Fish room humidity

[scooters reef]

What are those with in-walls or fish rooms keeping the humidity at? I have mine set at 40% and is finally there now, but over the summer the dehumidifier ran non-stop and never got below 45%, sometimes 50%. Right now it's the only dehumidifier down there, so tried keeping the fish room where I wanted the rest of the basement to be. However, I'll be adding a second dehumidifier in another basement room before next summer and can leave the fish room higher then.

Also, on my "Gunna" list, I had planned a small exhaust fan in the fish room that woud only be activated if either room temp or humidity exceeds a certain threshold.

I don't mind the fish room itself being higher, but want to get everything balanced and the rest of the basement able to stay lower before the carpet is finally in and I move all my guns down. I don't need them rusting. Two summers ago there was little in the basement so I didn't worry about the humidity or even have the dehumidifier yet. It didn't feel too bad, but every tool I left down there while working rusted pretty bad. This past summer all were fine.

 

[yaitisme]

Wow, 40%... I can't get my basement to 50% and I don't have a humidifier tank down there. I keep my shop/laundry side at 65% and have no problems with tools rusting (eight years and counting).

With an exposed foundation, I would take advantage of a crawl space type ventilation fan to push the super high humity of a fishroom outside.

http://www.rewci.com/crspve110cfm.html

 

[scooters reef]

Yeah, once I get there, was thinking of either something like that or even just a simple bath fan. It would never turn on unless temp or humidy got too high. As for the rusting, I have NO clue what the humidity was down there two summers ago. Even this past summer it FELT much dryer even before finally getting the dehumidifier, and when first plugged in it read 65% (and doesn't go over that, so no clue where it may have really been).

I'm not sure where I should keep the fish room at, so asking mostly about that. For the rest of the basement, I hope to keep it near 40-45 year round.

 

[jmkarcz]

Scooter, it's tropical over hear as well. I have my eye on a whole house de-humidifyer...after vacation. costs 900 uses 8.4 amps though. I am constantly cracling windows and throwing on the bath fan to blow air out...

An outside air to your furnace would certainly help.... I had to shut down the 300 for that very same reason. I have thought about getting out of the hobby because it it. The water / ice and eventually mold on the windows bothers me... then a door will stick... GRRRRR The only other thing I've run into is a Air Exchanger that would (like an air to air) swap air from outside and the inside and exchange the heat... those for the house are as more than the dehumidifyer...

facts to ponder...

The human element in your home gives off as much water as the tanks...

Showers -baths - brushing your teeth with the water running... bath vanity fans are priceless, buy a good one.

The say you are supposed to turn the air over 8 times an hour in a bath... calc the cubic feet and buy a fan that has the CFM that you need...(Cubic Feet per Minute)

http://www.rewci.com/panceilexfan.html

The say you are supposed to turn the air over 15 times an hour in a kitchen... calc the cubic feet and buy a fan that has the CFM that you need...(Cubic Feet per Minute)

Humidistat sensors are available for fans as well, run 75-100$.

I've been looking... I'd say call me, but I dont want to tie up the line for the guy from the GBAS - to call and tell me I won the 125 reef ready from the auction.

Jason.

 

[scooters reef]

Whatever fan I eventually get, I want it to come on for either excess heat, or humidity, so was thinking of using two dry contact sensors in series and hooked to my Aquacontroller. If either closes, the fan comes on.

Lost the link for the one on temp, but here's what I was thinking for the humidistat and the thermometer is pretty much the same.

http://www.smarthome.com/7156.html

I think the basement as a whole will be just fine once I add a second dehumidifier in the far corner. Am mostly wondering what to keep the humidity in the fish room at, once I don't have to worry about it being a little higher than the rest of the basement. I don't want to go overboard and have it running non-stop and just use more water for the top-off, but also don't want it too humid to cause problems.

 

[prugs]

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

What do you think about this?
Best efficiency rating of an energy star model.

 

[scooters reef]

Whole house dehumidifiers are great, but I'm not sure I'd get the same mileage as most. First, I have no space left anywhere near the furnace to put it. Second, the furnace is upstairs. Also, while I build everything downstairs myself (well, what's done so far anyway), the upstairs is a manufactured home. The only air return I have is what the furnace sucks in right where it sits off the hallway. For anything downstairs, the air return amounts to whatever comes up the stairs. Even last winter we closed most vents upstairs most of the way to force the heat downstairs and then up the stairs. That worked good, but is Winter when dehumidifying isn't needed much. In the Summer, the basement stays pretty cool so we reverse the vents and open them upstairs. I think humidity would just build up in the basement. With a total of 6 air vents down there we would get SOME movement, but I doubt it would be enough for a whole house unit to really take care of it

Looks great though, if I had a real house with returns that amount to more than a grill over each door.

 

[prugs]

I have my 210gal in a sectioned off room with a door. I plan on using the duct kit, to extract the moist air out from the fish room.
See page 2 of this brochure.
http://www.thermastor.com/pdf/santafetri.pdf

 

[scooters reef]

Prugs, depending on how it's run and the space needed, that might work. Would also maybe give me more of an air return. The furnace IS almost directly above the fish room.

If you are going to use that, when will you have it hooked up? Would be interesting to see it and figure out if it might work to solve even more problems than just humidity.

 

[scooters reef]

Wait. I read all that in the link wrong. But, still might work if I need more. Also, even though air returns are non-existant, I have far more vents than I need. Maybe I could pull a Jason and get creative and reroute some ducts to make everything work better

 

[prugs]

I should have the unit in a couple days. I plan to run it like on page 2 of the brochure. I have so much moisture from the 210gal & the sump. I have an HVAC friend who says they have used that unit in homes with swimming pools. It should do the trick for me.
It costs alot initially, but the energy savings will be worth it. Plus they are supposed to be very well built units.
The extra heat in the winter from the dehumidifier & the fish tank will just help keep us warm.
Just an alternative to venting all the heat outside with a vent fan. Plus the vent fan won't help you in the summer.

 

[jmkarcz]

I have actually considered an outside air return, and a exhaust fan that goes up thru the old furnace chase, into the attic, and an addapter to the ridgevent on the house, except that 500 cfm of warm moist air comming out of the roof will look like smoke at -2 degrees below zero, and I don't need my roof chopped up by some over zellous firefighters in Janurary.

J

 

[prugs]

My Thermastor dehumidifier came in at the FedX Frieght facility.
When I got there to pick it up, it was damaged.
Quess I'll be waiting a little longer for a fix.
From what I could see of the unit, it was like a piece of art. Now I can't wait to have one.

 

[123go-fish]

Guys keep in mind that dehumidifier water is -0- tds . You could have a real source of very pure water . Adding a UV or a submicron filter would protect the tank form air borne bacteria.
I would get in trouble for mentioning the name but a well known R.O.D.I. company has a salt creep killer . It's side benefit is less evaporation . And it's cheap.

Go-Fish

 

[123go-fish]

I forgot you would want to run it through a D.I. to polish any metals from the coils . The DI should last for a very long long time.
Go-FIsh

 

[jmkarcz]

uM, Yeah, I have read lot of that... I have enough problems without worring that some copper or other heavy metals are slipping by... I could see using the water for something less than exact - like a irragation tray for an in house hydroponics setup, or perhaps just a plain irrigation tray for plants... Not even sure I'd drink it myself... Especially after I took my de-humidifyer apart last month.... the crud that develops.... from the dust in the air, that gets trapped by the water on the coils, would surely decimate a D.I. filter in short working order.
When I was in Boston about 2 months ago, I noticed many bar and resturant owners in the old "italian neighborhood" had run modified condensate drainage from their air conditioners and fridges to their planters hung out front of their shop...

J

 

[prugs]

My Thermastor Santa Fe dehumidifier came in & it's up & running.
The unit is very quiet compared to my Whirlpool 40 pint unit.
The kill-O-Watt meter says the Sante Fe 100pint/day unit draws 650watts.
My Whirlpool 40 pint/day unit draws 550watts.

 

[yaitisme]

Wow, that's impressive prugs. I retired my 40 pint Whirlpool do to it's excessive noise and current draw. Now have a Maytag 45 pint that has a much quieter squirrel tail type fan and draws 1.4 amps less. Energy Star is the way to go.

 

[jmkarcz]

My Aprilaire 1700 unit came in yesterday, and is now hooked up and running... though it is not ducted into the house. It too (Jon) is much quieter than the previous 35 pinter that I owned, though it is a little more energy intense. The specs said 5.4 Amps on the old unit, and a whopping 8.4 on the new one... but it came with some real power to it, so I don't mind.

In the time I ran it while leveling in (about 20 minutes) it filled an extra large soda cup with condensate and began leaking on the floor. It's been running for about 1 hour now, can't hear it upstairs at all, and it dropped the basement from 65% to 57%. I think I over bought, but would be happiest if it bearly runs. I have already started to develop that black crud on my windows, and look forward to cleaning it up.

For right now I will run it like a stand alone, but eventually duct it into the whole house system for more effeciency.

Prugs, how's yours running?

 

[prugs]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=8515461#post8515461 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by jmkarcz

Prugs, how's yours running?

The thermastor unit is running nice, & not that often. No more sweat on the windows. Still have not gotten around to ducting directly from the fish room. I bought all the ducting & just need to find the time, & the guts to start chopping a large hole in the ceiling for the vent in the fish room. Having a finished basement has its draw backs.