Chiller connections?

[arh1]

I have several 10-20 gal quarantine/medication tanks that need cooling. Does anyone have ideas on how to work this using one chiller, but without mixing the waters?

[ballardjr2000]

Don't think its possible.

[recoiljpr]

Wow, tall order there! Quick and simple answer is it would be cost prohibitive. You'd end up spending more to do it then you would (I would think) on purchasing individual chillers.

You have a lot of problems to overcome. The first would be automatically switching each of the tanks between the chiller. You can't do them all at once so each would have to use the chiller for X minutes, then switch to the next. You would need two smart gate devices that all of your tanks plumb into (one for input, one for output). The device would then open/shut each automatically in sequence. Or, even smarter it would have a temp probe in each tank and open the corresponding gate valve whenever each remote device sends the signal that it's reached it's temperature threshold.

Even if you could overcome the issue with switching the chiller automatically between the system you would still have residual water left in the tubes (unless both sides were pressurized). Because after the switch, the remaining water in the tubes would mix. It wouldn't be much, but it would still mix.

But, there are much smarter people then me out there, so maybe they have an idea.

[ballardjr2000]

I don't see it being possible without some form of the water mixing your talking about have to take all the water chill it some and get it pumped back into the tank and out of the chiller before the next one kicks in like recoil said even with all that forget about it. you will still have some to mix. and all that above ain't cheap by know means your talking timers electrical valves etc etc. would like to see if mythbusters could do it though.

[allan]

Or you could take an external pump, pull water from the QT and run it through a long hose that sits in the sump where you have the chiller water return. The water pulled from the QT will circulate through the coiled tube in the sump to dissipate the heat. Thin walled hose and a fan would also allow for some sort of heat loss.

...regulating to a set temperature and you're back to spending more money.

Of course this is only a redneck fix.

[recoiljpr]

Or you could take an external pump, pull water from the QT and run it through a long hose that sits in the sump where you have the chiller water return. The water pulled from the QT will circulate through the coiled tube in the sump to dissipate the heat. Thin walled hose and a fan would also allow for some sort of heat loss.

...regulating to a set temperature and you're back to spending more money.

Of course this is only a redneck fix.


But it's a great cost effective KISS solution, the best kind! :applause:

You would just need to make sure you use extra extra long lines. Because you would need to maximize the contact time between the water in the tubes and the chilled tank water. The only drawback I can think of is how cold could you chill the tube holding tank? Because you would be adding extra heat from pumping it through that chilled tank (unless you used external pumps). Also, I wonder how many degrees you could effectively drop using that method.

[allan]

:) What's KISS stand for?

I imagine the delta between the pump and hose would be minor, but I would recommend the pump at the source so that losing the heat from the pump is done on the way to the chiller sump. Distance? I thought about buying a new age fangled car radiator and using that to flow the water and use a fan on the grill to lower temp... but like you said earlier it would have been cheaper to buy a chiller.

[txav8r]

KISS= keep it simple, stupid.

[allan]

lol, ok that was funny... and a little insulting... but mostly funny :)

[txav8r]

Don't think it was meant to be insulting at all. Just a saying to remind people not to overthink or overbuild something.

[ballardjr2000]

yeap KISS it as much as possible thats how i do it. aka redneck fix it lol.

[LoneStar]

I have several 10-20 gal quarantine/medication tanks that need cooling. Does anyone have ideas on how to work this using one chiller, but without mixing the waters?

You will defeat the purpose of a individual QT setup by using one chiller for all the tanks. Best bet is evaporative cooling and efficeint powerheads/pumps.

[recoiljpr]

lol, ok that was funny... and a little insulting... but mostly funny :)

Allan, wasn't meant to be insulting at all! It's something I constantly remind myself daily to try and keep everything as KISS simple as possible. In my Opinion, it should be STRIVED for! Mr. Murphy tends to always show up whenever anything isn't KISS. As I read someone once say "If there are 1,000 correct ways to do something, and 1 wrong way to do something chances are someone will do it the 1 wrong way." :bigsmile:

So I meant no insult, and if it came across that way, I apologize!!!

[allan]

Dude, no worries at all! I wasn't insulted at all. I had never heard of that acronym. I was just playing when I wrote that. In fact I read the post to my wife and we both started cracking up.

Not being the most adept at posting accurately in these forums I had included the smiley face to imply that I was only kidding... I guess I should have put JK. Sorry, this old dog isn't as swift as he used to be.

You know I used to peel potatoes in my first job yeeeeears ago, and I remember thinking that there had to be a better way. A few years later I went to work at a fish place that had this large barrel with sandpaper like interior walls. Potatoes in, barrel turns, skins are abraided and viola you have freshly peeled potatoes wihtout cutting a single finger. Brilliant... yet amazingly simple, idea that pays dividends.

I can certainly relate to the KISS principle.

Not that it bears on the current thread, but when dealing with my customers I have an acronym that sums up most repair requests. PEBCK Repair. Problem Exists Between Chair and KeyBoard.

[recoiljpr]

Not that it bears on the current thread, but when dealing with my customers I have an acronym that sums up most repair requests. PEBCK Repair. Problem Exists Between Chair and KeyBoard.

I manage a IT help desk and server/pc group. So I definitely understand that term!!!

[allan]

I manage a IT help desk and server/pc group. So I definitely understand that term!!!

I repair medical equipment. Can't tell you how many times the fault "it won't turn on" can be fixed with "plug it in first". I got PEBKC from my IT guys while in Iraq.

[recoiljpr]

I repair medical equipment. Can't tell you how many times the fault "it won't turn on" can be fixed with "plug it in first". I got PEBKC from my IT guys while in Iraq.

You don't happen to have a friend who lives in New Braunfels do you? My next door neighbor repairs medical equipment at BAMC. He was over this weekend and saw my tank. He was talking about a friend of his who has saltwater tanks as well.

[allan]

Dude, you live right across the street from Taz? May not be you, but the last time I was at his house (first name Gerald) I was pulling out and noticed a large canopy like object in the garage of the house across the street from him.

But yeah, that's Taz, he and I are old battle buddies from drill sergeant duty back in the day.

[recoiljpr]

Dude, you live right across the street from Taz? May not be you, but the last time I was at his house (first name Gerald) I was pulling out and noticed a large canopy like object in the garage of the house across the street from him.

But yeah, that's Taz, he and I are old battle buddies from drill sergeant duty back in the day.

WOW, what a small world, yep that is my house! I was working on my canopy for my 65. Gerald was over for the MMA fight on Saturday and that's when we were talking about it. When he started using words like Frag, etc I knew he had to have a friend who had a reef tank. Next time your over, stop by!

[allan]

Consider it done! I've been trying to get him to start a tank of his own, but he's been resistant to the idea.... too much work I think. :)

[JLiu]

There are 2 solutions to your chilling problems that i'm able to come up with first is put all 10 tanks in a bath and chill the surrounding bath water the bath doesn't have to be very deep, or you can put a large container of water at the end of the ten tanks and run a super long tube with coiled sections of tubing in each tank so that your circulating only the large container of water but the heat transfer will happen with the coils of each of the 10 tanks.

[arh1]

Some of these ideas may be getting close to do-able. I'm thinking use the chiller to cool water in a sump. Second pump in the sump sends cool water through Y-connections to several Q tanks with heat exchangers, then back to sump. No water mixing. Main problem - what is the heat exchanger? Most are some non-corrosive metal like titanium. Not practical for me. Plastic is poorly conductive. Any ideas out there?

[allan]

Copper works real well... but I would REALLY stay away from that one. Due to the heat exchange (or lack of it) you will have to find something with really thin walls to maximize an already poor heat conductor. Keeping the water filled hose submerged for a significant amount of time to realize any cooling effect makes me think you will either have to significantly slow your flow or lengthen your hose... if you were to do plastic or rubber.

You know if you were to build a turf scubber styled water overflow system with a fan over the exposed running water you would accomplish two things. First would be a lot of evaporative heat loss, the second would be... well, evaporation. But then each would require it's own sump to pool the water before sending it back to the QT tank.

Just thinking out loud here...