Prime Chillers: Anyone with experience?

[RichardinFL]

We are looking for a new chiller. I have been looking at the Prime chillers from Current USA and they appear to be a good value. Has anyone had experience with them? Pros or cons? good or bad experience?

What I liked about them was the larger fittings (1" on the 1/3hp) and higher flow rates than many of their competitors. Their BTU ratings look good as well.

We are looking at keeping roughly 250 gallons of water chilled in an outside (shaded porch) environment. We need to drop typically 5 to 10 degrees, ocassionally as much as 15 degrees.

The prime chillers are available in 1/3 and 1/2 hp units that look like they could do the job. They also offer an optional thermal expansion valve. Can anyone give any advice on sizing, and whether or not the thermal expansion valve would be applicable to our needs?

Thanks!

Rich

[franklinbeens]

i have the 1/3, it's a little noisy, i run it inline from return pump
to display. works good for 200 ga. total load. max time mine runs
when on is 1~ 1.5 hr. i have a 2 degree set point. lighting is 1800 watts. pc55 return, blueline 1100 for loop, (2) 6100 tunze (1) 6060, (1) seio med. size & (3) small in sump waterpumps. i also run a bunch of fans which is why it does not run every day.

[RichardinFL]

Thanks for the input. Our system is complex... it consists of:

92G corner, 75g AGA, 45g Refugium, 40g sump, all common plumbed. The 92g and 75g tanks have blueline HD40X pumps running closed loops. The 45g fuge has a zoomed 228 power head for circulation. The main return pump is a Bluline HD70 (1740gph pressure rated), which returns water to all three tanks via a 1" manifold and then 1" PVC (mostly spa-flex) to each of the tanks. There is a Mag 5 in the sump feeding the skimmer. There are no other pumps in the system. The 92g has dual 250W MH pendants about 10" above the tank, which is open topped. The 75g has four 65W PC lamps in a closed hood . The 45g has two 65W PC lamps in a closed hood. The tanks all sit on a shaded porch (no direct sunlight), which during the heat of the summer can get up to around 90 degrees.

We currently have an AquaMedic Titan 1500, which is a nice 1/2hp cooler. It is not however well suited to our needs.

Current USA is recommending we use their commercial chiller model 2605, which is a 1/2hp chiller.

Rich

[jdieck]

Does anyone know if their coils are made of Titanium or Stainless Steel. I can find that info anywhere.
If they are SS I think I would go for the Aqualogic. I have had one for 5 years on and off three times per hous 24/7 and have had no problems.