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Record heat wave- battery fans

JVU

JVU

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This week we have a record setting heat wave in the Bay Area. Forecast up to 110F in my area, and not cooling off as much as usual at night. Everyone’s AC will be on full blast, straining the grid and making outages more likely. Plus PGE has said they will be doing preventive outages in high fire risk areas, and fire risk is at the max level this week.

All of this is to say- make sure you have power outage and extreme heat plans to keep your tank(s) alive during this. Every time we have issues like this someone in our community loses their tank.

With the combination of power outages and heat- think about what you’d do if you lost power and the temp in your house got to 100F or more.

For cooling, I find battery powered fans very helpful, you point them at the surface of the water for evaporative cooling. Just make sure to replenish with RODI water. I have several different battery powered fans. I like the ones with the large clip for mounting on the tank and large battery like the following (and this one is available for same day delivery from Amazon):

 
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Thank you for the heads up! I knew it was going to get hot. But not THAT hot.
Man, my apartment doesn't even have an AC unit. Time to go break out the laptop fans in storage.
Hopefully Burlingame won't get too hot.
 
Great topic and awareness to raise. I realized I did not consider this while out of the country. It looks like these fans can also sit on the Eurobrace?
 
Thanks for the heads up. Heard it on the news but didn’t really pay attention to it before this.

Just plug in both EV to get them charged up just in case. I bought at 500w inverter , hoping to pull power from the car battery just in case. Did some research and it’s doable. 500w inverter + 35kwh (theoretical ) battery in my egolf should be plenty to keep my 65g going . The Tesla will be for transport.
 
Alexander1312 said:
Great topic and awareness to raise. I realized I did not consider this while out of the country. It looks like these fans can also sit on the Eurobrace?
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Yes, they can sit flat or clip on, and the clip can angle 360 degrees horizontally, and the fan can angle 360 degrees the other direction in the housing. Quite versatile.
 
JVU said:
Yes, they can sit flat or clip on, and the clip can angle 360 degrees horizontally, and the fan can angle 360 degrees the other direction in the housing. Quite versatile.
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Great. Thank you. Bought two of them now. Hopefully not needed but this covers a blindspot in my disaster protection plan.
 
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I've got a chiller laying around that I'm not using that I'm happy to sell or loan out to supporting member who doesn't have AC this well week. Please don’t (unintentionally) cook your fish!
 
@JVU - Received those fans this morning. They seem to be really good for Eurobrace, with rubber feed to sit flat, almost silent, different speed settings and show the battery level. They also feel like a solid build. Great recommendation. Thank you.
 
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Another 100 degree today.

I have a GHL 4 fan if anybody is interested. Send offer.

I switched to a chiller and what a difference on a 200g.


Screenshot 2024-07-03 at 10.35.27 AM.png
 
It's only hitting 90 degrees where I am in Burlingame and three of my tanks got to 86, the Inkbirds notified my partner while I am out of the house... Display area was at 80, so I now have 2 issues to sort out (Inkbird and cooling). Floating frozen water bottles works so far.
EDIT: Point being, even if you don't think it'll be you, it CAN be you - get those contingency plans in place BEFORE you need them, folks, even if it's just a 6 pack of frozen water bottles.
Lullaby said:
Thank you for the heads up! I knew it was going to get hot. But not THAT hot.
Man, my apartment doesn't even have an AC unit. Time to go break out the laptop fans in storage.
Hopefully Burlingame won't get too hot.
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Lullaby said:
It's only hitting 90 degrees where I am in Burlingame and three of my tanks got to 86, the Inkbirds notified my partner while I am out of the house... Display area was at 80, so I now have 2 issues to sort out (Inkbird and cooling). Floating frozen water bottles works so far.
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I've been outside a couple times and it feels like that puff of hot cookie air when you open an oven, except everywhere all the time and it smells like allergies.

I'm genuinely going to have to consider getting a cooling fan. Don't know what I would do if power went out.
 
tribbitt said:
I've been outside a couple times and it feels like that puff of hot cookie air when you open an oven, except everywhere all the time and it smells like allergies.

I'm genuinely going to have to consider getting a cooling fan. Don't know what I would do if power went out.
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I moved from Sacramento to the Bay area and man, this is making me consider buying a chiller for my tanks. Or a chiller per tank at this rate. I thought moving away from the valley would make this problem go away, hahah.
I have frozen water bottles in my freezer, and a cooler with frozen water bottles on deck. Only one of my tanks is on a UPS, but if the power went out I'd imagine I'd be cutting whatever I'm doing short and heading straight home with bags of ice...
 
My little usb fan ( like the one Jvu posted, but without battery) seems to be keeping up. My tank temp have been stead ard 77-78F
 
It hit 120 F here yesterday. At the house, we got 111F or so.


The dry heat thing is real though, been able to keep my tanks under 80 with a couple fans and the AC keeping the house at 77.
 
newfly said:
My little usb fan ( like the one Jvu posted, but without battery) seems to be keeping up. My tank temp have been stead ard 77-78F
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My temp went up higher than expected ( got to 80) but not yet dangerously high. I’m actually quite surprised since it’s not hotter than before. The fan was working ( it’s spinning) but further inspection shows not much air movement.

Turns out that the blade is coated with dust and stuff. After a quick cleaning , the temp now stable again.

So check and clean you fan. It makes a big difference.
 

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newfly said:
My temp went up higher than expected ( got to 80) but not yet dangerously high. I’m actually quite surprised since it’s not hotter than before. The fan was working ( it’s spinning) but further inspection shows not much air movement.

Turns out that the blade is coated with dust and stuff. After a quick cleaning , the temp now stable again.

So check and clean you fan. It makes a big difference.
Click to expand...
I have to change my house air filters every 3 months here with how much dust is in the air. It is insane the buildup that happens without preventative maintenance.
 
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