Do pumps generate a lot of heat?

[Egon]

Leather,

I think your right. Some of this ohms law stuff is coming back to me from military training years ago..........

Please explain: I always understood, for example, lets say a water pump running 230 would be more efficient than the same pump running at 115? A future monster tank I'm planning I'm considering pulling a 230 volt circuit to the fish tank. Do you think I would ever see a return on the cable running a 230 volt pump vs. a 115 volt pump? Is it even more efficient? I know the motor will last longer. I have a 230 volt compressor for at least 20 years now and it's still strong.

 

[leather]

Leather,

I think your right. Some of this ohms law stuff is coming back to me from military training years ago..........

Please explain: I always understood, for example, lets say a water pump running 230 would be more efficient than the same pump running at 115? A future monster tank I'm planning I'm considering pulling a 230 volt circuit to the fish tank. Do you think I would ever see a return on the cable running a 230 volt pump vs. a 115 volt pump? Is it even more efficient? I know the motor will last longer. I have a 230 volt compressor for at least 20 years now and it's still strong.

What size tank are you talking? I can't imagine needing a pump for a tank that would have that large of a draw unless you are doing a high lift. If you are doing a high lift then I would probably consider it. If you are just going for high volume I would do 2 separate pumps just for repetition in case one fails. If you have a high draw circuit then its nice to balance both sides of your house circuit. That way one leg doesn't always have a high draw.

 

[Burko]

"How is light energy turned into heat?"

As you said, by absorption.

"Light refracts and travels, if I shine a 500 watt spotlight at my neighbors house does it heat it?"

Yes. Houses are designed with this in mind.


"It will absorb some light and reflect the wavelengths that the surface can't absorb."

Yep. And the darker the surface the greater the absorption and the more heat it will produce. Think solar hot water.

 

[COOL MBU]

I run two Pondmaster Hy Drive 4000 pumps on my 600 gal acrylic,with a ambient room temp of 75f and heaters set at 79f,tank temp is at a pretty constant 83f,so these two pumps are giving me a 8 degree increase,and I have to say..could'nt be happier,heck of a lot cheaper then having my 800w heaters coming on!!

 

[leather]

"How is light energy turned into heat?"

As you said, by absorption.

"Light refracts and travels, if I shine a 500 watt spotlight at my neighbors house does it heat it?"

Yes. Houses are designed with this in mind.


"It will absorb some light and reflect the wavelengths that the surface can't absorb."

Yep. And the darker the surface the greater the absorption and the more heat it will produce. Think solar hot water.

I guess what I meant was that it doesn't all get absorbed. Some gets absorbed, but a large amount will be reflected. i just don't agree that all energy eventually turns to heat. If that was the case the temperature of everything would eventually be through the roof. Heat is used as the catalyst in many chemical reactions. That energy is then used to create a reaction and alters two or more substances and is no longer heat energy.
Sorry I'm off topic, pumps do heat your aquarium water, how much depends on the pumps efficiency, not on its current draw.

 

[knifegill]

Why don't you just fill two ten gallon tanks side by side and throw a big powerhead into one and see if it raises the temp of that one as many watts as it should be able to?

 

[I<3fish]

I guess what I meant was that it doesn't all get absorbed. Some gets absorbed, but a large amount will be reflected. i just don't agree that all energy eventually turns to heat. If that was the case the temperature of everything would eventually be through the roof. Heat is used as the catalyst in many chemical reactions. That energy is then used to create a reaction and alters two or more substances and is no longer heat energy.
Sorry I'm off topic, pumps do heat your aquarium water, how much depends on the pumps efficiency, not on its current draw.

Exactly. LED lights emit insanely small amounts of heat, even though they use X amount of watts. Where is that energy going? Lighting, not heating.

 

[Egon]

What size tank are you talking? I can't imagine needing a pump for a tank that would have that large of a draw unless you are doing a high lift. If you are doing a high lift then I would probably consider it. If you are just going for high volume I would do 2 separate pumps just for repetition in case one fails. If you have a high draw circuit then its nice to balance both sides of your house circuit. That way one leg doesn't always have a high draw.

3K maybe 4 I agree with the two pumps for redundancy. I do that now with all my tanks. I pull a lot of cable for other projects, I understand the balance thing for the home circuits. More importantly is my question about 115 volt pumps vs. 230 volt pumps?
Thanks!

 

[black056mtc]

Why can we K I S S

submerse pump= more heat transfers to water by as water is cooling the motor
external pump = lesser heat transfers to water as fan/fins removes heat from motor
Bigger pump/gph= more watt= more heat
Smaller pump/gph=less watt=less heat.

Now there are pump out there that will moves lots of water and use little wattage, plus they are external, water intake in 1 section while the motor is in the other housing with fan/fins, by adding more heat sink to the motor housing you could remove more heat(I did so I know).

A snapper hybrid will draw 149 watts and put out 3600gph is one of them, by using 2 of these will still less than 300 watt but you'll get 7200gph and less noise than most other for the price.

 

[Nim Dibbley]

thanks for all the replies! a little more information then i was looking for, but i did get the information i needed.