Stagnant water in a chiller or cooler... a problem?

Keesje

Keesje

Well-Known Member
For those with a chiller ... I understand that a chiller sucks up the water from your reservoir, cools it and then the cooled water comes back into your res.
But if nothing needs to be cooled for some days, there will be stagnant water in the tube and in the chiller.
Does this never cause problems?
How do you keep it clean during your grow?
What precautions do you take to prevent the stagnant water for going bad? Does it run anyway for a few minutes every day for example.
 
5BY5LEC

5BY5LEC

Well-Known Member
No Problem.
Most chillers will have a min and max flow rating also. A ecoplus 1/4 is like 250gph-600gph IIRC.
 
Gquebed

Gquebed

Well-Known Member
But... this brings up a good question. If you detach your chiller how do you get the remaining water in it out if the spigots are at the top?
Just turn it upside down and drain it? Or is there a better way?

I mean... the chiller isnt like a fridge with freon or whatever in it?
 
TintEastwood

TintEastwood

Well-Known Member
I place my chiller pump in a 5gal bucket filled with warm water and a some h202.

Let it run for 30 minutes, replace water and repeat one last time.

Then drop the pump back in my nutrient res where it lives and runs 24/7 to circulate.

Also clean the chilla filtas. Vacuum the coil.
 
5BY5LEC

5BY5LEC

Well-Known Member
I just pick it up and tip it over a little bit. Most of the water drains out.
You could also hook a compressor up and blow air through one of the lines, just make sure you use a regulator so your not pumping 100psi through there.
After tipping I won't start it for several hours. Just to be safe, like a fridge.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
5BY5LEC said:
Most chillers do not have a water pump.
The water pump which you are feeding the chiller with should be running 24/7. The water should always be flowing through the chiller, it just does not get cooled all the time.
Click to expand...
This is the correct answer. Keep the pump running. Now if the system is not in use for a while I always clean a system between runs. So a good clean of the reservoir and flushing the cooler / pump / line with your cleaning solution of choice. I like to run my whole system with cleaning solution and scrub all the sites and such, then drain and rinse. Some use bleach, some pool shock, I like physan 20 for cleaning, if the foaming bothers you then one can add an defoamer. Whatever you use just be sure the system is rinsed thoroughly before use.
 
5BY5LEC

5BY5LEC

Well-Known Member
Renfro said:
This is the correct answer. Keep the pump running. Now if the system is not in use for a while I always clean a system between runs. So a good clean of the reservoir and flushing the cooler / pump / line with your cleaning solution of choice. I like to run my whole system with cleaning solution and scrub all the sites and such, then drain and rinse. Some use bleach, some pool shock, I like physan 20 for cleaning, if the foaming bothers you then one can add an defoamer. Whatever you use just be sure the system is rinsed thoroughly before use.
Click to expand...
Yeah. I found that when I flushed it with physan, it took a TON of water to flush that smell out. After about 10 gallons I just made an adapter to hook it up to my hose bib and let it run on low for about 10 min.
 
Keesje

Keesje

Well-Known Member
I found this very interesting video on YouTube about a guy who builded a DIY chiller.


It is in Turkisch, but I think it is clear to anyone.

He builded it, like I thought a chiller actually worked (I was wrong)
But what he does is this: He puts a glass spiral in his aquarium. The spiral is connected to 2 tubes: 1 in, 1 out.
The in-tube is connected to a small pump that he placed inside the reservoir of a watercooler.
The out-tube also goes to this reservoir. Just a loose end.
When the temperature in his aquarium gets above a certain point, a thermostate turns the pump on.
It pushes cold water in the tube, through the spiral and then it returns back in the reservoir.
The coolingwater absorbs some of the heat from the aquarium (the cooling-water in the spiral gets heated up)
This heated up water returns to the watercooler and gets cooled off again in the reservoir of the watercooler.

I really like this system.
Easy to build yourself. Easy to maintain. The cooling water does not get in touch with your reservoir. So you can clean the inside of the tubes easily.
The spiral you can take out and leave in some cleaning fluid for a while, then rinse under the tap or your shower.
Cheap to build yourself.
For sure there is a limit to what you can cool, but for a small grower it will work for sure.
 
Last edited:
dstroy

dstroy

Well-Known Member
Keesje said:
I found this very interesting video on YouTube about a guy who builded a DIY chiller.


It is in Turkisch, but I think it is clear to anyone.

He builded it, like I thought a chiller actually worked (I was wrong)
But what he does is this: He puts a glass spiral in his aquarium. The spiral is connected to 2 tubes: 1 in, 1 out.
The in-tube is connected to a small pump that he placed inside the reservoir of a watercooler.
The out-tube also goes to this reservoir. Just a loose end.
When the temperature in his aquarium gets above a certain point, a thermostate turns the pump on.
It pushes cold water in the tube, through the spiral and then it returns back in the reservoir.
The coolingwater absorbs some of the heat from the aquarium (the cooling-water in the spiral gets heated up)
This heated up water returns to the watercooler and gets cooled off again in the reservoir of the watercooler.

I really like this system.
Easy to build yourself. Easy to maintain. The cooling water does not get in touch with your reservoir. So you can clean the inside of the tubes easily.
The spiral you can take out and leave in some cleaning fluid for a while, then rinse under the tap or your shower.
Cheap to build yourself.
For sure there is a limit to what you can cool, but for a small grower it will work for sure.
Click to expand...
Yes this is much easier to clean.

When I want to clean the inside of my chiller, I put some bleach in the coolant and let it circulate for an hour, then pump it out and put new coolant in.

cleaning the outside is as simple as a scrub brush on the immersion coil. I have two immersion coils, one for my cloner and one for my reservoir.

By restricting the flow of chilled water through the coils I keep the cloner at 74f, and my reservoir 68f.

I don't know why people pump water or nutrients through the chiller, they're expensive.

Even if you don't think you have the space for an immersion coil, you do because you can offload it into a separate container with its own pump.
 
Keesje

Keesje

Well-Known Member
Stainless steel or copper?
And I guess you use 1 chiller for 1 reservoir?
Do you have your pump on a thermostat or something?
 
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