Chiller out of a Peltier

[Martin in China]

Did anyone ever tried (or hopefully succeeded) to make a chiller using a Peltier element for a nano reef?

If yes, how did you do it and are you happy with it?

[evilc66]

It has been done before, with products like the Ice Probe. They are horribly inefficient though.

[reef55]

I've looked into this pretty extensively... thinking that the peltier's are so cheap on ebay that it would be worthwhile. The actual cooling power though once you actually get the cold thermally transferred to the water is not worth it. The math works out that the cost of the power supply, cost of the heatsink / fans to pull away the heat, and the titanium transfer plate to thermally connect the peltier to water, and then the inefficiency (aka amount of electricity needed to make it run), you'll save yourself money and headache just buying a small chiller.

 

If the Ice Probe provides enough cooling, then a small fan pointed at the water would also.

[Martin in China]

A small chiller ey?....any suggestion which one would do well for my 20 Gallon tank?

[CronicReefer]

A small chiller ey?....any suggestion which one would do well for my 20 Gallon tank?

How hot do you keep your house? I doubt you would need a chiller on your tank as long as the rooms temperature doesn't go above 27C. I actually control my tanks temperature with my house temperature quite easily (my water temperature is always +1 degrees over my house temp).

[Martin in China]

How hot do you keep your house? I doubt you would need a chiller on your tank as long as the rooms temperature doesn't go above 27C. I actually control my tanks temperature with my house temperature quite easily (my water temperature is always +1 degrees over my house temp).

I live in the south of China and at summertime, which will start in a week or 2 and last for 8 months or so, the temperature is most above 32C. I've got a chiller for my 80 Gallon freshwater tank.