Lightobject.com Support Forum

What's the best/right way to plumb in a chiller?

I see four obvious alternatives:
1) Two pumps in a sump, one for chiller, one through the laser
2) One pump in a sump, water through chiller, then through laser, back into the sump
3) One pump in a sump, water through laser, then through the chiller, back into the sump
4) Closed loop no sump, water directly from pump to chiller, through laser, and back to the pump

#1 is what I'm currently using (5 gal sump), and certainly works, but are #2 or #3 preferable for some reason?
#4 seems a bit iffy to me... not much coolant involved, so not much thermal mass to store the "cold".

So which method is preferred? (For reference, I'm using this on a 50W system.)

Thanks,
Joe

As far as I know #4 is the way it is normally done.

I'm doing number 2 as a chiller can also have a heater and this means in winter months there will be no thermal shock. I thought about two pumps too but I don't think you would gain much from that. Initially I thought I would need it because the pump on the chiller loop might be too powerful for the laser.

Then I realised that pressure and flow are two different things. The pressure in a laser system is pretty low and not related to the flow rate so you don't need to worry too much if the flow rate of one pump is marginally higher than the tube specifies.
With an aquarium chiller a slightly faster flow rate will remove the heat better and you have that water tank acting as a buffer.

With regards to Laser chillers I think they have alarms on the in case of faliure. It's a smaller neater system with less maintenance. The chiller is more powerful than the aquarium chiller because it has to compensate for having less water. The downside is you can't go and buy parts easily if there is a failure, unlike the aquarium chiller.

I think the aquarium chiller is the better option for me. Cheaper, there is a buffer, off the shelf parts and it can heat the water in the winter. If you live in a hot climate ( unlike the UK) you should be able to buy a chiller like a Teco second hand on eBay easily.

I hope this helps. There seem to be loads of cooling questions all of a sudden! I spent weeks reading up on it all after my cooling system became inadequate.