Help !!! chiller not doing anything

[revolutionhope]

hi all!

Hoping for some suggestions- I just bought an aqua-one arctica 1/4hp chiller which I'm using on a 240 litre tank. The chiller is way way over-rated for the tank size.

An obvious possible cause of the non-cooling is that I am using an eheim 2217/classic 600 which is rated at 1200lph and the filter requires 1000-2000lph flow or 1400-2800lph (depending on whether you read rhe box or the instruction manual!) There would be some reduction in flow caused by the large sponge covering the intake (i couldn't notice any difference when i added the sponge though) and simply by having to push into the chiller and up out again etc..

In any case.. I've read here and elsewhere that if the water flow is too slow it just means the chiller switches on and off constantly... cooling the waer inside it too quickly and then turning off and turning on again constantly.

However.. my chiller just seems to run 24/7 and is not doing anything at all. I find it odd that it is not pushing out warm air either.. the air seems to be room temperature or close enough.

3 hours ago I turned the chiller on -

ambient temp is 26.8

aquarium temp 25.6

Now -

ambient temp 27.2

aquarium temp 26.8

What the hell?

The stupid thing is running constantly.... I do want to get a dedicated pump with better flow but was hoping to make do with the canister until I can more readily afford the pump!

love n peace

will

PS i should add that the chiller temp is set to 24C with a 1 degree variation (ie it should turn on at 25 and off at 24.9) regardless.. its just constantly running and not cooling.. very frustrating given min temp forecast tonight is 24C here ..

[al4n]

Sounds like theres no gas left (maybe leaked), not enough or too much the water flow should still be cold or as what you set it to flowing out.

[ineke]

Will my 2213 is running my 1/4 horsepower chiller with ease so as long as your 2217 is working properly I doubt that is your problem. You have written that you have set your temp to come on at 25 and go off at 24.9 if that isn't a typing mistake could that be your problem the start and end temp too close? I'm thinking it's just a typing error though. Make sure your filter on the chiller is clean, also if the compressor isn't cutting in at all and there is gas then it could be a sticky solenoid. If you get desperate you can borrow my fan setup that -works quite well and kept my big tank cool for 2 years - that's the 210 litre tank you saw in the lounge room.

[revolutionhope]

Thanks heaps for the input guys. I'm pretty sure the unit is dead cheers for the feedback Al4n and I will be taking it into the LFS I bought it from shortly. Their service is quite good usually; depending on which staff helps you of course!

Ineke thankyou I noticed you had a 2213 powering your chiller but later I wasn't sure whether my memory was right or not :-)

Your offer is very generous you are a gem I appreciate it a lot. I'm sure I'll manage the situation although it would be a great excuse to drive up and have another perusal of your shrimps / pick your brains about the hobby :-)

[revolutionhope]

I tried to organise a return and when I did so the lfs staff asked me some technical questions (as requested by the company oz sales rep) including but not limited to "is there water flowing through the unit?"

I didn't realise the water had to go THROUGH the chiller !! I just had it sitting next to my aquarium!! No wonder it wasn't working !!!

So anyway ... sarcasm aside I eventually managed to organise a return on the unit and have got a replacement now. For the time being I will reserve my judgement on its performance.

Yesterday I received my second chiller - a hailea hc-300 and it is just awesome !!! The unit is quite big.. not excessively loud in my opinion.. just sounds like a fairly chunky room-fan but with a lower pitch (ie no constant grinding or clunking mechanical compressor noise).

In any case it is extremely efficient. Powered by an eheim 2217/classic 600 which is empty bar a coarse sponge and some loose (uncloggable) media. It cooled down my 240litre tank from 28C (in a room at nearly 32C) to 24C within an hour or two. I was most impressed. Here's hoping my yellow cherries are equally impressed and enjoy their newfound stability.

love n peace

will

PS it dawned on me last night that we just spent more on a chiller than we did on our family fridge.

[ineke]

Glad it's all sorted! As to spending money on shrimp how come my shrimp have a nice refrigerated air conditioner in their room while we sweltered through the hot Adelaide weather with just the ducted evaporative air conditioner??? I almost wanted to sleep in there it was so nice compared to the rest of the house! The things we do for our shrimp - ??

[OzShrimp]

Think of it as an investment lol. My chiller is a $570 door stop atm. Never really had issues with mine tho except it keeping the wife awake lol

[revolutionhope]

Hey Oz, yeh i'm pretty happy I went for chillers. now I'm trying to maximise my satisfaction and keeping more than one variety of dwarf shrimp in each of the 2 tanks and am doing so confident in the knowledge that I won't face disaster come summer again!I

i realise i didn't quite finish my thread - the end result was i returned two of the aqua-one chillers and ended up forking out Hore dosh for a teco heating & cooling combined unit - so so pleased i did. It's very quiet, and extremely effective for the size of it! i can't recommend teco highly enough for chillers.

If anyone is researching chillers (perhaps when summer is approaching not at the moment) .. and wants to get the lowdown from a couple of refrigerator mechanics on what parts fail etc - check this thread out - Reefing The Australian Way Forums • View topic - Recommend a Chiller

It is specifically a marine forum thread so bear in mind that this will affect the type of failure that might occur.

My Hailea HC-300 is a monster, very effective and efficient but very chunky and noisy too; also my 2217 could not push enough water through it fast enough to stop it from switching on and off again too constantly! This is despite my 2217 meeting approx minimum flow requirements - when it has to pump THROUGH the chiller the flowrate is drastically slowed down.

love n peace

will

[OzShrimp]

yours is a monster! I have the Hailea HC500a lol.

 

good to hear its all working out for you though