ahhh easy fix, just put a small fan under the table with it to ensure you have a flow of air over the coils. we have the same problem with one of our fridges on board here when we get to hot areas like Hawaii.

hmmm only 600gph, that sucks I was hoping to beable just to throw it inline with my return pump.

Steve

Hello,

You can tee off from your return line with a ball valve to feed these units to return to the sump in a circulation mode.

Titus

I'd just buy a MAG 5 or 7 to run it. Steve, you have one of those already, don't you?

ya I was just hoping to not have to add another pump or more holes in the wall. :mrgreen: besides I think that will be for my new Ca reactor I am going to make.

does yours have the Dual controller on it?

Steve

Yes

Want a good laugh?

My chiller fuse blew too. Remember how I said I got a spare fuse with my chiller? WEll, after reading this thread, I went and put it somewhere safe, so I wouldn't lose it....

hahahaha, I cant find it! gah!

Went a couple canadian tires yesterday, neither has it in stock. I feel so dumb...

:redface:

:biggrin:

have you looked in the fridge for yer spare fuse? When i lose things i always look in the fridge first. It seems to get easier from there on. Besides there is always a beer in the fridge so who cares what you lost!

Sadly, I am outta beer.

I am not quite sure WHY the fuse blew. I have a fan blowing cooler air across the chiller to help get rid of the hot exhaust air from the compressor. The chiller unit actually is fairly cool - at least, its running at ambient room temp (78 on the hottest day, thanks to AC).

So, I am a little upset at the chiller, but more upset with myself. I must be getting alzheimers or something. I mean, I just put that spare fuse away like a week or two ago! How can I forget that?

Duhhh.

oh well, tank is holding steady at 82 with a couple fans on it. It'll last till I find a replacement fuse (or a box of them!).

ok so 4 new holes laiter (two in the wall and two in the floor) I now have the chiller set up in my crawlspace.

worked like a hot damn for the first week then I blew a fuse. I had a fan blowing on it so I just put a new fuse in and put the fan on hi so we will see how that works.

all togeather it took me a little over 1/2 a hour (including the time to drill) to have it up and running on a mag 5. so I beat Reef_raf time of 7 days :mrgreen: real easy set up and friendly controls. the only discouragaing thing so far is this fuse issue. I am not sure yet but I am thinking the pretty ABS enclosure might be 1/2 the problem with the over heating but I will see if the new fan setting works.

Steve

Well, I'm down to my last of 10 fuses. I've sent a note to the manufacturer to ask what's up, but this is getting silly. I'm going out of town for a few days and I'd like to know my chiller is working while I'm gone.
It's sitting on a table beside a wide open window with a fan blowing on it. I can't get it any cooler than that. We'll see what pacific Coast says, but reliability is becoming an issue. :rolleyes:

Kind of strange with all the fuses blowing. Mine is sitting in a partially enclosed area under my tank without any fans other then the one built in. Haven't had any fuses blow yet. There's got to be some kind of a flaw in the later models.

RC only has one thread (that I could find) on a fuse blowing in one of these. I'm not an electronics wiz, so anyone know why a 10A fuse would blow due to heat outside the unit? I'd love to put this thing on the floor, but there's no way with this problem.

Kari, what type of fuse are you running in yours? The same 10A?

as the temp gets hotter it becomes harder for the unit to remove the heat. so in simple terms the freon pressure on the discharge increases because there isn't enuf cooling medium. the causes the motor to work harder and *BAM* new fuse please.

the problem I have is why is something that is designed to cool water in a hot enviorment tripping so easaly? do you have to live in the artic for them to work right?

anyways as soon as they reply to your e-mail Brad let me know because if this is going to be a reocurring thing I might have to look into returning it and moving up to a different brand.

Steve

Steve, I agree. As someone pointed out to me, we need a chiller in the first place due to elavated ambient temperature around the tank to begin with. A unit designed for this purpose should operate in that environment. If it doesn't, it's pretty much useless.

So I spoke to Steve and Tim from Pacific Coast Imports and they had the following to say..

The fuses I'm blowing aren't factory fuses, so that may be the issue. They are sending me some of "their" fuses.
They also felt it could be a load problem, but the chiller is on it's own cicuit (15A) that previously powered 2 400W ballasts plus pumps. I can't see that being the issue.
Over heating; It seems that this unit blows when it gets too warm. However, it sits on top of an end table directly beside an open window with a 19" fan blowing across the room to circulate the air around the chiller. To increase the air circ around it, I'd have to hang it outside the window!!
Improper house grounding is another cause, they say. If my house isn't grounded properly, this could cause the problem.

I've run this thing for up to 7 days without a fuse blowing, and it seems the primary cause is heat (if the kids close the blinds or something, it blows). At this point I'm not sure where to go with this, as I'm certain that the fuses won't be the issue. The fuses I bought come from a reputable electronics supplier and I'm sure they are as good as any other fuse I can get from PCI. I'm not a fuse expert though... :rolleyes:

Overall, I'm not as happy as I was at the beginning of this thread, although PCI did state they have sold over 4000 of thse exact units without issue. I can't find any online reference to match my own experiences, so either A) my unit is defective, or B) My house wiring is defective.

Any electricians have any thoughts or diagnostic ideas to try?

I dont think the problem is related to just you Brad.

Steve and I are both having the same problem it seems?

My unit didn't blow a fuse until the temp in the room rose past 80 because I have my AC on all the time. So the one time the chiller really needed to be there, it blew a fuse.

Not happy with it either.

Here is a pic of what I consider "adequate" ventilation around the unit! :razz: The fan is normally set to medium to provide enough air flow...

http://www.islandreef.ca/post/chill.jpg

Brad after seeing that picture I don't think your fan is doing anything to help you realy. maybe if you move the fan inbetween the tv stand and the chiller so it directly blows into the front of the chiller it might be a bit better. I just got home and mine hasn't blowen yet so I guess turning my fan on hi seams to have helped as today was hotter than the day it blew.

as for the problem I have only blowen 1 fuse but I am a bit irked that I cannot find replacments here in town so I am waiting to hear if we can upgrade the fuse holder to a standard size with out voiding the warenty.

my other question I have is as we discussed are the fuses undersized for this application. If Darren was here maybe he could help set this straight in my head but I have always been taugth to size a fuse 2X the MAX current of the unit. if this is a true guestimate then as "Pacific Coast Imports" stated it has a start up amprage of over 7 amps, should we not be using 15 amp fuses? maybe ask "Pacific Coast Imports" about this and see if any harm would come of using a 12 amp fuse in conjunction with upgrading the fuse holder to a standard size.

Steve

Steve, the fan moves a lot of air around the corner of the room, which to me is more than enough. I didn't buy this with any instructions about installing a 19" fan 12 inches from the front of the chiller. I shouldn't have to use ANY fan to cool it, as far as I'm concerned.
John (J&L) mentioned they had this once with someone who had too ittle water flow thru the unit, but that doesn't seem to be my problem. I'll meausre the flow tonight.

Brad,
I'm using the original fuse, probably 10A. I'll take a look later and let you know if its anything other. For water circulation I'm running a Mag12. I wonder if the fan is smaller in the newer units since you noted earlier that yours was fairly quiet. I'll see if I can read the numbers on the fan as well.

I'm only running a MAG 7, so I wonder if that's the reason??

to little water flow or to much?.. hmm that could be, kinda makes sence in a round about way.. I'll see what I can dig up in my refrigeration book on that..

what are you using for a pump? after checking my application I am thinking I am only putting 300gph through mine max

Steve

John said a min of 400 was needed.

hmm so mine shouldent be working then :confused:

Steve

OK, what pump is everyone running on their PCI chillers? It looks like mine isn't pumping the minimum required. Only about 135gph right now. I'm going to see what I can do about that.

mag 7

pumpin at only 2' of head

How much plumbing have you got in the loop? I have about 20 ft. which includes some barb fittings. I'm going to replumb with all 3/4" when I get back from camping.

Hmmm.

3/4" ID tubing, going from the mag 7 in the sump to the chiller (about 2' run) then from the chiller to the UV unit (16-18" run) and then from the UV to the sump (2.5' run).

I really didnt think my last post thru very well :)

I should measure the output of that.

The reason I went with the Mag12 was due to my chiller output plumbing. I ran it up to the main tank with a SCWD thinging inline with two 3/4" outlets. To figure out the total head would be a good math puzzle and I don't have a flow meter. I used my best guess and aimed for the average required flow rate. The SCWD is switching every 7sec approx. if thats an indication of flow rate. I figure the flow is much greater then 135gph with my eyeball meter.

A change in water flow rate through the chiller would cause the chiller to change its on/off cycles right? Lower the flow, shorter the cyle. Brad, how long is your chiller running on for typically?

Not sure, but PCI says it should run 10-15 min, then be off for the same. I think mine is running for 5-10 minutes per cycle, at most. I blew a fuse while away and cooked a couple of colonies. Not sure if they bleached or sloughed yet, but one was my large bubblegum acro. I'll have to pull it and smell for tissue :rolleyes:

Jeez man. That seriously blows - I get really****ed when I lose a frag...

Especially when I lose it to something dumb like a chiller I paid $799 for blowing a fuse.

Well, the info for the unit does specify a minimum flow rate, and I haven't met that. If increasing the flow fixes the problem, I only have myself to blame, not the unit. I also notice that I get a lot of air building up in the lines, so that prolly doesn't help either.

Well, changing the lines to 3/4" has doubled the flow, but that still doesn't meet the minimum requirements. I guess this thing needs a MAG 9.5 minimum, but prolly a 12 for best performance.

Running a T3. Never blew one fuse. Even ran it for a while with the back panel 3" away from the wall.

Reefer_11, any idea what you end flow rate is?

in the neighborhood of 500GPH. max 600. if I am lucky and the stars are aligned right.

I have always meant to time the on-off cycle.. but I start to.. get bored waiting and forget about it.. ;)

we worked yours out to 10 feet, can be 20 feet the shutoff for a mag 7 is at 15 feet

what are you doing with the mag 9?

Steve

Mine is different now with the 3/4" plumbing. I don't have a MAG 9, I need a MAG 9 or better to get over 300gph thru the chiller.