Chilling several rez

mcnasty_nug

Well-Known Member
@ttystikk So, I would buy a large 1/2 hp chiller or something? (large enough for 5-6 55 gallon rez?) I've seen penguin chillers made in the usa for a decent price. I would then get heat exchangers (could you suggest one for the metal 55 gallon barrels I use for a rez?) Id run them into each of my rez, and circulate the cooled water from the chiller into those exchangers cooling my rez. Correct? So it would almost be like the dehuey DIY setups? I assume I need steel or something then as copper is bad.

OR do you mean i circulate the nutes through an exchanger thats sitting in a rez of water that the big chiller is keeping cold?

I notice penquin sells PG chillers as well, would these be more efficient for this method of chilling several rez?

excuse the many questions, I just wanna be sure I get this right in one go, and thanks a ton for this tip, i would have never considered this.
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
It sounds pretty straight forward and simple but getting it to work properly...all systems within a degree or two...would take some tweaking if your not an engineer.
agreed. mostly trial and error and a flow control valve to each coil and it should be do-able. if one bucket is 68 and the other is 66, not too big a deal IMO.
 

mcnasty_nug

Well-Known Member
man, this is genius! you guys rock man. I hit up penguin to see if the glycol chiller would work for this. Glycol can be cooled much lower without freezing, apparently its more efficient. The system has 4 inlets and outlets built in so I could set a glycol pump for each rez hooked to a temp timer so each rez is cooled independently to the optimal temp.
 

redi jedi

Well-Known Member
man, this is genius! you guys rock man. I hit up penguin to see if the glycol chiller would work for this. Glycol can be cooled much lower without freezing, apparently its more efficient. The system has 4 inlets and outlets built in so I could set a glycol pump for each rez hooked to a temp timer so each rez is cooled independently to the optimal temp.
Most chilling systems run a glycol/water mix...just be sure to leak test it before you set the coils in your systems...dont want glycol in your nute solution.
 

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
@ttystikk So, I would buy a large 1/2 hp chiller or something? (large enough for 5-6 55 gallon rez?) I've seen penguin chillers made in the usa for a decent price. I would then get heat exchangers (could you suggest one for the metal 55 gallon barrels I use for a rez?) Id run them into each of my rez, and circulate the cooled water from the chiller into those exchangers cooling my rez. Correct? So it would almost be like the dehuey DIY setups? I assume I need steel or something then as copper is bad.

OR do you mean i circulate the nutes through an exchanger thats sitting in a rez of water that the big chiller is keeping cold?

I notice penquin sells PG chillers as well, would these be more efficient for this method of chilling several rez?

excuse the many questions, I just wanna be sure I get this right in one go, and thanks a ton for this tip, i would have never considered this.
BUY THAT CHILLER ON AMAZON RIGHT NOW BEFORE YOU LOSE THE OPPORTUNITY DUDE
 

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
I don't think pumping bites through a chiller is that big of a deal for 20-40 gallons.

I do wonder how much water that work would hold though if a res wasn't used.
 
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Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
I mean if you wanna spend $599 & another $99 on shipping for a penguin be my guest,but I can tell you that the active aqua has ran for 2 years everyday straight with zero issues.

$318 shipped for 1/2HP.

That's insane.
 

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
man, this is genius! you guys rock man. I hit up penguin to see if the glycol chiller would work for this. Glycol can be cooled much lower without freezing, apparently its more efficient. The system has 4 inlets and outlets built in so I could set a glycol pump for each rez hooked to a temp timer so each rez is cooled independently to the optimal temp.
That's a cool feature for sure though.
 

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
It takes 26' of 1" pipe/hose to hold 1 gallon of water. I would at least use like a 5-10 gal res.
I see. I think I'll just keep pumping my systems water through the chiller though. My pump inside my res is inside a micron mesh filter bag, so the water going into it stays clean as can be.
 

fragileassassin

Well-Known Member
Cooling with coils is more about surface area than volume of the water inside.
On my laser, on long cuts it would run the coolant system up to 90+ F quickly because I only have ~2 quarts of coolant in the whole system. I ditched the small res and used the same amount of coolant in a coiled up 3/8" tube soaking in a chilled cooler full of water and I could easily keep it below 70 where i needed it.
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
Cooling with coils is more about surface area than volume of the water inside.
On my laser, on long cuts it would run the coolant system up to 90+ F quickly because I only have ~2 quarts of coolant in the whole system. I ditched the small res and used the same amount of coolant in a coiled up 3/8" tube soaking in a chilled cooler full of water and I could easily keep it below 70 where i needed it.
that's why it's sold as a wort chiller. cools boiling wort down to a temp where you can add yeast very quickly. and the stainlees doesnt affect the beer at all.
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
And won't leech into nutrient solutions either?
not stainless. that's why i'm surprised tty uses copper. that and nute solution (from what i've read) is a no -no.

does your chiller have stainless or titanium innards? titanium is impervious to jsut about anything but makes the chiller more expensive.
 

Airwalker16

Well-Known Member
not stainless. that's why i'm surprised tty uses copper. that and nute solution (from what i've read) is a no -no.

does your chiller have stainless or titanium innards? titanium is impervious to jsut about anything but makes the chiller more expensive.
It's titanium innerds. Its an original EcoPlus model with the wavy front panel they made before 2016. Then they had them made in China with a plain body that resembles a PC tower. Not sure if they went to stainless then too, but the older ones are way better quality.
 
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ttystikk

Well-Known Member
@ttystikk So, I would buy a large 1/2 hp chiller or something? (large enough for 5-6 55 gallon rez?) I've seen penguin chillers made in the usa for a decent price. I would then get heat exchangers (could you suggest one for the metal 55 gallon barrels I use for a rez?) Id run them into each of my rez, and circulate the cooled water from the chiller into those exchangers cooling my rez. Correct? So it would almost be like the dehuey DIY setups? I assume I need steel or something then as copper is bad.

OR do you mean i circulate the nutes through an exchanger thats sitting in a rez of water that the big chiller is keeping cold?

I notice penquin sells PG chillers as well, would these be more efficient for this method of chilling several rez?

excuse the many questions, I just wanna be sure I get this right in one go, and thanks a ton for this tip, i would have never considered this.
A bigger chiller can cycle off when things are cool enough. That saves energy.

Put the big unit someplace where you can use the heat or send it outside
 
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