50 ltr res hooked up, unable to chill :(

[orson]

i just hooked up a 50 ltr igloo marine ice chest to my chiller system, previously i was just using 2 dual bay reservoirs.

the problem i am having is the chiller seems unable to get the temperature lower than 15c, whereas with the smaller reservoirs i could push right down to 4c.

it's a hailea hc-500a chiller.

any help would be most appreciated

[ericFX1984]

pics would be nice... but I would expect that it will take quite some time to reach low temps...

[orson]

pics would be nice... but I would expect that it will take quite some time to reach low temps...

Loop goes,

chiller out -> cpu -> mobo -> gpus -> reservior in @ top -> reservior out -> pump -> chiller in



The temp set on the chiller in this pic is 3c, It just won't go down past 15c, whereas when i was using the smaller 2x dual bay reservoirs it would go all the way down to 3c

[schoolslave]

How long have you left it running? Just guessing, but since you got a larger reservoir it probably takes a lot longer for the water temp to drop.

[orson]

How long have you left it running? Just guessing, but since you got a larger reservoir it probably takes a lot longer for the water temp to drop.

2-3 hours it's been running now

[K404]

50L is massive... the volume of water will carry a lot of inertia and might "help" keep the temp closer to ambient, given the implied surface area contact with the ambient..... if that makes sense


Did you fill the res then move it onto the shelf? If so, props for not spilling any

[orson]

50L is massive... the volume of water will carry a lot of inertia and might "help" keep the temp closer to ambient, given the implied surface area contact with the ambient..... if that makes sense


Did you fill the res then move it onto the shelf? If so, props for not spilling anyway

yeah i see what you are saying, maybe I should drain some water out, it's pretty full.

i silicone sealed it before lifting it so no spillage

[ericFX1984]

does the chiller have a internal res as well?

when I built my chiller it would go from 22c(room temp) down to -24c in around 1 hour, that was using 6 gallons of coolant

[shadow6491]

I have 100 liters in my chiller (chest freezer) and it cools the coolant at about 1.5 degrees per hour. I leave it on overnight when the electricity is cheaper and I am not in the room to hear any noise it makes. Then turn it off during the day when I am using the computer. I have cooled it down to about -6 at this temp the coolant is freezing up in big blocks. With that much coolant you get very stable PC temps.

Your not running the coolant through the rads are you?

[Stewie007]

Cooling ~13 gallons is going to take some time.... That is a lot of volume to put through a relatively small cooling unit like that.

Try boiling 13 gallons of water on your stove.... It'll take a while too.

[orson]

does the chiller have a internal res as well?

when I built my chiller it would go from 22c(room temp) down to -24c in around 1 hour, that was using 6 gallons of coolant

I would assume it does, I can fill it with water by pouring water down the tubing and it takes about a litre or so.

Thinking I should of stuck with the hailea hc-1000 model, but GF was not happy with it.

I have 100 liters in my chiller (chest freezer) and it cools the coolant at about 1.5 degrees per hour. I leave it on overnight when the electricity is cheaper and I am not in the room to hear any noise it makes. Then turn it off during the day when I am using the computer. I have cooled it down to about -6 at this temp the coolant is freezing up in big blocks. With that much coolant you get very stable PC temps.

Your not running the coolant through the rads are you?

Nope it's just the loop as described in the above post, I need to buy a new smaller case, prolly a TJ07, the rads in that current case are redundant at the mo.

Which chiller do you use ?

Cooling ~13 gallons is going to take some time.... That is a lot of volume to put through a relatively small cooling unit like that.

Try boiling 13 gallons of water on your stove.... It'll take a while too.

Yeah, I a thinking I might need to get a more powerful chiller.

I only really know the Hailea range of chillers, I just spent 400 on this one, i can prolly sell it on for 300ish, it's only like 2 weeks old and i could prolly afford to spend around the 650 mark right now, planning on buying a 980x as well.

[Stewie007]

You could down size your reservoir size some. That would be a much less costly option before you do anything drastic like spending boat loads more.

[orson]

You could down size your reservoir size some. That would be a much less costly option before you do anything drastic like spending boat loads more.

well i drained out the res and it does drop the temp better, only like 5 litres in there now.

are there any mods i could do to the hailea to help it cool better ? or is the compressor in there just not capable of going sub-zero.

ideally what i am after is a controllable chiller that i can use 24/7 to keep temps down.

i've been looking at all the build threads and considered maybe making my own, i've got an air con i'm not using sitting in the loft that i picked up for like £150 from b&q. Just not really sure on where to start or how to go about it.

exploded image of the chiller

http://images.bit-tech.net/content_i...500amanual.jpg

could i replace the condenser with a large one maybe to dissipate more heat ?

[bm78]

Yeah, I a thinking I might need to get a more powerful chiller.

I only really know the Hailea range of chillers, I just spent 400 on this one, i can prolly sell it on for 300ish, it's only like 2 weeks old and i could prolly afford to spend around the 650 mark right now, planning on buying a 980x as well.

I recently purchased a 1hp Oceanic chiller (yours is .5hp). Not in use yet as I only received my coolant yesterday (dielectric fluid for chilled submersion should be fun).

[Stewie007]

well i drained out the res and it does drop the temp better, only like 5 litres in there now.

are there any mods i could do to the hailea to help it cool better ? or is the compressor in there just not capable of going sub-zero.

could i replace the condenser with a large one maybe to dissipate more heat ?

Well, it's using R134a, which is a good indicator that it isn't going to have a lot of low temperature capacity.

What kind of temps are you getting in your coolant now?

[orson]

Well, it's using R134a, which is a good indicator that it isn't going to have a lot of low temperature capacity.

What kind of temps are you getting in your coolant now?

on an active gaming session it hits around 19c 20c, I was really hoping to keep temps at around the 12c mark, or pretty much whatever temp i set the chiller to

[Stewie007]

You ever try running it without a res? The internal cooler may sport enough water on its own.

Edit: By the way, how old is the thing?

[orson]

You ever try running it without a res? The internal cooler may sport enough water on its own.

Edit: By the way, how old is the thing?

brought it about 3 weeks ago.

i haven't tried without the res but I would think the water wouldn't have enough time to cool down going through the loop and would just end up pumping hot water around.

i can try it though simple enough to plumb the pipes together

[Stewie007]

Try it and see what happens.

[ericFX1984]

are there any mods i could do to the hailea to help it cool better ? or is the compressor in there just not capable of going sub-zero.

take the evaporator from your chiller and drop it into the 50ltr res...

[Q56_Monster]

Is that an aquarium chiller? Looks like it, so you won't get much lower than 0c, especially not with that much liquid.reduce the size of your res, or take the chiller apart and submerge the evaporator. Or just buy a 5000 btu room a/c for $100 and drop the evaporator in the res.

[orson]

Is that an aquarium chiller? Looks like it, so you won't get much lower than 0c, especially not with that much liquid.reduce the size of your res, or take the chiller apart and submerge the evaporator. Or just buy a 5000 btu room a/c for $100 and drop the evaporator in the res.

yeah it is, i am not to worried about going sub-zero the dial only goes to 3c, i would just like the temp to stay beloew 19 20c, like down at around 9c or so.

from the looks of the exploded diagram the evaporator is already built into the reservoir of the unit, is that correct ?

[Stewie007]

You would have to drop the charge (not vent) and do a bit of handy work.

[Q56_Monster]

Id take it back if I were you and get a regular room ac and convert it your self. You'd probably save a bunch of money too...i imagine you spent quite a few hundred on that aquarium chiller. Taking that aquarium chiller apart is going to be apita. The only other option is to drop back down to a regular sized water cooling res....my team mate runs the larger aquarium chiller with a slightly larger res than a regular ambient water cooling system and can get close to zero on asuicide run. He then has to turn system off to regenerate. Of course his card is not zero, but the liquid temp is close, at least for a little while...

[orson]

You would have to drop the charge (not vent) and do a bit of handy work.

How would I go about dropping the charge ? sorry i am completely new to chilled liquid cooling

Id take it back if I were you and get a regular room ac and convert it your self. You'd probably save a bunch of money too...i imagine you spent quite a few hundred on that aquarium chiller. Taking that aquarium chiller apart is going to be apita. The only other option is to drop back down to a regular sized water cooling res....my team mate runs the larger aquarium chiller with a slightly larger res than a regular ambient water cooling system and can get close to zero on asuicide run. He then has to turn system off to regenerate. Of course his card is not zero, but the liquid temp is close, at least for a little while...

It was shipped from Germany and it's been obviously used, I doubt they would take it back to be honest.

i've got a 9,000 BTU air con sat upstairs, i'll dig it out, strip it down and take some pics.

not really sure as to where to even start with making my own etc.

I am fairly handy though, i've rebuilt car engines before so this should be just a new learning experience