Heater Placement

I want to know if any of you run your heater in your overflow? The reason I ask is because last year I ran mine in the sump, no problem. Now that i have a chiller that draws straight from the sump then to the DT. I think it will get warmer water from the heater, and cause the chiller to come on too early. I have moved it to the overflow, and am watching the temp right now, but I was wondering if that small amount of water would heat up too quick and shut off the heater before the DT gets warm. (BTW...Just ordered a JBJ heater controller 5 min ago to kill this problem)

 

Bump--Anyone???

 

what if you put the heater in the section for the return pump and the supply for the chiller at the other end? will that work?
as for in the overflow it could work I personaly dont like the idea of cluttering up the overflow but thats me maybee youve got much more place.

 

Good Idea, but the return pump is what sends water through the chiller. I have pretty big overflows, just didn't know if there was enough flow to not let the water get too hot before it leaves, thus cycling the heater too early.

 

Hi Robman

one thing that would worry me would be pump failure, rare but it can happen
if the water stops over flowing does that section empty? if so you then have a plugged in heater with no water = cracked heater if its the glass type = ??? Ill not say it

If it where me, I would want that heater where I know it will remain submerged

Steve

 

I would leave it in the sump. The two systems are running on complete opposite ends of the temp scale. If the water gets too hot the heater thermostat will kick it off leaving the chiller to cool it down. If the water gets too cold the thermostat in the chiller is going to kick it off leaving the heater to warm the water up. I would put them as close together in the water cycle of your system as possible. This will keep temp fluctuations between the two locations to a minimum allowing you to fine tune them so they never run at the same time. Set the chiller to come on at about 80 and the heater to come on at 78. Watch to see if the heater indicator lamp is on while the chiller is running and vise versa.

 

No, good thinking, but the heater would stay submerged if the pump failed, or power out. I have had it in there tonight and the main tank temp did come up to where I wanted it to without shutting itself off too early.

 

The problem with that would be that the heater thermostat (built in) is not that accurate, and if all that is going on in the sump. I dont know if the DT would be the same temp. As far as your logic, that is exactly what I am persuing. Hence me ordering the heater controller. Then both the chiller and the heater will have a one degree swing. I will probably hang a 300w heater in each overflow, now that I know they are effective there. Then put the probe in the sump, near the return that feeds the chiller. That way I can achieve what you suggested. It will also be nice because JBJ's controls can be calibrated to match each other. I will also then have 2 temp readings to compare at all times, to know if one is reading wrong should it fail.