Chiller question: stay in the closet or come out of the closet?

[andysgr]

I was recently told that a chiller gives off significant heat and shouldn't be put in a closed area such as under the stand. Ideally I would like to put the chiller in the closet behind the tank. Do I really need to leave the chiller sitting next to the tank in an open area? Opinions please...

[LoneStar]

What size chiller are you going to use?

I had a 1/10th hp chiller in a closet in the past. The doors were removed though. They do produce a lot of heat and I wouldn't put one in there if I were you. The chiller will get too hot and it will not run efficiently.

[andysgr]

1/2 Hp

[envy]

if you do put in a closet be sure you add a fan to help keep cool. i would leave it out of a closet somewhere where it can exchange hot air for cool so you don't heat up house to much

[bronck83]

What is above that closet? Attic? Another story of the house? If it's attic above, put in a decent exhaust fan in the ceiling to get rid of some of the heat and I think you'd be fine.

[Bill S]

1/2 hp is a pretty big chiller - 5000 btu. Think of how well a similar sized room A/C would work, if the "hot" end of it was in a closed room.

[DBlackman]

Hey Andy, after seeing your tank, closet and relative position of your garage... you may want to consider running PVC through the closet, out to the garage; more air space. Although, I have not seen your garage for potential placements for the chiller, nor what walls in particular to run the PVC.

Just my 2 cents

[CoryDude]

1/2 HP? Be sure to check the amp draw on the chiller and make sure you don't overload the elect. circuit your plugging into. Don't go with the exhaust fan above the the closet idea. Tried to same thing myself and the noise from the fan drove me nuts, plus it didn't do much to lower the temp. If you go with the closet you need to keep the doors off and use a box fan to help disperse the heat and help with air exchange. The garage is your best bet if you can plumb it safely. Just make sure you garage has some sort of ventilation as hot Texas summers (plus the heat exchange from the chiller) can make the ambient temp in the garage too warm and cause your chiller to short cycle.

[SoLiD]

Be mindful that your chiller is just a heat exchange. The heat from the tank is transfered to the air in the immediate area. The hotter the air being drawn into the chillers condenser coils the longer it will take to exchange the heat. So no matter where it is it needs to have positive air flow to make it the most efficiant. It will still work in a hot room, it will just decrease the overall life of the unit and take longer to cool the tank. HTH

-David

[andysgr]

thanks everyone!

[Fish4life]

might consider using dryer tubes :) and vent to outside. My chiller sits right next to a window. I use a small fan to vent the air outside. placing a chiller in the closet with no vent will dramatically reduce the life of the chiller.

cheers,

kurt