water cooling and theory?

[jfart]

im confused on how water cooled products. i hear its efficient but wouldnt running a big pump be the same as running a fan? do you still need a fan? its still in tube so wouldnt it cut back the efficiency of a bare bulb?

my other question is i know water is a natural magnificent, so does the water in a water light magnifiy the light to the point that it makes up for the glass tube or is it just another substance to cut your lumens back?

can anyone explain the types of water cooled systems and their advantages please?

 

[budleydoright]

The water cooled lights do reduce you lumen output as does any glass you pass the light through. This can be easily made up for by lowering the light just a few inches.

I personally don't care for the additional complexity of watercooled systems, the upkeep etc...

Every garden is unique and every setup has it's own challanges. There's a recent thread on this site that covers most of the pros and cons of this type of cooling.

There are also a few ways water is used to cool a garden.

Fresca Sol light fixture is a direct to water cooling system.

the Ice Box is a water to air heat exchanger typically used at the reflector with a fan.

An Air Handler is another water to air exchanger in a large cabinet and works exactly like a refrigerant based air handler except it has cold water running through it's coils instead of refrigerant.

 

[jfart]

thank you

 

[Guest101]

Note: lowering the light fixture to offset for lumens lost in the water jacket will shrink the area lit so its not really a fix.

 

[budleydoright]

Note: lowering the light fixture to offset for lumens lost in the water jacket will shrink the area lit so its not really a fix.

To make up for a 10% loss the amount you need to lower the light would barely be noticable. We are talking a few inches here.

 

[flyer81]

I use water cooling currently. I have a 1 HP water chiller tied in with a 50 gallon drum. It just barely meets my needs to cool 2 rooms with 2- 1000w lights, 1 ballast (2nd is outside room, cord length issue), 2 - 8 bulb T5 units, 3 water pumps, and a CO2 generator/tankless water heater) . Those are the only heat generating items in my rooms. I use 3 pumps... one to circulate water to the chiller, one to circulate water to the co2 generator, and one to circulate water to the Icebox heat exchanger which is tied in with a fan that circulates the air in the room.

I want to jump to a mini split. As I found that I have an issue with humidity. And water cooling does nothing to help with humidity. I have two options there. Either run a dehumidifier... or I just leave my exhaust/intake fans on 24 hours a day. But then that negates the CO2 generator. My thought is that with a mini split it would take some of the humidity as well out of the air and kill two birds with one stone. One compressor vs two (chiller + dehumidifier)

 

[Devilman]

You can still achieve the humidity level you are after with water cooling, provided you are able to chill the water below the dew point you are looking for. If the humidity rises above this point the excess will start to condense out on the "chilled" heat exchanger, just like it does in an AC / Dehuey.