well what was your problem and how was it fixed?

Steve

wow I already got a e-mail asking more info about the set up and saying it has been sent to Tim and he is the one I should e-mail with the further info. fast at replying to e-mails anyways.

Steve

do you have a link to that, seems unless you pay for premium service you can't do a search on RC now :rolleyes:

Steve

you have that number handy? it is dark under the house and a pain to go down there :mrgreen:

Steve

503-982-6700

One question though, how many GPH are you pumping at your outlet and do you know that you must also factor in less -100GPH for the chiller itself.
Also it is better to have the outlet dumping into the main tank rather than back into the sump.

Hey Tango why?
with good flow through the sump/OF shouldn't it all be the same temp..ie good constant mix.If there is a bit of a temp differential I would want it in the sump not with my fish and corals, No?
Since ,on hot days (prolly most days) reef tanks are mostly heated by their lights, making the tank out flow hotter than the in flow....so shouldn't one cool this hotter water as it gets to the sump?
Thanks :smile:

yup I know it is better to have it going to the main tank its self and if I have anymore problems I am going to try that one also.

Steve

OK :mrgreen:

So where does one get these fuses? The one and only one I had went last night :rolleyes: Typical as I'm in Van today and can't do anything about it.

Christy :)

Just give Pacific Coast a call , they will send you fuses for free.
But the reason you are blowing fuses is most probably ,you don't have your flow right ( GPH) . On my 120G ( the one I have for sale) I had problems until I "dialled in" the GPH, but once I did that , I have had no fuses blown for two years.
If you have a CL-650, the manual recomends 650GPH , and that is measured at the end of the pipe/ outlet where the water pours back into the main tank. I used the head loss calulator on RC. Also the GPH you are shooting for on the calulator must be 100GPH more than your target GPH , because that is about how many GPH the chiller will restrict the flow.
Also after a call to Pacific Coast about useing a CL-650 on my 250G new set up ( the CL-650 is only rated for up to a 180G , the reason for the call ) they told me , that after rescent testing they have found that their posted GPH's are a little low and a CL-650 will work best at about 800 GPH .
HOPE THIS INFO HELPS

Ok so I have finaly gone on a trip with no losses in my tank, chiller worked like a charm through the last two weeks of heat wave we had. My discussion with Pacificcoast didn't help in the problem as all they could tell me was put it on its own circut, don't use an extension cord, and other fuses are inferior to ours.

well there fuses were blowing as much as others, I am on an extension cord (be carful you have one the right size for the current you could be using) and I already had it on its own plug. none of the changes they recomended worked so in the end I found that during the summer I have to put my temp spread to 4 degrees instead of two. I have not blowen a fuse sence I changed the pull down to 4 degrees and that was through several 25 degree pluss days (about 2 weeks in a row)

the guys there are helpfull but they are just distrubitors and not the company that builds them so they can only help so much.

Christy while you are in vancouver go to some electronic stores and look there as they are hard as hell to find on the island. they are the smaller version of a 10A glass fuse.

Steve

I found the fuses here in Nanaimo :biggrin:

As well, I also only had problems when I attempted the 2 degree spread setting. I set it back to 4 degrees and haven't had a problem since. Frustrating since I want the chiller to hold at 79 degrees but don't want it to go down to 75 at night before the heater comes on :rolleyes:

Chiller
 

You know.... for all it's worth.... I have my Coralife 1/6 keeping 210 gallons of water at a steady 79.5 during the day and 77.5 at night... (assisted somewhat by room AC)... I was really worried when I stuck 900 watts of light over the 135 that heat was going to be an issue... but I put a couple real good fans in the hood... and summer's almost over and I STILL have yet to see 80... No blown fuses... no hassles... happy inhabitants...

My unit keeps the temp stable at 4 degrees as well as it did at 2 degrees. I have still blown the occasional fuse, but I switched out the fuse holder to a standard unit and can buy fuses at the gas station if I have to.

See?? I post in this stupid thread, and wham! Blow another fuse. This time I hit 93 F and lost 2 or three corals!! Yes, the nicest 2 or 3!!
@$@%$^#$%^% Chiller!!!

dude sell that pos and get a better chiller!

no sh*t!!! Also lost my last piece of my purple cap.

fan & chiller
 

are you guys cooling your tank only with a chiller or do you have a fan as well? I put my chiller on its own thermostat and my fan on another. Fan on <80 degress, chiller on <82 degress. Chiller has turned on only once this summer for me and yes I did have to replace a lot of water from my sump but it sure beats replacing fuses and all that fuss.

um.. when was this it hasn't been that hot has it?

Re: fan & chiller
 

I am only using the chiller now and I am having no problems but I have a fan forcing extra air through the chiller which Brad doesen't. I wanted to turn off the fans so I wasn't evaporating 5 gal a day.

Steve

I'm (was) considering one of these units. Is the basic problem with blown fuses, not enough flow?. With adequate flow are they reliable?

Also, using the sizing chart it recommends a 1/2hp for my water volume (450g). But that is with a 10 degree pull down. I could get by with a 5 degree pull down. Would the 1/4hp work, or would it be cycling on/off too fast?

Since increasing the flow, I haven't blown another fuse (close to a year). Realistically, go for the bigger unit, I think the 1/4hp would be good for a max 180g. Anything bigger, spend the liitle extra for the extra power.

Thanks for the quick reply. I tend to agree that bigger is probably better, but the cost is almost twice as much and the dual controller is not available. Which I think would be quite handy. Also the 10 degree pull down is twice as much as I would need. But on the other hand if the 1/4hp can't provide a 5 degree drop then bigger is my only choice. Any other recommendations for larger chillers?

I have a 1/10hp PC chiller that I got from J&L two months ago. I forget the model number, but apparently it's the latest generation. It's a single stage unit. The unit arrived, and I run it with a Mag 350 (or is it 450?) on a 55 gal - no sump. My tank was running in the high eighties now it stays at 80 (It turns on at 81, and drops it to 79). The thermometer in the unit seems pretty accurate once I set it up (it was reading two degress higher than my glass theomometer). Well, the Unit ran strong for about two weeks, and then one day the LCD started saying 122 degrees, the chiller constantly ran, but my tank was not losing any heat...

I called J&L and spoke to Jeff, he said that he'd get PC to gimme a call to trouble shoot the unit. They did (like half an hour later - speedy) and the tech on phone deemed the probe the problem. The shipped me a new probe. It arrived 3 days later...

I installed it (pretty simple) but the problem remained. I called Jeff back. J&L couldn't exhange the unit for me (even though less than 30 days old!) and I had to ship it to PC in the US. Well, $150.00 shipping charge and 5 days later, I get a call from PC, saying that the main board on the unit it messed up, they replaced it, and the unit was running fine now. I had the unit back 3 days later and it's been great since.

J&L appologized for all of this, and flipped the shipping bill. Jeff was a HUGH help, so thanks, I really appreciate it (if you read this board :))

Through all this though, I did lose 5 polyps on a 7 polyp frog spawn that I got 2 weeks earlier from AI (so it was like $90!) from heat. Poor little guy... He's comming back though.

I've never had a fuse blow on the unit. PC did say that non-functioning probes were pretty common on these units though. Over-all, for the money, I think it was a steal.

has anyone used an external temp controller on these chillers like a madusa or Ranco. To get better control I was thinking of putting the chiller and pump on the same controller so the pump isn't running all the time.

As a refrigeration mechanic, I think I may know what's going on with this fuse blowing. If you don't mind, I'll ask some questions.

1) What is your differential set at (2 or 4 deg)?

2) Are you blowing a fan directly onto the chiller?

3) How much flow do you have through your chiller (really)?

I think that what may be happening is the compressor is trying to start before the high and low side pressures have had time to equalize when the chiller shuts off. The little compressors they use on these chillers (the same as in window air conditioners) are not meant to start under load. If they are required to start under load, they just sit and hum until they either trip on their motor protector (if they have one) or blow the fuse.

You can check for this yourselves. When the chiller shuts off, listen to it closely. Put your ear right up to it. You should hear some hissing for a little while. Keep listening until it tries to start again. You'll hear a little click as the relay engages to start the compressor. After that, if the compressor doesn't start right away, you should hear it hum, then it will stop after a little while when the protector or the fuse cuts it out.

There is something avaliable to help this. They are called "hard start kits". I use them on compressors of this type that have a problem starting because of high starting load.

I mentioned the temperature differential because a larger differential will allow more off time for the comressor and more time for the pressures in the system to equalize.

If you blow a fan directly onto your chiller coil, it will also help to equalize pressures faster; As will having higher flow through the chiller.

I hope that this helps. I see that there have been no new posts since the 15th, so I assume no one has had problems or they are just sick of the units.

Let me know if this info helps you. Without actually seeing the units and hooking up some guages to them, it is hard to tell. I wouldn't mind knowing if this is the problem.

Hi Karl, sounds like this may be the problem. mine was blowing when I had it on the 2 degree setting. what I did was hook up a 1200 gph to it and I figure it is getting about 700. this helped during cooler weather but I ended up having to take the front filter off and hooking a big fan about 3 feet away to increase the air flow through the unit.

what is this hard start kit and can anyone put it in or do you have to break the freon system to do it?

Steve

I need to know what kind of compressor motor is in the chiller. If there is a wiring diagram I could tell you if it would work for you....

I'll take some pics of Brads when we move his stuff.

Steve

I'll have to wait for that time, then. I couldn't find any schematics online.

:question: