Tips on getting second hand chillers

Validator · Mar 3, 2021

Hi all, I have decided to go the route of sourcing equipment second hand for my coming RSR 200XL tank. was wondering which chiller I should get. I want to have something that is small, energy efficient and quiet. I have seen some offers online for second hand chillers that I was hoping the more experienced reefers can advise me what to look out for.

I narrowed it down to some of the following :

Hailea HC-100A 1/20HP - I like this for the small footprint, I hear reports that it is quite loud so that is a concern for me. Cost wise, I don't mind getting this new.

JBJ Arctica Mini Titanium Chiller DBI-050 1/15HP - I have second hand sale that I am watching for this. Priced at almost the same as the Hailea chiller, it is 3 years old but was last serviced in Nov 2020 with receipt to prove it. I like this because it is also quite small, I hear that Arcticas are not as noisy as Haileas. Seller shared a phone video with me but I agree with him that equipment in phone videos tend to be overtly loud. My concern with this chiller is that I am not sure if it can chill the 53Gl in the RSR 200XL. I am assuming it will be working harder, so noisier since the previous owner had a much smaller tank.

JBJ Arctica Titanium Chiller DBA-075 1/10HP - Also watching a second hand sale of this. Priced same as the above and a pump is thrown in. Seller can't tell me how old it is as it is bought second hand, so technically I could be a third hand. Not much info is available since I just started the contact with the seller. I am thinking this would be able to better handle the RSR size tank, but I am not keen on the size of the chiller.

So would like to know what are some of the things I should look out for when getting a chiller second hand? Any advise on the above offers would be greatly appreciated.

P-Dub · Mar 3, 2021

Validator said:
Hi all, I have decided to go the route of sourcing equipment second hand for my coming RSR 200XL tank. was wondering which chiller I should get. I want to have something that is small, energy efficient and quiet. I have seen some offers online for second hand chillers that I was hoping the more experienced reefers can advise me what to look out for.

I narrowed it down to some of the following :

Hailea HC-100A 1/20HP - I like this for the small footprint, I hear reports that it is quite loud so that is a concern for me. Cost wise, I don't mind getting this new.

JBJ Arctica Mini Titanium Chiller DBI-050 1/15HP - I have second hand sale that I am watching for this. Priced at almost the same as the Hailea chiller, it is 3 years old but was last serviced in Nov 2020 with receipt to prove it. I like this because it is also quite small, I hear that Arcticas are not as noisy as Haileas. Seller shared a phone video with me but I agree with him that equipment in phone videos tend to be overtly loud. My concern with this chiller is that I am not sure if it can chill the 53Gl in the RSR 200XL. I am assuming it will be working harder, so noisier since the previous owner had a much smaller tank.

JBJ Arctica Titanium Chiller DBA-075 1/10HP - Also watching a second hand sale of this. Priced same as the above and a pump is thrown in. Seller can't tell me how old it is as it is bought second hand, so technically I could be a third hand. Not much info is available since I just started the contact with the seller. I am thinking this would be able to better handle the RSR size tank, but I am not keen on the size of the chiller.

So would like to know what are some of the things I should look out for when getting a chiller second hand? Any advise on the above offers would be greatly appreciated.

Go with the largest you can afford. Make sure you can see it running and cooling in person first. This shouldn't be a big deal for a seller to set up.

snorklr · Mar 4, 2021

Bought a Used jbj from a lfs that gave up and became a reptile shop...we hooked it to a bucket of water and it cooled and shut down when it reached temp...hooked it up (flushed it first)...the next morning the tank looked like a frosty glass of beer...about 60* and covered in condensation...the internal temp probe was bad...and it's epoxied into the heat exchanger...the good news was that an external probe was available, bad news it wasn't compatible with the circuit board in one this old...good news they had a board that would work...so bottom line is at least jbj had tech people to talk to and parts available so I didn't wind up with a doorstop

P-Dub · Mar 4, 2021

snorklr said:
Bought a Used jbj from a lfs that gave up and became a reptile shop...we hooked it to a bucket of water and it cooled and shut down when it reached temp...hooked it up (flushed it first)...the next morning the tank looked like a frosty glass of beer...about 60* and covered in condensation...the internal temp probe was bad...and it's epoxied into the heat exchanger...the good news was that an external probe was available, bad news it wasn't compatible with the circuit board in one this old...good news they had a board that would work...so bottom line is at least jbj had tech people to talk to and parts available so I didn't wind up with a doorstop

Well, as a thought... Another reason to have a controller of some sort to have redundancy.