Heater Sizing

[giulianom]

Ok, so assuming I get some water running within a week or so... Yes, I know... I'm working on it.

</em>I'm going to need some heaters, some advice on where to put them, and how much wattage.


The scenario:


<ul>
<li>150 Gallon Acrylic tank in the living room, with a room temperature between 70-74 in winter.</li>
<li>~75 Gallon Acrylic sump in the basement, in an unheated but enclosed area - probably 40-60 in winter.</li>
<li>~20-26 linear feet of 1.5\" PVC in between for the returns/drains, through an unheated garage.</li>
</ul>


What I want to do is to put 2-3 titanium heaters through bulkheads in the side wall of the sump in this area with the arrow:

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Probably driven by a Ranco controller - but should the sensor be in the sump, or in the tank?





What kind of heaters, how many, and how much wattage... Figure on 3 heaters, 2 active and one for coverage.

 

[ralph atl]

eheim ebo jager heaters, and after 7 years I just recieved my Ranco Controller a few days ago...I'll need to wire that soon....

 

[joseayes]

Space could be an issue for large heaters, but eheim is the best and reliable choice.
I would said three heaters with controller display to see if they're heating properly, and not two of them or one of them doing the work of the rest.
I gonna be dealing with the same thing you have there, sump and filters located in the garage ( not insulated or climate controlled) and display tank obviously inside the house on the next wall, and of course, running within an temperature controlled area.

I think that controlling the temperature for the 150 and your -75 sump could be just a little tricky, well, you said that the area for the sump is enclosed, but still different temperature than the display is.

 

[jbdreefs]

Is running the temp sensor to the tank even an option? that would be a long run. If it is an option that is going to be the best one. There will be a cooling effect in the winter and maybe a warming effect in the summer: to what degree... I can't say. For example, if you want a 79 degree tank temp you may have to set the thermostat to 80 in the winter. By the time the water reaches the tank it cools to 79. The problem comes when the temperature changes and you lose the cooling effect. Then you tank temp changes to 80 or possibly higher in the summer.

Maybe the best option is to insulate the pipes running through the garage. I'm pretty certain the home stores carry pipe insulation. Then, I would guess that the temp swing would be pretty low, and maybe you don't have to worry about it.

I like to put the temp sensor in front of the heaters (in terms of flow). This way the heaters come on and stay on until the water cycles through the system.

Just more food for thought. Good luck.

 

[giulianom]

Looks like the Ranco temp sensor cable can be extended by up to 400'...



You have to cut and splice in a longer cable length.



So that may be the best option...





I think I will run a length of Smurf tubing conduit parallel to the plumbing... I'm sure I'll be running at least a handful of cables.

 

[rjrgroup]

Isn't it shielded cable? I wouldn't "cut and splice" shielded...

 

[giulianom]

Nope, regular 22ga unshielded wire. Manual says to extend by splicing.



One site I saw sells 3/8" PVC heatshrink tubing to go over the thermistor at the end to waterproof it. Apparently they're not supposed to go in water by themself.

 

[giulianom]

Here's an idea:

Wire multiple sensors in parallel for averaging out the temperatures between the tank and the sump.

You can do that... and an extra sensor is $18.


Ranco ETC-111100 w/ 0-10V DC output (think Apex monitoring):
http://www.etcsupply.com/ranco-etc111100000-digital-temperature-controller010v-output-p-97.html">http://www.etcsupply.com/ranco-etc111100000-digital-temperature-controller010v-output-p-97.html</a>

Extra sensor:
[IMG]http://www.etcsupply.com/ranco-etc-1309007044-replacement-sensor-p-96.html">http://www.etcsupply.com/ranco-etc-1309007044-replacement-sensor-p-96.html</a>

Heat shrink tubing:
[IMG]http://www.etcsupply.com/thermal-well-for-aquariums-clear-pvc-heat-shrink-tubing-p-150.html">http://www.etcsupply.com/thermal-well-for-aquariums-clear-pvc-heat-shrink-tubing-p-150.html</a>


I may go with that... it will at least make sure that the differences between the tank and the sump will be averaged and corrected to some degree.