Dehumidifier or exhaust fan?

[DaveWC]

A heat recovery unit will heat incoming air if the incoming air is cooler (winter) or cool it if incoming air is warmer (summer). But in the summer the incoming air could be 90%+ humidity so it won't help you reduce the humidity in your house. An air conditioner works to reduce the heat in your house by reducing the humidity as well as cooling the air so humidity isn't usually an issue in the summer if you've got a/c.

These HRVs use very little electricity. Mine varies from 35 to 333 watts depending on the speed it's running at.

 

[clamdigr]

Here's the link to the other ventilation thread I think you where talking about.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=640757&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

 

[46bfinGA]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8541405#post8541405 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by clamdigr
Here's the link to the other ventilation thread I think you where talking about.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=640757&perpage=25&pagenumber=1

thats the one i was looking for thanks clamdigr

i may try just running a return vent in the room for the first year and see how it works i can always add something down the line.my basement doesnt have any vents or anything installed yet and i have a window in the room that i can open if need be.

 

[poopsko24]

be careful if you exhaust youre air outside. I have a ranch house, my tanks are in the basement. On hot summer days the basement would still be hotter and more humid even when the air was running and the vents to the basement open all the way. A basement is usually cooler, even in the summer, except when you have over 400 gallons of 80 degree water down there, not to mention all the heat the equipment puts out. So what did I do to help this out? I put a large 19" floor fan at the bottom of my stairs pointing upward to pull out the warm humid air to the up stairs level of the house. Well, after months of doing it this way, I walked past my water heater, and felt, and smelled the hot burning gas coming out of the flu stack. Instead of going out the chimminey,( I have one, some do not) it was being pulled back into the room because of the negative pressure the fan was creating from it forcing the air upstairs. This was in the summer, so the water heater does not kick on that much. Now if it were the winter, and the furnace was running, thats a ton more carbon monoxide than a water heater.........it could have been life threating, cause the furnace flue also goes out into the chimmney. Lucky I found this out. I actually had a posstive draft comming in from that inbetween the top of the water heater and where the ductwork starts. I could feel it, I held a match up to it and it blew it out......... I even thought mabey my chimmney got clogged up at first. Something to keep in mind. I did have my CO detector at the time also........it did NOT go off. But you can only have soo much faith in those.

 

[46bfinGA]

poopsko24,
so your saying that running a fan to the upstairs is a no no? Is that the same outcome as running a fan to the outside?So you have AC vents in your basement and returns and still having problems?

 

[poopsko24]

I have ac vents on the reef ( finished side) of my basement. The cold air returns are on the utility (not fininshed) side, and I have doors and walls that block that off. I keep my windows cracked, ( 3 of them ) and yes it was pulling. This fan when it was on high could really kick it up. High velocity fan....http://caraudiovideosystems.com/hv18ra.html
really pulled alot of air i guess.

I'm going to be putting my reef tank in the wall soon. So I'll have the tank on the unfinished side, and then the cold air return will come into play then. I'll see if that helps with the tank , and room temp. But I wont run that fan like that again............it was enough to pull that much of a draft and change in pressure in the basement. Try it , you can hold a match or lighter where youre flue gas comes out of youre water heater and see if it sucks or blows out. Like mega-maid.

 

[Whaledriver]

Any comments on this idea would be nice, so here it goes.

I will have 6 tanks 2-210 gal, 2-150 gal and 2-110.

I will also have a 75 gal tank as an algae filter and a 150 gal sump. These will be in a small closet with a skimmer and a sink. The water will circulate through a central plumbing system with a 4 inch main pipe from the pumps and also for the return.

This plumbing will be behind the tanks in a fake knee wall that will be 12 inches wide and about 32 inches tall.

In the top part of the knee wall will be two ducts that are made out of flat foil covered insulating material. They will carry the air to and from the aquarium hoods. The hoods are designed to be air tight.

I will have outside air come into the duct system, circulate in the hoods and then be exhausted outside of the house.

The problem I have is controlling the ventilation system The fan speed should be controlled based temperature and humidity. I want to be able to set this up and forget about it year round. I live in the Midwest so the winters are cold and the summers are hot.

This is my idea to deal with the changes in temp and humidity.

I want to get a infinitely variable fan that can change speed when the temp or humidity is over a set point. I want to run the fan as fast as needed. I don't want to have it all on or off. This would keep the flow low in the winter and high in the summer. It would also keep condensation from building up in the hood or ducts. It would also save a lot on electricity. I am thinking that there is some type of ventilation controller that would be able to handle.????

The second idea is to put a heat recovery air exchanger in before the air get exhausted out of the house. This could be controlled so that the extra heat helps heat the house in the winter.
Both of these ideas seem like simple systems to control. Is there an integrated controller that could handle all of these ventilation needs?

 

[prugs]

ThermaStor Sante Fe dehumidifier is what I chose. I have it ducted to the fish room. All you see is a grill vent above the tank.
A friend of mine says that's what they do for indoor pools.
Couldn't be happier.

 

[law086]

I find that dehumidifiers get a really bad rap here on RC. I had a humidity issue in my basement (70-80%) that I had to fix and was faced with the choice between an exhaust fan and dehumidifier. I had a return for my home HVAC unit around my equipment which helps in the summer and winter, but not when the HVAC system is turned off. I purchased an LG 65 ppd dehumidifier and absolutely love it. Sure, it's a bit loud, gives off a bit of heat and sucks up a bit of electric. However, the piece of mind of having my basement bone dry is priceless. My basement is fairly large too (about 1600 sq ft) and it handles it well.

I'd also did not notice any increase in evaporation. Maybe this would happen if the ambient air is like 10% humidity, but I keep my basement around 50%.

Ron

 

[jnarowe]

I use exhaust fans and am very happy with it. Very low electrical consumption. Two fans are mounted under the tank and blow through flexible duct across the tank between the lamps and the water.

On the other end of the tank at ceiling height, I draw the warm air and exhaust it outside. I have an attic type vent in the tank room wall which allows in make-up air from under my deck.

This is a tank room system with the room being sealed off from the house. I have a room temp. and humidistat to control the exhaust fan, but had to disable the humidistat because of the wet weather here in the Northwest. The outside humidity was tripping the fans on and off constantly when it was raining.

 

[saltpeter]

Iquit using our dehumidifier also .

 

[steve the plumb]

mcrist wich model did you get.I have a crappy dehumididfier and it heats up the room.I am looking to get a unit that I can place in the garage and duct to my basment wher my tank will be.The basement will be next to my garage.Now will the garage heat up?I will be placing my sump in there so I don't want to remove humidity only to heat the garage and sump.Winter isn't a problem summer is.I had used a prtable a/c unit that ran 24/7 wich kept the basment at 21 degrees with a humidity level of about 50% wich is high but better than 70% with the unit off.I will not be using mh bulbs this time due to heat issues.Prugs how do you like the santa fay and what is the cost of these units.Do they heat up the room and do you have to duct them thanks

 

[capncapo]

steve the plumb,

Is the outdoor humidity high in Montreal during the summer?

I'm under the impression that it may not be too bad. If not, why not use a vent fan in the summer and a dehumidifier in winter? The heat from the dehumidifier will help to heat your house in winter.

 

[prugs]

http://www.iaqsource.com/index.php?module=product&prod_cat=0&prod_mfg=3&prod_sub_cat=0&prod_id=25

Very little heat from the unit. My old Whirlpool 40 pint unit really kicked out the heat. Sometimes you get what you pay for. They do not have to be ducted. Also it's a very quiet unit.

 

[jnarowe]

Got a question about that: So my tank is in a tank room and the humidity at times gets fairly high. I painted the walls and ceiling with yacht bilge paint and everything seems fine. What I would like more input on, is how one of these units would do in that type of installation? My initial assumption is that it would work continuously trying to evap the tank. Any thoughts on that?

 

[prugs]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9391812#post9391812 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jnarowe
My initial assumption is that it would work continuously trying to evap the tank. Any thoughts on that?

Yep!

 

[steve the plumb]

In the winter its very dry.My basment is at 20% humidity but I have no tank now.With the tank it was about 40% in the winter.The summer its very humid 70-80% so thats when its a ***** to keep the room cool and the humidity out.I may put the unit in the garage.I had a hard time keeping temp and humidity low.Winter I can shut the unit off.My next set up will be 300 gal plus 100 gal sump its more than double the size of my old tank.The summer s have been hot and very humid somtiems humidity ranges up to 80% and you need a/c but the weather has been abnormal and we are getting more hot and humid days.Tis seems like a nice unit but pricy.You do get what you pay for.

 

[JCTewks]

I see everyone talking about using their HVAC systems and using inherently cooler dryer air in the summer to help with humiduty. But, my house was built in 1922 and has a boiler and radiators to heat in the winter and we only use a couple of window units to cool the upstair bedrooms. I plan on a 380 gal tank in the dining room with a 380 gal sump and 600 gal prop raceway in the basement. Our house is two floors, finished attic, and full basement, so there are four floors to deal with. any suggestions on how to handle humidity and heat issues. I will be able to close off the equipment room and it has concrete floors and ceilings with all 4 walls block, so i am not oo worried about that. I am worried about the living space with a 380 gal tank in the dining room and possibly a 150 in the living room. we don;t cool in the summer, but the house stays relatively comfortable now and i don't want to be coming home every day to a sauna. any opinons are welcome.

Jeff

 

[prugs]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9396137#post9396137 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by JCTewks
I see everyone talking about using their HVAC systems and using inherently cooler dryer air in the summer to help with humiduty. But, my house was built in 1922 and has a boiler and radiators to heat in the winter and we only use a couple of window units to cool the upstair bedrooms. I plan on a 380 gal tank in the dining room with a 380 gal sump and 600 gal prop raceway in the basement. Our house is two floors, finished attic, and full basement, so there are four floors to deal with. any suggestions on how to handle humidity and heat issues. I will be able to close off the equipment room and it has concrete floors and ceilings with all 4 walls block, so i am not oo worried about that. I am worried about the living space with a 380 gal tank in the dining room and possibly a 150 in the living room. we don;t cool in the summer, but the house stays relatively comfortable now and i don't want to be coming home every day to a sauna. any opinons are welcome.

Jeff

If you are not using AC during the summer, the windows are always open, & the tanks are going to be upstairs. Just keep the windows open. Use an exhaust fan during the winter months. You will know if you need to change something down the road. When the windows are sweating at 30f, you will know.

 

[steve the plumb]

My house is also old 1930's.I also use radiators and still with the tank shut down in the wintre the basement is at 21% humidity.When I had the tank its up to 50% maybe less in the winter.Forget the summer.If you are going to use MH bulbs I will tell you you will need a chiller.You will need an a/c unit aswell.If the room is warm the chiller will work harder to keep the temp lower.You will get humidity and the room temp will rise thats for sure.At 380 gal you will lose about 10 gal a week in evaporation(minimum).This depends if you cover the tank or leave it open.Either way this will raise room temp.You will have to use a/c or some kind of dehumidifier.If you go with MH bulbs You will need a chiller.I don't care what anyone else tells you I have seen it on my tank and my friends.No a/c cooked fish.If your a/c unit is strong enough or its hitting the tank this will help keep the tank cool and control humidity.If the unit isn't strong enough you will get higher temp readings wich can be a problem been there done that.