Turning Flow Off While Chiller is On

[Adamantium]

Hi all, I'm wondering if there is any danger to shutting off flow to my JBJ 1/15HP chiller while it's chilling? Just for a few minutes while I shut off all flow for feeding.

Any thoughts?

Thanks!

 

[Water Dog]

If you’re gonna use a feed mode for your chiller flow, be sure to cut off power to the chiller as well. You don’t want water to freeze inside the chiller due to lack of flow through it.

 

[Adamantium]

If you’re gonna use a feed mode for your chiller flow, be sure to cut off power to the chiller as well. You don’t want water to freeze inside the chiller due to lack of flow.

That's exactly what I was wondering. Good to know, thanks. Too bad, because the extension cord that has all my filters is out of plugs.... I'll have to figure something out.

 

[acro-ed]

I'm not going to "recommend" that, but I do it regularly with my 1/2hp JBJ. When I'm doing a water change I will kill the main pump (feeding the chiller) but my chiller is in the garage on a separate breaker and I just don't feel like walking over and turning it off. It's pure laziness. lol. At any rate, I've done this countless times for very short intervals and never a problem. So there's some anecdotal evidence that you can do this, but I still wouldn't suggest it.

 

[Adamantium]

I'm not going to "recommend" that, but I do it regularly with my 1/2hp JBJ. When I'm doing a water change I will kill the main pump (feeding the chiller) but my chiller is in the garage on a separate breaker and I just don't feel like walking over and turning it off. It's pure laziness. lol. At any rate, I've done this countless times for very short intervals and never a problem. So there's some anecdotal evidence that you can do this, but I still wouldn't suggest it.

Haha understood! Thanks for the anecdote. About how long is a "short interval"?

 

[acro-ed]

5-10mins I'm guessing. Definitely no more than that. I use a 1" ID hose to siphon 55g of water out and the replacement water is already made in a drum ready to be pumped back in, so it's really just for the few minutes of siphoning after the sump empties (when I turn the pump off).

 

[ylreefer]

I also leave my chiller on while in feed mode for bout 8 min, if the chiller happens to be chilling when the flow is shut off the temp display on the chikke just drops faster than it would if flow was on, once it reaches its set temp (27*) it shuts off anyway. Using a hailea 1/14hp chiller here.

No sure if this is a problem as I've been doing it for 2 years and had no issues but like others say if it's easy enough to turn off it's probably best. And in fact now I've typed this out I think that's exactly whatill do it since the switch is like 2 ft away from the tank [emoji23]. As u can see no excuse really

 

[Coogles]

If you have WiFi coverage where the chiller is located you could hook it up to a smart plug and just turn it off and on from your phone.

 

[Adamantium]

If you have WiFi coverage where the chiller is located you could hook it up to a smart plug and just turn it off and on from your phone.

I do that with the filters, lights, etc. actually haha

I just ran out of them