Cooling my 450 - Trying something new.

[Egon]

Wow you must be really cheap to keep the house at 84, I wouldn't be able to take it! Although I guess since you have crazy heat in AZ that's like 30 degrees cooler than outside.
Good luck with the fans, I hope they work for you. Price wise, if you had to run a chiller, would it be cheaper for you to just keep the house around 80ish? penny wise and pound foolish or something like that?

I like to use the word "efficient" over cheap, I will call myself efficient from now on
Your exactly right about the outside temps at 115 to 120 and then going to 84 seems very nice. Perception is key. It's seems a lot cooler.

Hey Egon, it's raining up here.

LOL Cheers bud

The dry air is causing the tank water to evaporate which takes a good amount of heat out of the water. It looks like a great idea to me! I wouldn't be to concerned about the moisture on the box fans... like you said if they die just replace them but I think they will be fine. The moisture from the evaporated tank water is not a condensing moisture that close to the evaporation surface.

I don't think a radiator approach will cool the tank water to any thing below the ambient temperature.

Is it possible to vent the moist air outside so you aren't raising the humidity level of your house? I guess any air vented outside will be replaced with outside air which is probably hotter than your inside air so probably not a good idea to mess with external venting.

I like your idea of using the temperature controller to switch the fan! Great idea!

What is the temperature of your tap water?

Currently I'm running what we call a "Swamp Cooler" to cool the house. It's a simple design and super cheap errrr "efficient"
The swamp cooler is a huge fan blowing through a water soaked mat, the cool air is pushed into the house and all the windows are left slightly open (vent). This adds a lot of needed moisture to my air already. Unfortunately it only has the capability of dropping the temps about 20 degrees. Most of the time I have it off by June but we are having a very mild/dry summer so I'm saving about $200 a month on my electric

Tap water temps right now is 75 and that gets up to 80 on the real bad days. -- Good question

Egon, great idea using the temp controller. I have been looking to do something similar. Is the output from the controller 120vac or is it a dc output? I'm in SoCal and on warmer days I use a small 120v fan to cool my 80 which is in my garage. Only prob is on days where I'm at work for 12hrs, automation would be a much better option

120vac output and you can turn the controller power on above or below a set temperature so it can be used to cool something. RANCO is the company that makes the controller and they sell it to AquaLogic who sells an aquarium version to us for more $$$ Google "RANCO temp controllers" and buy from them they are cheaper. I have 6 total, and 4 are from RANCO. It's exactly the same controller and very accurate.

nifty

Thanks man

 

[MTBjake]

Awesome!! Thanks Egon I appreciate the info bro! I'll get one ordered up ASAP.


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[knobhill]

Nice little project. Egon the efficient innovator!

 

[DIDYSIS]

If I see a temp spike I pull out the box fan. I have one tank that gets allot of sun. Works everytime just having the fan blow on the tank

 

[Egon]

Awesome!! Thanks Egon I appreciate the info bro! I'll get one ordered up ASAP.

No prob

Nice little project. Egon the efficient innovator!

Right on! Someone's reading this drivel......

If I see a temp spike I pull out the box fan. I have one tank that gets allot of sun. Works everytime just having the fan blow on the tank

Yeah, I thinks it's a good way to cool a tank. The acrylic tanks and large jumping fish put a wrinkle in the basic fan solution. I can't just open the top. I could put a large fan in my stand/sump area but that wouldn't be as cool......

 

[Kaosu]

I used a large window fan to keep my cold water tank temps down in the summer..worked like a charm
It kept the tank in the low 70s while my room was in the high 80s

 

[Egon]

^^^ Nice!

 

[Egon]

Well, it's working. My 360 is 83 and my 450 (with the fans) is maintaining 80.
One issue is the fan is just above the filter (towers) overflow and im getting a strong fishy smell.......

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[amonra]

Wow, I live in Phoenix and if my house gets over 75 I start to freak out. Rather pay the bill than be miserable!
Good DIY though!

 

[Egon]

Wow, I live in Phoenix and if my house gets over 75 I start to freak out. Rather pay the bill than be miserable!
Good DIY though!

I'm cheap, of course I'm sending this from San Diego......

I guess the money gets spend anyway