Another one I had on my list, the reviews scared me a bit but, maybe every product should be reviewed personally.
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I had that Chinese chiller, but it broke in just a couple few weeks if I remember correctly. I was pissed I didnāt just get the more expensive one first. Wasted ~$100
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My bad. Full disclosure: havenāt even had it going for a full grow. Itās in a garage with >90 degree heat regularly, so itās doing great.
Just got a wattage meter that reports to smartthings and all in itās drawing ~130kW/mo @ $0.15/kwH youāre looking at < $20/mo all in.
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I just bought this same one on eBay for $80 + tax and added a 2-year coverage plan for $6 which includes free repairs/replacement and free shipping (both ways). If anyone has any tips about this specific unit, like some of the ones already mentioned, please share!
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I have the same one. Its hard to use. I havnt even needed to use it yet.
Ugh, I bought it reluctantly cuz I know Iām going to need it. Hope it doesnāt become a pain to deal with.
I also thought I would need one, never ended up requiring one. Hydroguard does fine.
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We had a 70 degree day yesterday and my reservoir was reading at 78 with a box fan pointing to the back of the Grobo. I donāt like having my ac on until the weather gets beyond 80 degrees so Iām definitely going to need the chiller now that weāve entered spring here. Iāve been using Hydroguard, but it might be less effective since Iām using tap water (I donāt plan on switching my water source yet since many growers have had success with tap).
@Hellyesshedid I nursed it through my first grow. Sometimes the water would freeze inside the chiller. Unplugged, until the ice melted on the inlet, outlet ports. Then plugged back in. That grow was right in the middle of summer. About a month into the second grow, it quit chilling altogether. With the ambient conditions now, I donāt need it. Was going to go with hydroguard for my next grow
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Damn, how often would that happen? Since I have 2 year insurance on the chiller, I donāt mind if I have to send it in once a year. Do you think having an external pump would make a difference in any way?
About once a week, maybe less. Iām retired and pass by the unit frequently during the day. I just got in the habit of glancing at the temp. When it was up, Iād check. Regarding the pump size, itās so small, I donāt think it would matter.
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Sorry, just for clarity - when you say youād glance at the temps and when the temps were up, youād check on it - youāre saying that when the unit is reading higher temps that that letās you know something is wrong (like water being frozen inside the chiller), right? How long would you have to keep it unplugged for when that happened before you could go ahead and plug it back in? Do you think there is any way for me to prevent the water from freezing?
Thanks for your help btw!
I had my chiller set to keep the water between 17.5C and 18.5C. When the digital display on the chiller would be above 18.5C, Iād investigate. Unplugging for 2 hours would work for me. And I have no idea how to keep it from freezing 
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Ok, thank you! If I find any new info Iāll add it to this thread.
This is a good one and easy to useā¦
https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B07BHHQLKR/ref=ox_sc_saved_title_7?smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER&psc=1
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Many growers have had success with tap but not in the grobo, are you sure you werenāt reading about a tent, flora flex, potted, or outside grow?
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I reluctantly spent the $100 for the cheap unit from China, Iām not ready to get a $300 unit 
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Oops, I thought @chris_barfield meant he was using tap in the Grobo! But yeah more so hydroponic tent setups, but I donāt see how thatād be much different from the Grobo. If it conflicts with the automated feeding, Iād be willing to manually feed and just keep bottles 1&2 connected for any pH changes in the reservoir.
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It is different in the way of how the machine operates and gets clogged up by certain things within the water.
Not so much the plant itself but the system used.
Sensors, probes, lines, etcā¦
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