4 Reservoirs… 1 Chiller

stainless steel or copper tubing?

  • copper

    Votes: 2 22.2%

  • stainless steel

    Votes: 7 77.8%
  • Total voters
    9
J

jronnn

Well-Known Member
1 - 1/2HP water chiller
2 - water pumps
1 - 75 gallon tote for chiller & water pumps
4 - 50 gallon totes for flood and drain tables
4 - copper immersion wort chillers (25’ of coiled copper, 1 in each 50gal tote)

hey guys, heres the plan… I’m going to have a 1/2 HP water chiller with its own reservoir&pump that is recirculating 24/7 so the 75gal tote is always cold as fuck… then i am going to have another pump in the chillers reservoir thats connected to the 4 copper coils (1 in each 50 gallon res) through hose so the cold water runs through each coil/res and then once it flows to the last coil/res it just gets pushed back to the chillers res and then recirculated over and over again…

but my question is, how powerful of a pump should i use to run through the (approx.) 110ft of tubing/hose? I’m not sure if i should keep a high pressure flow of water going through the coils or a low pressure, any thoughts? and also, what would be the best material for a coil.. stainless steel or copper? thanks for any advice!!


heres the immersion wort chiller copper coils I’m talking about in the link below...

http://www.midwestsupplies.com/immersion-wort-chiller-w-garden-hose-fittings.html
 

Attachments

J

jronnn

Well-Known Member
the best part is you save a lot of electricity and you only need too buy one chiller! plus you never have to worry about your plant res getting contaminated with chiller water because theres bends at the top of the coil so the fittings stick out of the res. plus its a coil so you can literally stick the flood table pump in the middle of a coil to make sure all the coldest water is what i being flooded into the tables and realistically if there was too much tubing to cool all the 50 gallon totes i could just put each coil on its own pump.. either way it beats buying 4 separate water chillers
 
J

jronnn

Well-Known Member
ttystikk said:
Chilling ebb n flood? Straight up: it's an unnecessary complication that's not going to net you any tangible benefits.

Do this with a bunch of DWC tubs and now you're talking!
Click to expand...
yeah thats true i suppose i should need them, even in the summer, so long as i keep my room temps right but if i can choose between 75 degree roots and 65 degree roots I'm definitely going for the 65 but besides all of that do you think my plan would work? i actually think i might connect a 4-way manifold to the pump instead so each res can get an equal amount of chilled water and each res would just send the water back to the main chiller res individually
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
jronnn said:
yeah thats true i suppose i should need them, even in the summer, so long as i keep my room temps right but if i can choose between 75 degree roots and 65 degree roots I'm definitely going for the 65 but besides all of that do you think my plan would work? i actually think i might connect a 4-way manifold to the pump instead so each res can get an equal amount of chilled water and each res would just send the water back to the main chiller res individually
Click to expand...
This is a better approach as it will keep all your tubs closer to the same temperature.

Ebb n flood hydroponics delivers oxygen to the roots every time the water drops; the water literally drains away and sucks oxygen into the root zone. Cold water increases aeration and oxygenation. It's just unnecessary in ebb n flood.

DWC is where the roots are suspended in water all the time. NOW they can use those cold temps and oxygenation!

Moral of the story; solve the problems you have. Solving problems you don't have is expensive and generally a waste of time, effort and money.
 
T

TWS

Well-Known Member
ttystikk said:
This is a better approach as it will keep all your tubs closer to the same temperature.

Ebb n flood hydroponics delivers oxygen to the roots every time the water drops; the water literally drains away and sucks oxygen into the root zone. Cold water increases aeration and oxygenation. It's just unnecessary in ebb n flood.

DWC is where the roots are suspended in water all the time. NOW they can use those cold temps and oxygenation!

Moral of the story; solve the problems you have. Solving problems you don't have is expensive and generally a waste of time, effort and money.
Click to expand...

I have chillers for my ebb and grow. Paranoid of root rot. Right now im not using them cause with the cool weather the rez are around 67-69 F , they have air stones and constant water flow . In the summer they can increase to 75 + , are they still not needed ?
 
B

budleydoright

Well-Known Member
I chill my water in the summer running a coco Dtw setup. Plants don't like 85 degree water poured over their roots.

DO NOT use copper in a nutrient solution. The salts will react with the metals and kill your plants. This is well documented and applies to fish tanks as well.
 
J

jronnn

Well-Known Member
ttystikk said:
This is a better approach as it will keep all your tubs closer to the same temperature.

Ebb n flood hydroponics delivers oxygen to the roots every time the water drops; the water literally drains away and sucks oxygen into the root zone. Cold water increases aeration and oxygenation. It's just unnecessary in ebb n flood.
Click to expand...
well of course i won't put it in if my roots aren't hot but heres the thing that you don't know. I'm doing flood and drain but almost a dwc hybrid of it. my ebb and flow tables are going to have the netcups in the tray cover with no medium for the roots. so the netcups are essentially going to be suspended in the air with hydroton ONLY in the nectars while the root mass grows in the table with no medium. so i am going to be flooding very frequently, not once or twice a dayl which is why I'm concerned with water temp. i may not need it now but I'm almost certainly going to need it in the summer
 
J

jronnn

Well-Known Member
TWS said:
I have chillers for my ebb and grow. Paranoid of root rot. Right now im not using them cause with the cool weather the rez are around 67-69 F , they have air stones and constant water flow . In the summer they can increase to 75 + , are they still not needed ?
Click to expand...
idc what anyone says they may not be 100% needed at 75 but over 75 and you definitely want a chiller to keep the water oxygenated and to keep the water as clearly from root issues as possible. you have a separate chiller for each res you have?
 
J

jronnn

Well-Known Member
budleydoright said:
I chill my water in the summer running a coco Dtw setup. Plants don't like 85 degree water poured over their roots.

DO NOT use copper in a nutrient solution. The salts will react with the metals and kill your plants. This is well documented and applies to fish tanks as well.
Click to expand...
exactly and it can't hurt for me to have a plan ready for when the roots get too warm and yes I've been hearing copper is a shitty tubing to use but other then that do you think my idea would work?
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
TWS said:
I have chillers for my ebb and grow. Paranoid of root rot. Right now im not using them cause with the cool weather the rez are around 67-69 F , they have air stones and constant water flow . In the summer they can increase to 75 + , are they still not needed ?
Click to expand...
I temp mine daily. No problems, even when water temps hit 78. The reason is that the water drains away and thus doesn't allow the pathogens to set in.

Don't aerate it, either. The plants don't see it for long enough to care so the only things you're benefiting are potential pathogens in the res.
 
B

budleydoright

Well-Known Member
jronnn said:
exactly and it can't hurt for me to have a plan ready for when the roots get too warm and yes I've been hearing copper is a shitty tubing to use but other then that do you think my idea would work?
Click to expand...
Oh yea it will work. Be hard to get them all the same temp running in series like that though. Might be better to run a manifold with a separate cooling line going to each reservoir so they each get cooling water at the same temp.

Copper is great with fresh water, it's the mineral salts that react and create a toxic soup in your Rez.
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
jronnn said:
exactly and it can't hurt for me to have a plan ready for when the roots get too warm and yes I've been hearing copper is a shitty tubing to use but other then that do you think my idea would work?
Click to expand...
MYTHBUSTER TO THE RESCUE!

I've been running copper heat exchange coils in my RDWC control buckets for YEARS, no problems.

If plant roots touch the copper they die, so don't put copper lines in buckets WITH the plants. Other than that, it's fine.

Another myth; condensate water is bad for plants. BULLSHIT- at 0.0 EC, condensate water is as soft as it gets. Just don't let it sit around too long or it will grow a funk. A few drops of bleach per 5 gallons will keep it clean if you need to let it sit for more than a day or two.
 
B

budleydoright

Well-Known Member
ttystikk said:
I temp mine daily. No problems, even when water temps hit 78. The reason is that the water drains away and thus doesn't allow the pathogens to set in.

Don't aerate it, either. The plants don't see it for long enough to care so the only things you're benefiting are potential pathogens in the res.
Click to expand...

You also get a lot of evaporative cooling action with ebb and flow.
 
B

budleydoright

Well-Known Member
ttystikk said:
MYTHBUSTER TO THE RESCUE!

I've been running copper heat exchange coils in my RDWC control buckets for YEARS, no problems.

If plant roots touch the copper they die, so don't put copper lines in buckets WITH the plants. Other than that, it's fine.

Another myth; condensate water is bad for plants. BULLSHIT- at 0.0 EC, condensate water is as soft as it gets. Just don't let it sit around too long or it will grow a funk. A few drops of bleach per 5 gallons will keep it clean if you need to let it sit for more than a day or two.
Click to expand...

Consider yourself lucky. This not a myth it is chemistry. I'll try to dig up my conversation with a chemical engineer regarding this. He explained exactly what happens and why.

And while I do agree about the condensate water I will tell you I had condensate become toxic for some reason. I'm guessing it etched something off the evaporator that caused my ph to drop to sub 4 at times.

So how you been still verticle?
 
ttystikk

ttystikk

Well-Known Member
jronnn said:
well of course i won't put it in if my roots aren't hot but heres the thing that you don't know. I'm doing flood and drain but almost a dwc hybrid of it. my ebb and flow tables are going to have the netcups in the tray cover with no medium for the roots. so the netcups are essentially going to be suspended in the air with hydroton ONLY in the nectars while the root mass grows in the table with no medium. so i am going to be flooding very frequently, not once or twice a dayl which is why I'm concerned with water temp. i may not need it now but I'm almost certainly going to need it in the summer
Click to expand...
I know of several people who did what you're doing and they didn't need cooling. On the other hand, it couldn't hurt?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top