Reef Chiller/heater vs AC/heater - which pulls more?

[juicemanatx]

Looking for a math wiz or someone who has learned from experience.

I have a 200g tank which uses a 1/3 hp jbj chiller during the summer and 2 300w heaters during the winter.

I recently had solar installed and am trying to decide which would use more power, the house AC/heat , or the reef Chiller/heaters.

Currently I don't let my AC go higher than 77 during heat and lower than 65 during cold when we're not home.

Would turning my AC and Heat to temps that would cause them to run less but make my Chiller and Heaters work more be any different in energy use vs just leave the Thermostat on the house alone?

Anyone tested this before or have any thoughts?
What temps do you all keep your houses?

 

[NowGlazeIT]

How big is your house and are you using electricity to heat your house or gas. Good question for the big tank forum tho. maybe someone on the #reefsquad has a big tank with similar weather conditions

 

[juicemanatx]

How big is your house and are you using electricity to heat your house or gas. Good question for the big tank forum tho. maybe someone on the #reefsquad has a big tank with similar weather conditions

It’s downstairs in a 1900 sq house. All electric, no Gas.

 

[NowGlazeIT]

I think you can test your theory out but I’m gonna bet it’s going to cost at least half as much to run the equipment for your tank then it would be to heat the space around it. If you wanted to test this out you could keep track of your heaters on and off lights to see how often and how long they come on for then take that number and divide it into 24 hours in a day over total wattage in use
example-
Heater (600watt)comes on every 20 min and then stays on for 10 min
So every 1 hour that’s 20 min of 600 watt consumption
Over 24 hours that’s 8hours of 600watts

Now take how long your house’s heater runs and look up how many watts it consumes. But without a doubt this number will be in the thousands over the course of being on for an hour.
I don’t have extreme winters but I have looked into this for central ac. Summers in my area reach 120 degrees without fail. My ac keeps my house at 76-78 it comes on for 15 min then shuts off for 10
It’s also a 3 ton ac unit which consumes around 3500 watts per hour according to AC Southeast.
That means I’m using 3500 watts every 2 hours at the least! now I’m not familiar with an aquarium chiller watt consumption and I’m no big tank expert but these are some real numbers you can reference to your theory

3ton central ac unit watt consumption reference http://airconditioningsoutheast.com/tips/air-conditioning/how-much-wattage-does-my-ac-use

 

[juicemanatx]

The chiller site says 4000 btu/7.25 amp/ 115 volts

 

[Brew12]

There are too many variables to make that determination. Here is an idea of some of them.
How air tight is the house.
How well insulated is the house.
How even is the temperature throughout the house.
How much sun shines in the house.
What temperature is it outside.
How much evaporation does your tank experience.
How much heat does your equipment put in your tank/house.
How humid is it inside the house.
How efficient is the HVAC unit.
How well does the HVAC fan circulate air in the house.

Without knowing all of this it would be a tough determination. Especially since some of these are always changing. I think what you would find is on some days one would be more cost effective than others. My gut feel is that it will use less energy to directly heat/cool the tank more often than not.

I keep my house between 69F and 72F year round. Keeps the wife happy.

 

[ca1ore]

Water chiller will cool the aquarium much more efficiently than the home AC system - because that is what it is designed to do. Obviously the AC system provides other benefits. In my house, for example, the chiller is 3/4 HP/7,500 BTU and the AC system is a 5 ton/60,000 BTU. Pretty clear which cost more to run LOL

 

[juicemanatx]

There are too many variables to make that determination. Here is an idea of some of them.
How air tight is the house.
How well insulated is the house.
How even is the temperature throughout the house.
How much sun shines in the house.
What temperature is it outside.
How much evaporation does your tank experience.
How much heat does your equipment put in your tank/house.
How humid is it inside the house.
How efficient is the HVAC unit.
How well does the HVAC fan circulate air in the house.

Without knowing all of this it would be a tough determination. Especially since some of these are always changing. I think what you would find is on some days one would be more cost effective than others. My gut feel is that it will use less energy to directly heat/cool the tank more often than not.

I keep my house between 69F and 72F year round. Keeps the wife happy.

The home is only 5 years old.
well insulated.
Even temperature down stairs.
Wood blinds keep sunlight out during hot times.
Hottest is 102 or so during the summer
Coldest is 20 or so during winter
The chiller is outside.
Not very humid normally.

 

[glb]

I just asked the same question when South Florida had its first cold snap, but my tank is much smaller. The advice I got was that tank equipment is more efficient than central air or heating. That being said, here’s what I did. First, I looked at the average temp of the tank a few months back when it was warmer outside. With the a/c at 73, the tank ran at 74.8-75.3 most of the time (without a heater). When the cold front hit, I bought a 100w hanger for a 40g tank, which is half what you would normally get. I set the heater thermostat at 76 and programmed it in Apex to turn on at 74.5 and off at 75. That way it doesn’t run at all during summer months. In other words, I let the house’s temp help determine where to set the temp for the tank.
In your case it’s a little more complicated because of the wide range of temps in the house during the year. What temp do you want the tank to be year-round, more or less? I know you’re asking about energy efficiency which is slightly different, but I’m wondering how much you can use central ac/heat to help out your tank heater/chiller.

 

[juicemanatx]

I just asked the same question when South Florida had its first cold snap, but my tank is much smaller. The advice I got was that tank equipment is more efficient than central air or heating. That being said, here’s what I did. First, I looked at the average temp of the tank a few months back when it was warmer outside. With the a/c at 73, the tank ran at 74.8-75.3 most of the time (without a heater). When the cold front hit, I bought a 100w hanger for a 40g tank, which is half what you would normally get. I set the heater thermostat at 76 and programmed it in Apex to turn on at 74.5 and off at 75. That way it doesn’t run at all during summer months. In other words, I let the house’s temp help determine where to set the temp for the tank.
In your case it’s a little more complicated because of the wide range of temps in the house during the year. What temp do you want the tank to be year-round, more or less? I know you’re asking about energy efficiency which is slightly different, but I’m wondering how much you can use central ac/heat to help out your tank heater/chiller.

I try to run my tank between 77-80.