You're on the right track thinking about putting the chiller someplace away from your grow- this is one of water chilling's biggest advantages, to be able to place the unit where it makes the most sense to shed/redirect the excess heat.
My grow rooms are in the basement but my chillers are upstairs sticking out the windows, just like AC units. One of these comes in from the windowsill in late October and sits on an end table in my office all winter, where it produces enough heat to keep my whole house warm, even in subzero temperatures! That saves ANOTHER $1000 in heating bills every winter, paying for the system... again. After all, it will save you the difference between its cost and AC in the first year of operation alone. Over the next two years, its efficiency in operation will save you the entire cost of your environmental control system just in savings over operating costs associated with AC.
It's like many a good investment out there; pay a little more up front, get a positive return on investment and a payback period. Go cheap up front and you'll be paying forever...
How efficient? My 2 Ton chiller is rated at the same 24K BTu as the AC unit it's based on, so wtf? The compressor is exactly the same thing as one in an AC unit, so where's the savings?! It's at the other end; I know the standard for cooling grow operations is 1/2 Ton of AC for every 2kW in lights, or two Tons for four lights. Worse, redirecting air through sealed rooms defeats the purpose, doesn't it?
I ran a 16 light grow op with just TWO TONS of water chilling! I used every trick in da book to pull it off- but the point is that it worked and kept the op under control, while using a scant 1/4 of the 'recommended' AC capacity!
Water is just that much better at picking up heat and carrying it away.
One more thing; Fuck those 6" toys- get 8" Iceboxes and use 8" ducting and fans. 6" Iceboxes is like using tents for your bloom- they're for campers, not the serious.
