Active Aqua 0.5 HP Water Chiller with Boost | Cold Plunge & Ice Bath Cooler | Rapid Digital Temp Control | Fresh & Salt Water, Hydroponics, Aquariums | 90–172 Gal (1 HP)

Had the chiller for about a month. I use it in my cold plunge 5 days a week. The system has a built in 2 degree dead band so if it’s set on 46 degrees the system won’t kick on again until the water reaches 48 degrees. That can be changed but it helps preserve the compressor life. I have it hooked up to a 90 gallon plunge and it works flawlessly so far. You’ll have to buy a separate pump. I included a picture of the online pump I use. It has 3 speed settings and has been a lot better than the pump the company suggests. The systems quiet and cools quickly. For the money I really don’t think you can find a better chiller. I actually found this on YouTube initially. A lot of guys were reviewing it so I figured I’d take a chance on it. Update: it’s been a year next month and the system hasn’t skipped a beat. Absolutely unbeatable. It stays on 24/7 for the price I’m really happy with this purchase. If it crapped out today I’d deff be buying another one

So far so good. I have the 1/2 HP active aqua on a fully insulated 150G Stock tank. (Still waiting on supplies to build and insulate the lid.) The 1/2 HP w the 150G stock tank was widely recommended. Some say the 1/4 HP is fine too. But Sarasota FL Summers peak in the mid/high 90’s and with this build being outdoors, I didn’t want to risk the chiller not keeping up with the heat. So far the chiller is keeping up and maintaining. (Just got it a week ago) I have it set at 60 F and it goes up to 62 F then kicks on to bring it back down. (It is spring time - the high today is 86 F) It is pretty quiet. The only function/feature I wish it had was the option to turn the display off at (Minor detail) A couple things to mention: 1. I do have this in my covered/shaded lanai. 2. It’s spring time in Sarasota FL. 84 F - 88 F 3. Home Depot - LP SmartSide Cedar siding. 4. Home Depot - Foamular NGX insulation sheathing + insulating spray foam. Follow up: May 3rd: Still going strong. Temp is set at 55 F. No problems. June 5th: Still going strong. Temp set at 50 F. No problems. The only thing I’ve noticed is that the chiller sweats/condensates every now and then. But it’s early summer in FL, so this is expected. I’ve also drained this twice to clean it and had no problem getting to temp over night. July 7: Still working great. Chiller set at 48F. No problems. There is a small puddle of condensation from the chiller (Normal). I now have it raised slightly for air flow. Oct 11: Had the chiller off for about a month and powered it back on. Still going strong. Lastly, if you are running this 24/7 (not on boost mode), it will add about $55 dollars a month to your electric bill.

UPDATE #3 thermometer died. (a little over 1.5 years). I keep it in our enclosed patio (yes I know it says indoor only). I kept filters clean and was not exposed to liquid or dirt. I stored it for 2 months during winter months here in Florida. Turned it on and got the thermostat broke error. Will probably cost more than the unit is worth to have thermometer fixed. Must be the Florida humidity or fresh ai UPDATE #2 (contacted seller) They responded within a week and offered some suggestions but all where "common sense". Issue with paper coming out of the chiller unit and into the water they responded: "could have been some packaging material was left inside at manufacturer." but, they will NOT do anything about it since I have it on my screen-enclosed porch. (technically outside). They did not have any solution for the temperature gauge being wrong. Pretty disappointed because even if I did have the unit inside, these hoses slightly leak. Plus, condensation alone will dampen your floor. It's still chilling well though, but with the thermometer broken I have to rely on manual floating thermometer. Will not buy this cooler again because I refuse to put this wet leaking thing inside my home. I voided the warranty by putting it on my porch (like everyone does it seems). UPDATE 9 MONTHS - chiller still working well but all of a sudden the thermostat is exactly 10 degrees off (too high). Not a big issue as it's consistently 10 degrees exactly, just something to consider. (did not change location or anything else) BIG problem is it's spewing out small bits of what looks like thin brown paper. I'm going to take it apart and look at it, also will try to contact manufacturer. Will update with results. Able to keep my 100 gal cold plung at 55 degrees all day outside in Florida summer (under covered porch). Actually got it down to 48 without much problem! Unit is very quiet, chills quickly for it's size, attachments seem to fit well and do not leak. CONS (all very minor, just fyi stuff I wish i had known) - Unit is slightly different than pictures (hose locations, side power switch) - To turn off need to hold down for 6 seconds. Would like to have the power switch on top instead of way down on side. - Boost function doesn't seem to cool any quicker. - Hose attachments are cheap plastic, seems these would fail before mechanics but we'll see.

8 months in and the chiller is working great. One thing to note, the chiller does actually work to heat water as well as chill it. I have it installed in a cold plunge in Michigan and we have with high temps in the mid 20s right now. The chiller can't quite maintain the 50 degree set point, but it is very close at around 48 degrees. Back in January when temps were around 10 degrees all day long, the chiller kept the water around 43 degrees. It had no difficulty keeping the water cool last summer, but because of information in other reviews, I bought an aquarium heater thinking that the water might freeze in winter and that was unnecessary.

I have been cold plunging for a year now. I wanted to start out cheap. I bought a soft portable plunge, and a cheap Vevor 1/4 hp chiller. IT all worked and I plunged at around 50 degrees, but I wanted colder. I upgraded to the 1/3 hp Vevor for around $360. IT got me down to 39, but it had to run all day to do it. I even super insulated my plunge to help. The Vevor chiller has the volume leve3l of a cheap walmart window AC. This may not bother most people, but we have the Plunge on our lanai, and my wife likes to sit out there and have a cup of tea. She does not like listening to all the noise, so she would often unplug it, and then forget to plug it back in. This lead to several days of running, to get the temp back down. That whole time it was very noisy. Finally I caught the Active Aqua on a great sale. They do this from time to time, so track the price on camelcamelcamel dot com. Its worth it! So I finally get my active aqua, and let it sit for 24 hours. This is important with any products that contain refrigerant. Not doing so, will shorten the lifespan. After letting the Active Aqua aclimate, I got it all set up. It had larger fittings than my previous Vevor. SO I had to adapt my plumbing. I probably should have just upgraded to new larger tubing, but I did not want to jump in to that much work right away. I just wanted to get this thing going. Right out of the gates, I noticed how quiet this chiller is. The down side is that it showed how loud my danner 950 pump is. I actually ended up making a hush box for my danner pump. It helped quiet my entire system, to a very manageable level. I used the foil backed foam and carpet padding to wrap the pump in sort of an envelope. This made my pump so quite! Since it has 39 degree water running through it all the time, when running, I figured it did not need to be air cooled. The next thing I noticed, is that my system does not need to run as often. I use an Inkbird controller set at 39 degrees. When the temp is above 39 degrees the inkbird turns everything on. This ensures my pump, chiller and ozone are running when they need to. If I just relied on the temp gauge in the chiller, it may turn off, but my pump and ozone would continue to run. I don't need 24 hour circulation. The Active Aqua only goes down to 39 degrees. That is my desired set point, so there was some issues with the chiller kicking off, and the inkbird letting things continue to run. So I went in to the active aqua settings and calibrated the AA to think it was a few degrees warmer than actual. This way, if the inkbird is calling for 39 and its at 39.1, the active aqua will show 41, and continue to run until the inkbird temp range is satisfied. You can calibrate up to 5 degrees warmer, which will push you down to 34 actual. For me, after a year of plunging, 39 still provides about 30 seconds of full shock and awe mode. Perhaps Ill eventually need it to be colder, and I have room to grow. At these temps ever single degree makes a big difference. I plunge for around 2 minutes, and at that time my feet hurt. Now, the bottom of my tub may actually be colder, as my tub is pretty deep, and long. It could be much cooler where my feet are. At the end of the day, I love this active aqua chiller. I spent a lot on cheaper chillers trying to figure it out. I was able to sell each, and not lose much money. But had I known I would still be doing this, the AA would have been the way to go up front. The sound level, and the extra power make this chiller the perfect choice for my set up. I have an inflatable tub I bought here on Amazon. Its 59 inches long, and probably close to 40 inches deep, 36 inches of water level. Its around 120 gallons according tot he amazon ad, but it feels like more. I wrapped it in 10 mm foil faced soft foam (also purchased on Amazon). I run the Danner 950 pump, and a spa ozone that I purchased, you guessed it, right here on Amazon. Now I am thinking about upgrading to a larger Danner 1200 pump. The 950 works, but more flow may help the filtration, and also help mix the water as I am plunging. If you're worried about price, buy the cheap Vevor, and try it out. But if, like me, the Vevor is not powerful enough, or its much too noisy, this Active Aqua is the perfect solution. 1/2 hp seems to be the perfect size for around 120 gallons, if you're insulated. I live in south Florida, so it it works here, it should work most anywhere in north America.

Alright, so this thing is awesome, once you work through all the kinks. I followed all the instructions to set it up for the first time and, no matter how hard I cranked those fittings, I had water leaks. After using giant pliers to tighten it to the point where I could just use a towel to dry up what leaked (instead of a shop vac), I finally plugged it in and kicked it on. Well, it read the temperature of my test bucket just fine...and did a fine job heating it up, lol. After like twenty minutes of cussing, I decided to pop off the front. I was shining my flashlight around when a huge piece fell off the side of the compressor...what? Read the side "compressor starter capacitor"...well hey, that looks important. I snapped it back where it went and !bam! cooling power unlocked. I also saw the cable harness with connector for the control board was strung up right below my in/out fittings, which were leaking, so I moved it out of the way and zip tied it. Poor placement there. Once I knew it worked, I covered the threads and fittings with high vacuum grease. No more leaks! So, this thing showed up with serious issues and is probably the reason for most of the bad reviews. If your fittings leak, apply high vacuum grease (petroleum jelly works in a pinch). If your chiller doesn't cool, check to see if the compressor starter capacitor has fallen off and snap it back into place. All I needed to fix this was a phillips screwdriver, grease, and some Q-tips to get the grease on the back side of the rubber stoppers on the fittings. I still give this 4 stars because the current asking price of $320 for the 1/4 HP model is insane and cheaper than the 1/10 HP. If you're even a little handy, you can fix this very simple device and probably get many years of use out of it. The capacitor may jiggle loose someday, but if it stops cooling, I'll probably know why and can fix in seconds. It works so well, it only stays on for like 30 seconds at a time for my 10 gallon tank. Overkill...but why pay more for less?

I was in need of a chiller for my 140-gallon cold plunge and, after some browsing and comparing, I decided on this one. I’m happy to say I’m not disappointed! I had no prior experience with chillers and wasn't sure how to set it up, but the instructions were clear, and it was easy to get going. The chiller runs as expected, keeping the tank cool and maintaining a steady 50 degrees. It operates for about 45 minutes twice a day to keep the temperature stable, and the cooling process is efficient. While it does make some noise for a few minutes when it's cooling down to the set temperature, I actually find it soothing—kind of like the comforting hum of the A/C kicking on in a hotel room while you're on vacation. The temperature is consistent and reliable, and overall, I’m really impressed with how well it works. It was definitely worth the investment and has made my cold plunge experience even better.

This just stopped working, which happens so it's not that I am so annoyed about that but I am annoyed that it is impossible to get any help. I have tried their website, which does not work properly, I have called and emailed them and no reply. The unit has no power at all, and the fuse is fine, the power source is fine but it won't switch on. I have had it for less than a year and of course it should still work, it has hardly been used. Problems happen, so I am sympathetic to that but this is still under warranty and I have no support at all for a product which is defective. Do not buy this, buy off a company that actually offers support for products that are still under warranty. When you email, form fill and call and get no repsonse back. You can rest assured that this company does not care about it's customers or products.

this is my first chiller, I bought the 1/10 Hp for my 25 gallons, it works great so far, stop when it reached the temperature set and start when the température is 2 degrees C higher than the one Set. the noise when the compressor is on it's comparable to an Ac unit. I set my chiller for 17 degrees but it seems to keep my water around 18 degrees (following my thermostat inside my tank but it is not the best thermostat you can find in store.

It's the most expensive part of my hydroponics set up, by far, however, its an important piece and works flawlessly. I have no complaints, super easy to set up and use. Keeps my temps at 18c with no issues. I can't hear it run over the sound of my air pump, so that tells you how quiet it is. If I had to, I would definitely buy again.

When I opened the accessory kit,I noticed that the 3/4in fitting with sealing gasket was wet.is it used?after I installed it,the water temperature was 73F,the setting temperature was set at 60F.after two hours later the temperature sill stayed at 73F.today morning when I checked it the water temperature changed to 75F never drop down.very disappointed at this product.I will return it.

I had a hard time finding info online for the 1/10hp unit for an ice plunge. So I pulled the trigger to test for myself. I am happy to say that the unit can manage to keep my plunge sub 50f(10c) without using the boost function. My basement ambient is 18c and I am using a nurecover tub that is uninsulated. An insulated tub would be even better. I am slowly working my temps down as I am fairly new to plunging, but I am confident the cooler will be able to maintain temps in the low 40f range without issue. If I were to upgrade to one of the larger tubs, I may need to upgrade to the 1/4hp unit. But for my current setup, the 1/10hp is all a guy needs.

Amazing performance and great price!