Ever put your chiller outside?

[miracles38]

I am thinking about relocating my chiller to the outside on the east side of house. I would be running the hoses through the outside wall. I would build a shelter for the chiller, allowing for ventilation. Has anyone ever done this? In the summer it mostly stays over 95F outside and I found that the chiller was really heating up the living room and my other tank that does not have a heater. If you have done this or have any info. I would really appreciate it before I put a hole in the wall! Thanks.

[Lucky Dragon]

I put mine in the crawl space under my house. I would recommend this over putting it outside in the elements if possible. If you must go outside, you should go to a good hardware store and have them recommend how to go about it.

my 2 cents

[nccmike]

I just installed a chiller and probably going to have to also move outside. The exhaust is rather warm.

I saw a rubbermail outdoor tool storage thing that With some alterations should work for me. Only thing is needs is a hole cut for fresh air in and out. Probably going to use some kind of screen to cover the hole.

[DirtySouth056]

I am going to use a dog house to cover my chiller when it is installed outside of my home.

[fittdog8848]

Can you guys say what chillers you are running (size, model, etc...)

[PelagicMagic]

The chiller will work better outside. Also the heat/noise is not inside your house. You will need to come up with a darn good Idea on how to protect it from the elements, Some structure with a pitched roof and minimum amount of walls to promote good air movement. You don't want it in a doghouse or a box type structure w/o proper ventilation or your chiller will overheat in the summer months. I have seen chillers that are built for outdoor installation but they are expensive.

[KLoomis]

I installed my 1/2 hp aqua logic chiller out my bedroom window (rented the house) and it worked great. I built a lean-to type structure over it leaving the two ends open but the roof over hung the ends of the chiller by about 2 feet on either end, also slanted about 15 degrees on the ends. Used plastic sheeting (like tin roofing stuff but plastic) to protect the wood from the rain. Also the location of the chiller had a constant breeze blowing around it (great airflow). Instead of pouring a concrete slap for it, I just used concrete paver blocks (12in square). I can’t speak for all brands of chillers but the aqua logic delta star is designed very well and a little rain/water getting on it isn’t going to hurt it. They are just air conditioning units designed to cool liquids instead of air and the business ends of those are outside. If you are worried, contact the manufacturer and get their opinion (if they will give it to you).

[Mac73]

Both my tank 46gal and Chiller are located outside under my cover lanai....It has been running for about a month and is doing fine..I'll have to see how it does this summer..South Florida summers are hot and humid.

Mac73

[myakkareef]

Yep, here is my setup, I live in Florida and it has been fine for over a year now..Actually all my equipment is outside..

[PelagicMagic]

that is to cool

[myakkareef]

Well actually I wish it stayed "too cool"...Heat was the big problem, till I bolted that attic fan to the side. Fan is nice because it came with a thermostat. So when the chiller kicks on and starts pumping heat then the fan will kick on and suck it all out....

[miracles38]

myakkaref, that is great. I already have one of those storage bins, so maybe I will give that a try. Thanks everyone for your input. Looks like it is doable!

[robwsup]

Very cool setup, myakkareef.

[KLoomis]

myakkareef

Any chance rain could get into that storage thing. Looks like you have all the electical outlets at the very top so if water did get in it shouldn't be a problem. Great idea nonetheless

[myakkareef]

Rain has never entered, it has a good lip on it. I must say though working out there in bare feet, with the salt mist in the air, the pumps running and all the electric can be pretty exciting. GFI is a must...Shoes help alot from getting that tingly feeling. Last years close call of the huricane left about ankle deep water in front of the box and that was exciting esp. with the humidity at 100%...
Someday I hope to have a bigger shed that I can actually stand in and have it wired on its own breaker "s"...But I tell you this has worked very well, and I do not see ever going back to all the equipment in the house...The next time I have to rebuild it though I will put another extra hole thru the wall of the house. If the need ever arises to move the tank this will be the first thing I do. There would be a few more things out there if I could fit any more pipes thru the wall. The silent tank in the house is a blessing to the ears...

[ufchristyb]

Ours lives on the screened in patio. Temperatures here in South Florida are 70-95 pretty much year round. Haven't had any issues with it being outside yet, although its not really exposed to the elements out there. There's just no way to keep it in the house - it would generate way too much heat.

--Christy

[KLoomis]

I can imagine how that tingling sensation is not very comforting. The only experience I have with that is trying to unplug a submersible pump with one hand that is wet while the other is trying to keep the pump from shooting water everywhere. How often do you have to get into the shed? How do you replace evaporated water? Which brings another good question, does the tank evaporate more with the sump outside than it did when it was inside?

[Tu Ku]

chillers are a waste

[vessxpress1]

I know a guy that put his chiller by a low window in the living room and put a window ac right above it that blows over it in the summer. Works great for him. Probably not an option for everybody though.

[KLoomis]

Tu ku - waste of what?

[PelagicMagic]

when you got 2 grand in hard coral and many, many hours of labor into a tank and your temp is pushing 80 degrees i don’t see it as a waste. You got to protect your investment/animals. Please don't just jump in our discussion with statements that you cant back up

[Tu Ku]

Waste of money. If you need your tank cooler just turn your heater off. I don't know, maybe in warmer places it's more necessary, but I live in Colorado. If I need my system to cool down I just turn the heater knob to a lower setting. It always does the trick. In my opinion, a chiller is just another way to make money off of a gadget that will work but isn't very necessary. My previous comment is simply an observation of my own experience. On another note, I worked in my LFS for a good while and we ran a few chillers just to show them off for sale, and the damn things would either fail or just not do what they said that they'd do. They never sold me. Appologies if I offended anybody that loves their chiller.

[PelagicMagic]

no one was offended, you should of just said what you just said instead of just making a random statement. Anyways what lighting did you have on the tank? Also being up north compared to FL makes a difference. But if you got 1200+ watts of light over a large volume of water you probably will need a chiller at some point

[KLoomis]

You didn’t offend me, I am just confused how you could think it was a waste of money. For starters, my tank doesn’t even have a heater per say, the water is overly heated by the 4 250 watt mh lights and 4 pumps that are running it. These sources of heat can’t simply be turned down or off for that matter. Like PelagicMagic said, for some tanks a chiller is very necessary.

I don’t know size/type of tank you have but if you have a reef tank and have never experienced heat issues ever than consider yourself lucky.

[Tu Ku]

Do you have a heater in your system too?