the ice boxes. I'm thinking the complete tubing run will be about 20-25'

What's the minimum res size I should use? (I have plenty 27 gallon tuff boxes) I've got 185gph and 396gph water pumps that can run inline as a booster or submerged. I'm not sure how to get the right flow.

There are the details, any advice, tips, tricks, or pitfalls I should look out for? no detail is too small.
Thanks for the persistence on water chilling, I wouldn't have made this move without your insight.

Ice boxes are designed for Reflectors! Is it not a good idea to use these unless you are trying to chill maybe a 5gal bucket. You will never be able to get your temps down to the 40's to simulate the fall.

Ice Boxes leak, are hard to work with, you have to be meticulous with the runs to make sure there are no kinks. They will also reduce your airflow so you will need even more CFM in your inline fans to do the job.

Also be very wary about heavy metals leeching into your water via the cooling coils. Use ONLY Titanium based coils if you want to even begin to think about putting them in your salt rich water solutions.

 

[StonedBlue]

Im building a new room. I have a room 9x13x8. In it i will be building a 24 sq foot flower room and a 20 sq foot veg.
Ill be doing a small hydroponics system. What size chiller do i need to run in order to cool the room, control humidity and chill hydro system?

 

[MendoAdome]

Ac is based on btu usually 6000btu/1000w se, 6900/de

Chillers are rated in gallons I suggest an commercial grade chiller

 

[StonedBlue]

So a 1 ton eco pro?

 

[MendoAdome]

Depends on how many lights you have dude

 

[nazarbattu]

Is ttystik around anywhere...anyone know?

 

[StonedBlue]

Sorry, been away. I will have either 1500 watts for 24 sq feet in flower room and another 300 give or take for veg/clone/mother.
Ive been planning and I'm considering creating a small room between the two to use as a lung. So I'll put a wall across the room dividing it in half. Then ill divide one half into three rooms; flower, lung and veg. I can then put chiller in the unused half of the room.

 

[MendoAdome]

So a 1 ton eco pro?

Depends on how many gallons of water you want to chill

 

[StonedBlue]

Depends on how many gallons of water you want to chill

Guessing about 20. Plus I want to use it to control temp and humidity in total less than 800 cubic feet

 

[MendoAdome]

you cant control room temps and water temps with the same unit. Are you in Cali bro? you might just want to consider just buying it.

 

[MendoAdome]

but if you want to grow in a 800 cu' tent you need at least a 1 ton and a 1/10HP chiller Id go with a 1/4HP chiller so you can get your water temps down to simulate fall conditions.

 

[StonedBlue]

you cant control room temps and water temps with the same unit. Are you in Cali bro? you might just want to consider just buying it.

Why do i need two units? Can't I use a manifold and use one loop to cool room and one for water? Btw, I've settled on a 1hp eco commercial.

 

[MendoAdome]

They work similar in theory but acs circulate refrigerant while chillers circulate water

 

[MendoAdome]

You also need to have two separate pumps one for refrigerant and one for the water now try and find a condenser that will do that rofl