Dehumidifier or exhaust fan?

[steveboo]

Hello all,

My 220 has been running for 3 months now, and I am having trouble with high humidity. I did not expect this when planning my tank, so should I buy a dehumidifier for the fish room?or maybe an exhaust fan vented out the roof? Any ideas or suggestions would really help.
Thanks, Steve

 

[46bfinGA]

i tried a dehumidifier in my room,and all it did was suck water out of the tank,puts off alot of heat,and used alot of electricity.so i would suggest the exhaust fan or an air exchanger.

 

[steveboo]

Hey 46b, thanks for the info. Sounds like the exhaust fan is the way to go. Do you think it would be better to run some sort of duct straight to the canopy or would an exhaust fan in the room be enough? I have been looking at inline duct fans.

Thanks again, Steve

 

[46bfinGA]

i think you could just run the fan straight to the room if it is sealed from the rest of the house.Is the canopy an open top or is it sealed?

 

[steveboo]

The canopy is open in the back and the sides and front are closed. The top is closed except for a 2inch gap running down the middle.

 

[46bfinGA]

ohh ok well you could put a couple fans in the canopy for cooling if you wanted but i think that the exhaust fan in the room would be sufficient.just be sure you have a source of fresh air to replenish the outbound air.im not going to claim to have all the answers im actually about to set up a fish room and am concerned with the same thing as you.there are quite a few threads that go into more detail that should give you the answers you are looking for.good luck

 

[DaveWC]

You've got to consider where the return air is coming from. Pittsburgh gets pretty cold in the winter doesn't it? So if you are pumping lots of air out of the room your tank is in and out of the house it has to come from somewhere. If your house was airtight you'd have a problem with this. If your house isn't airtight you'll be sucking cold air into the house to replace the warm, humid air you're pushing out. That will make your furnace go much more often and your heating bill may go nuts. And if you don't push that much air out, to lessen this problem, you won't reduce the humidity. That's why an air exchanger makes more sense. The outgoing air heats the incoming air, lessening the temperature difference and your heating bill. Something to consider. Call some heating / air conditioning guys in town and ask what they can do. Or if you're handy take a look at Home Depot, they sell heat recovery units for $500 or so.

 

[redox]

davewc do you have the item # for that hd hrv? I couldnt find it on their site

 

[DaveWC]

Nope. I'm in Canada so it probably wouldn't be the same for you. Just go down to the nearest HD and see what they carry.

 

[redox]

I did they dont

 

[DaveWC]

Here's a link for the unit I own. But it's a Canadian company. It gives you some information on how the products work. Do a search for "heat recovery ventilator" and you'll find similar companies in the U.S.

 

[46bfinGA]

there has to be a cheaper solution then that.i was reading a post where they were going into detail about running a return from your house hvac unit and venting from the bottom of the wall in your fish room so that the air is being recirculated in your fish room.then you could run just a fan that blows to the outside during the warmer months.can anyone confirm that logic?i cant seem to find the post that i was reading awhile back.

only downside to that is the effect that it will have on your hvac unit in the house.im not sure if it would be good or bad.if money is not an issue then the air exchanger would be the way to go.

 

[mcrist]

This is what I was considering for my 450 gallon tank so I contacted a company that specialized in home air quality to have their opinion. They told me that if you use an exhaust fan that vents a lot of air outside the house you will have less air pressure inside your home than outside. If you house is sealed well this will cause a negative air pressure unless you have air exchanger to bring outside air into your home. If you don’t stabilize your air pressure your home will allow air/moisture to pass through your walls which could cause mold issues down the line. They recommended using a dehumidifier over an exhaust fan/air exchanger because of the cost difference and the difficulty of an air exchanger. I purchased a Santa Fe HC Dehumidifier which was installed as a whole house dehumidifier. Works great and uses less electric than my old dehumidifier.

 

[x-link]

the lifebreath is one of the best on the market for heat recouvery air exchanger,you can get it on ebay if im not wrong.

 

[46bfinGA]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8532168#post8532168 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by mcrist
This is what I was considering for my 450 gallon tank so I contacted a company that specialized in home air quality to have their opinion. They told me that if you use an exhaust fan that vents a lot of air outside the house you will have less air pressure inside your home than outside. If you house is sealed well this will cause a negative air pressure unless you have air exchanger to bring outside air into your home. If you don’t stabilize your air pressure your home will allow air/moisture to pass through your walls which could cause mold issues down the line. They recommended using a dehumidifier over an exhaust fan/air exchanger because of the cost difference and the difficulty of an air exchanger. I purchased a Santa Fe HC Dehumidifier which was installed as a whole house dehumidifier. Works great and uses less electric than my old dehumidifier.

have any links to that unit?does it not make the evaporation in your tank increase?What exactly is the difficulty of an air exchanger?

 

[mcrist]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8534071#post8534071 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by 46bfinGA
have any links to that unit?does it not make the evaporation in your tank increase?What exactly is the difficulty of an air exchanger?

The web address is http://www.thermastor.com/ .

I have not noticed any change in my evaporation levels.

The difficulty with an air exchanger is to reach a constant air pressure inside your home. I also did not want to worry about purifying the outside air that the unit would pull.

 

[blide]

I just installed an exhaust fan and I have to recommend you get one that has a low sone level of 2.0 or less. I have mine set on a timer that kicks on 4 times a day and I bought a 120cfm @ 4.0 sones and it's a little louder than I would like it to be.

Hope that helps...

 

[DaveWC]

When you install an air exchanger part of the installation is to balance it. In other words balance the air going in/out of your home. It requires a special tool to do it but I wouldn't say that it's a difficult thing to do, nor should it be a reason not to get one.

One thing you should note, an air exchanger is really only useful in the winter. At least in most climates. In the summer the humidity outside is typically higher then in your home so exchanging that air won't help much. In the winter it's the opposite. But in the summer a/c will lower your humidity so it's not usually a problem. I still run my HRV in the summer as it helps get rid of co2 in the home and maintain the pH.

 

[mcrist]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8534947#post8534947 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DaveWC
When you install an air exchanger part of the installation is to balance it. In other words balance the air going in/out of your home. It requires a special tool to do it but I wouldn't say that it's a difficult thing to do, nor should it be a reason not to get one.

One thing you should note, an air exchanger is really only useful in the winter. At least in most climates. In the summer the humidity outside is typically higher then in your home so exchanging that air won't help much. In the winter it's the opposite. But in the summer a/c will lower your humidity so it's not usually a problem. I still run my HRV in the summer as it helps get rid of co2 in the home and maintain the pH.

I agree that that typically you would only need to run an air exchanger in the winter because of humidity levels but I was referring to using it for air pressure. When venting a lot of air out of your house you need to pull in the same amount of air into your house to stabilize air pressure. That is where the difficultly arises. Yes it may be easy to adjust it once but you will need to keep adjusting it otherwise one or the other will start to pull more air. I didn’t feel it was worth it for me so I opted for the dehumidifier. Less work plus my entire house never goes above 45 percent humidity even on the rainiest days.

 

[46bfinGA]

the air exchanger i was looking at says that it recovers the ac and the heat.Air To Air -Airiva Heat Recovery Ventilator Item number: 150056065862 on ebay
will that not mean that it works in the summer as well.
my fish room will be around 10'x15' and will have approx. 800+ gallons in it so im a bit concerned about humidity.i do have a window in the room that i can open if need be.would this unit be the best alternative for my situation.at $450 dollars it may be worth it.If i decide to go that route would i be better off sealing the room off from the rest of the house or should i still vent to the basement?the dehumidier i have which i bought at home depot puts off alot of heat and it seemed to make my evaporation in my tank increase by 50%.im guessing the electrical draw between the dehumidifier and the air exchanger would be similar?