air conditioner vs chiller (1 Viewer)

[Guest]

Another thing to think about.... Fish tanks are like heat sinks. They are a heat capacitor. When the tank heats up, it will maintain that temperature longer than the air around it. It is harder to cool the water than the air. Therefore, when you are using your A/C to cool the house and thereby the tank, the tank is actually helping to keep your house warmer. This makes the A/C work harder and longer. By using a chiller you cool the water directly and take a lot of the load off the house A/C.

You will definitely save money in the long run by running a chiller. I bought mine a few years ago and it was definitely worth it.

Jim 8)

 

[KarenHorn]

Oh sure Alan, back to being practical, LOL! It is digital. I'll have to check that out.

Thanks Jim for speaking up. I knew you'd have good imput on it

 

[Guest]

$450 for an electric bill WOW! and i thought i had a complaint when mine went from $70 to $130 due to running the AC 24/7.

 

[Guest]

Just to add on to what Jim is saying - in addition to being a giant heat sink, our aquariums are also giant humidifiers. In Houston, humidity removal is as much or more of a problem than cooling. A lot of people's AC systems are already ineffective at removing humidity, which is why you hear about so many people having mold problems. You can be perfectly comfortable at 78 degrees if the relative humidity is under 55%, but most AC systems are not designed to achieve this. Evaporating a couple of gallons of water every day from your aquarium just compounds the problem.

That's why we had our replacement AC system designed for humidity removal as much as cooling, so hopefully we will be comfortable even at a higher temperature setting, and that combined with the high SEER equipment should save us a lot on our electric bills.

 

[Guest]

God, you are all freaking me out talking about this, making me think my AC is going to go out...
I have mine on 24/7 and have for the past year.
My bill is usually about $185 and is says we use about 18500kwh or however its worded.

I keep wondering why mine is cheaper or others' are more when a lot of us have our AC on all the time.
What further freaks me out is I have our thermostat set @ 70 all the time.

You're making me think I'm gonna be buying a new AC soon and that I'm turning my house into a giant mold culture.

 

[HolyBanana]

I agree with Jim and Mike.
A chiller is defenetily worth it. Also on another note, im finding myself having to buy a de-humidifier due to the humidity in my house. Its crazy. I accidentally left my salk bucket opened over night and it was mushy and soaked with water.
Its also worth looking into buy a de-humidifier if your water evaporation rate is high.
I will be looking into buying one this weekend. The humidity is killing me.

 

[Guest]

Are you looking into a whole-house dehumidifier that attaches to your HVAC system, or a small one like you get at Wal Mart?

What we did was upgrade to a variable speed furnace connected to a humidistat. You set it for the temperature AND relative humidity level and it controls the system to maintain those levels. If you need more cooling, it speeds up the blower to circulate more air through the cooling system. If you need more dehumidification, it slows down the air flow, so that more moisture is removed from the air as it slowly passes over the condenser coil. Of course, this is only feasible if you are looking at replacing part or all of your AC system anyway, but if/when you get to that point, it's worth looking into. It added about 25% to the cost of the system, but I think it will be well worth it in energy savings and comfort level.

 

[HolyBanana]

I want one that I can buy at wallmart. The humidity is mostly in the kitchen and tank area. Its getting so bad that my allergies and sinuses are starting to act up.

 

[Guest]

You should get Cakepro input, I know she is running MH on a 75 without a chiller.
She had mention that they changed the A/C unit with the ablility to control
the humidity.
Then we can compare different setups.
Thinking of going with MH down the road.
Onething you might consider is balance billing, June e-bill was $290.00 and
July balance billing is $175.00. It would have been over $300.00.

We keep our house around 72 during the day and 70 at night.
(meatlocker)
We have a 75RR with 4 48" VHO's and the temp runs around 77 to 78.