Pump for basement chiller?

[richp]

I am thinking of putting a chiller in the basement. the tank will be directly above with a 40 gallon sump. The pump will go in the sump and push water to the chiller and back up to the sump.

I am wondering how to calculate the head loss in that arrangement? Does the water travelling down sort of balance out the water going up? ie need a lower head pump than you may expect?

Thanks for any tips
Richard

[RokleM]

Not sure I follow. The water draining down to the sump has very little to do with the return pump per say. In short, whatever the height is between your sump pump and the nozzle into your tank upstairs, the pump needs to at LEAST be capable of handling that head height.

We could probably make some recommendations, but a few things first. Do you plan to drill the sump and use external pumps (recommended)? How much vertical/horizontal head from your sump to your tank? What size display and what size bulkheads for the return/drain are installed? What is the chiller GPH recommendation? Do you plan to run anything off of your return pump in a manifold type of setup (i.e. media reactors, calcium reactor, UV, etc)? Why is the sky blue?

[Zebodog]

I think what is being stated is that the DT and sump are upstairs while the chiller is intended to be downstairs in the basement, yes? Your intent is to put a pump in the sump that will feed the chiller and push water back up to the DT?

[richp]

Originally Posted by Zebodog

I think what is being stated is that the DT and sump are upstairs while the chiller is intended to be downstairs in the basement, yes? Your intent is to put a pump in the sump that will feed the chiller and push water back up to the DT?

Exactly.. I dont have a chiller yet but I am wondering how to calculate the head loss in this situation. Will the water flowing down balance out the water pushing up?

Richard

[sjm817]

Ever think about a basement sump? It could eliminate the need for a chiller and provide lots of other benefits.

[RokleM]

sjm817 has a good point. A basement sump may take care of the issue or at worst a small fan addition. That is potentially a good cost and electrical savings.

Good call Zebodog, I read it another way. On that point, logically I think the pressure/siphon may indeed knock some of the head requirement off, however I could only guess what that number might be.

[sjm817]

This week when it was 100° out, my basement was ~ 70°, main level, 75°, upper level, 78°. My display is on the main level., sump and fuge in the basement. My heaters still need to kick in to keep the tank @ 77° which I'm not all that happy about. Dont need a chiller, but I still need heat.