Chilled Water Setup!

[scuzzycard]

So I was browsing on Amazon, when I came across this contraption:

https://www.amazon.com/EcoPlus-Chiller-1-10-HP/dp/B000W4S45C/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1472229190&sr=8-14&keywords=Aquarium+Chiller

This got me thinking.. imagine incorporating this into a custom loop. I would want to run the water through this after first being air-cooled by the radiator.

It comes in 1/10, 1/4, and 1/2 horsepower strengths. I'm not looking for extremely low temperatures - I don't want to deal with condensation, but if I could get water temps in the 10-15C range, that would be what I'm shooting for. I know that 1 horsepower is around 700 watts, but I'm not sure what power level I would need.

Anybody think it would work??? Overkill? Impractical?

 

[timeconsumer]

Those are commonly used for aquarium setups (a hobby I was once heavily involved in), so I'll give you my knowledge on the subject.

1) EcoPlus is meh. There are better brands. I'd rather use an Active Aqua or JBJ.
2) A 1/10 HP chiller is used usually on tanks around 40g to drop them maybe 10-15c. These tanks usually try and run around 25c. I have no idea how the chiller would handle warmer water than that, like the water coming off a GPU. On a really small volume like in a watercooling setup it can probably drop temps 30-40c or maybe more. I still probably wouldn't use more than a 1/10hp.
3) Chillers mostly are on/off. They use a ton of electricity so running one full time would be loud and costly, and I don't know how it would effect the longevity.
4) They take a couple of minutes to warm up (cool down?) You would still need good rads for boot up time.
5) They need a beefy pump. I have no idea how well a watercooling setup would handle something like a Mag 6 with 600GPH flow and all that head pressure. You might be able to get away with less pump. Luckily you can just put a gate valve above the pump output to restrict the flow if you buy too much. Or you can get one of the fancy new DC pumps.

 

[scuzzycard]

Thanks for the quick reply - I'm going to save your post for future reference.

 

[Melonious]

Put a reservoir into a tank of water (like a polycarbonate 5 gallon water bottle) and use the chiller in there. Otherwise you are probably whizzing the water through too fast to matter. If the temp is too hot or cold then adjust the tank size.

 

[timeconsumer]

I like that idea. But you could honestly just put a radiator in the tank of cold water, it would be much more effective. Instead of fans use a couple of underwater powerheads (preferably some with a tight flow pattern) like MJ 1200's.

The minimum flow rate on a 1/10hp JBJ Arctica is 240gph and the max is 900gph. Looking at a higher end watercooling pump like the EK-D5 it has a flow rate of 400 GPH and a head height of 4m. That's actually a pretty crazy head height compared to most aquarium pumps that size, but it makes sense given all the restrictions along the way. The actual flow rate is probably much lower. So the possibility of plumbing in something like a Mag 7 (which would deliver the flow for the chiller with enough head to handle the loop) still makes me cautious.

 

[Melonious]

Yeah, since you have experience with aquaria you know that the pumps are much more effective and cheap. The radiator idea is good, even just sitting in chilled water should be a huge benefit. Just so long as that won't cause corrosion I guess. But I suppose it shouldn't so long as there is no weird outside coating.

 

[timeconsumer]

Also your idea of using the external water tank gives the OP another benefit, you can sell the chiller used afterwards. If you plumbed the chiller directly into the loop the water would be contacting the copper inside the waterblocks and small amounts of copper would contaminate the internals of the chiller. Copper is extremely deadly to marine invertebrates and levels as low as 50 parts per billion can kill a reef tank filled with thousands of dollars in live coral.