chiller on a controller

is there any reason not to put a chiller on a controller? My chiller only runs like 20 minutes twice a day, and I would like not to run its pump 24/7. the only thing im worried about is if powering on/off the chiller 2-3 times a day is going to shorten its life.

 

I set my apex up to control the chiller, just in case the thermometer in the chiller failed. You won't shorten the life of the chiller unless you cycle it off and on while the compressor is running. The compressor only kicks in when it reaches the set temperature, and your controller would turn on the outlet which in turn allows the chiller to kick in and turn on the compressor.

My chiller has a time delay once it is turned on and it flashes letting you know it's reached the proper temperature and waits (1 minute I think) before the compressor turns on. I also have the program on the apex set to wait 5 minutes to turn on after the set temperature (Defer) to ensure it wasn't some weird spike and turn the outlet on unnecessarily. So it won't cycle unless it needs to.

 

how do you keep from turning it off with the compressor running? if i set the temp to turn the outlet off the same as the chiller its going to still be running when power is cut. if i set the controller lower than chiller the outlets just going to stay on

 

Set it 1 degree under the chiller temp. The controller will only act as a failsafe in the case the chiller thermo fails.

 

ahh ok, so yea that defeats my goal I guess ill just run the pump 24/7

 

You should run the chiller pump 24/7 anyhow. Mine is plumbed through my return.

 

If water is not circulating its getting stagnant or going septic due to lack of oxygen. I always ran my chiller on my return pump line so water was passing through it 24/7. The compressor came on when needed.