Does ambient air temperature affect cooling fan efficiency?

[Sshannon]

I have an interesting dilemma.

I recently started working with a very very old local aquarium that has 10+ large systems (1000+ gallons). The aquariums are housed in a non air conditioned building with the display glass being inside an AC-controlled room. The aquarium is in the tropics where highs are low 90's and lows in the 70's. I've looked into getting a chiller, but it would run around 5k to 8k for each aquarium.

My questions is how well would evaporative cooling work on an aquarium if both the aquarium water and the air temperature above the aquarium are the same?

Has anyone had a similar situation, even if it was only during a power outage?

Alternatively, If you have other ways of cooling a system, I am all ears.

I've intentionally not mentioned the aquarium's name to avoid self promotion.

 

[Biglew11]

I'm sure at some point the air temperature will effect evaporative cooling. But my living room is non ac and regularly reaches 80 during the day and my aquarium still never hits 80 even though everything is still on, lights pumps etc producing heat. It's 75 so the evaporative cooling may or may not be more efficient. It's worth trying.

 

[Wtyson254]

Yes,

But the rate of airflow over the aquarium and the humidity of the air will have the greatest effect. If you can blow a lot of dry air over the tank you will increase evaporative cooling. Additionally, insulation on the non viewable sides of the aquarium will help limit heat transfer from the air through the sides of the aquarium.

 

[DCR]

The ability of evaporative cooling is ultimately limited to an air parameter called the wet bulb temperature. It is basically the temperature of a body of water in equilibrium with the air and is a function of the air temperature and relative humidity. The typical summertime wet bulb temperatures on the U.S. Gulf Coast are about 80 F and to get down close to that temperature you really need strong contacting of the air and water like a wet/dry filter. Industrial evaporative cooling systems generally only target for an 8-10 F approach to the wet bulb temperature but these have much higher heat loads than an aquarium. Indoor AC units dehumidify the air and lower the wet bulb temperature significantly so the evaporative cooling effect on a home aquarium would be much greater than an outdoor unit in the tropics. You could probably find wet bulb temperature data for the location you are considering, but in the tropics they are probably going to be pretty high.

 

[Wtyson254]

I have an interesting dilemma.

I recently started working with a very very old local aquarium that has 10+ large systems (1000+ gallons). The aquariums are housed in a non air conditioned building with the display glass being inside an AC-controlled room. The aquarium is in the tropics where highs are low 90's and lows in the 70's. I've looked into getting a chiller, but it would run around 5k to 8k for each aquarium.

My questions is how well would evaporative cooling work on an aquarium if both the aquarium water and the air temperature above the aquarium are the same?

Has anyone had a similar situation, even if it was only during a power outage?

Alternatively, If you have other ways of cooling a system, I am all ears.

I've intentionally not mentioned the aquarium's name to avoid self promotion.

I see that you are located in south Florida, so the outdoor humidity will certainly be an issue

 

[Floyd-]

What about thinking out of the box...
Run a simple radiator with hoses. Pump the water through the radiator that is located in the conditioned space with fans blowing through it. Thoughts?

 

[Sshannon]

@Biglew11 I will give it a shot. I have a few industrial air blowers I can borrow and test temperature reduction.

@Wtyson254 Neat! I had not heard of wet bulb terminology before. I will absolutely look into local data for my area.

@Floyd- I think that might work pretty dam well! I wonder how big of a radiator I'd need... I have a friend who is a mechanic who could totally help me hook one up tho.