Hi I would like to grow weed indoor in DWC hydroponic system. To do so I connected with tubes 3 reservoir, so when I fill water in one reservoir it will fill the two others by communicating vessels. Each reservoir volume is 18 liters but I think that I won’t use all the volume so lets say the total volume is about 45 liters (Max). The ambient temperature can reach to 31.5 Celsius degree during summer. To test it I chilled the water in one reservoir (14 liter) to 20 Celsius degree and after one hour, when the lights are on, the temperature reach to 23 Celsius degree. I wondering if Hailea chiller of 1/20 HP can handle with it and keep the 45 liters below 24 Celsius degree or is it better to buy 1/15 HP. I am looking for the cheapest option but reliable.
If it were me I’d go with the larger one. For two reasons. 1 because it will be easier to cool which will mean less electricity. And 2 because you may want to expand to more plants later. But the smaller one should do the job. So it’s up to you.
A horsepower is considered 746 watts per hour. I don’t know that is actual power consumption of chiller though. I’m sure there would be implications as to how the chiller was sized to the system and how much cooling the chiller was required to do. The formula for watts is volts*amps, that would give you rough estimate of what the chiller would draw when compressor was running.
The bigger one does use more power while running but by having larger than needed the compressor will need less time to get the water temperature down. And since it only runs while it’s cooling it’ll run less. That was my point. It might end up being close to the same power usage but you’ll have the ability to do more with it later.
I don’t know about celcius and litres, but I got 1/4 horsepower for mine. I have approximately 50gal in my system. It should say what size reservoir it will cool. Be sure and get one that’s large enough. I’ve tried saving money up front before, only to wind up spending more down the road