Garage Ventilation - vent fans enough, or A/C?

[LobsterOfJustice]

Hey all,

I know this isnt directly a large tank question, but I figured a lot of people with large tanks are in the same situation so this was an appropriate place.

Right now I have all my auxilliary equipment plumbed into my garage (sump with skimmer, water mixing, QT, chiller). The garage is getting too hot and humid. Within the next year I plan on putting a 180 in the garage viewable in-wall in the living room. The garage is only a 1 car garage. I still plan on parking my car in the garage (at least in the winter). I want to keep the room ventilated so the tank does not overheat and the chiller can operate effectively, and also don't want my tools, walls, and car ruined by moisture.

Will a ventilation fan be enough, or should I go with an actual A/C unit through the wall? Is there a better option than the units I am considering below?

Here is the ventilation fan I am considering:
http://www.amazon.com/Tjernlund-Products-Xchanger-Reversible-Basement/dp/B003VZH2SY

Here is the A/C unit I am considering:
http://www.amazon.com/Frigidaire-FR...=lp_3737711_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1371945806&sr=1-2

Thanks!

 

[worm5406]

I know you are set to put it in the garage... Something to think about:

Why not make a room, inside the garage? Walls,ceiling, and everything. Insulate it too.

A fan then would be so much better to duct it to the outside and leave the garage alone. If you try to AC the garage, depending on the garage door, you might end up losing so much to the outside.

Plus the second you open the door on a CARY 100% humidity day... (much different than a Benson or Garner humidity day btw) you will defeat all the AC that it worked on cooling all day.

If you are set to do the whole garage. Think of a split unit with a "cold weather" outside coil. I know it does not get as cold as it does here in the DC area, but to run a unit in temperatures below a certain temperature will not be effective and can cause damage. I know this as having to replace a few outside compressors until our facilities department listened and read our requests.

The unit you are looking at for through the wall will not be able to handle the colder outside temperature. Look up MINI-SPLIT unit. They range from $800-xxxx+


About the fan. I JUST (today) read a post about someone on here that had a unit that not only turned on for humidity but also for temperature. It is in the large tank section. I will find it and re-post. If you get the split you will not need the fan though. Plus smaller hole in the wall.

In dealing with large bodies of water as some have a fan blowing across the top will cause evaporation, which is the quickest and cheapest form of cooling. But if the humidity is still up it will not be able to evaporate enough and will cause room problems too, like you are trying to eliminate.


Where are you in Cary. I was just down there last weekend. Over by Cary towne center.

 

[mukymuk]

I put a 25k btu minisplit in my garage and insulated the attic and put in an insulated garage door . I vent 3kw of lighting into the attic. I live in tx with high summer temps and humidity.

Unless your climate is mild, i think you'll need considerably more than 8k btu.

You don't necessarily need a chiller if you can control the air temp. An ac also has the benefit of lowering humidity and is cheaper per btu.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

I know you are set to put it in the garage... Something to think about:

Why not make a room, inside the garage? Walls,ceiling, and everything. Insulate it too.

A fan then would be so much better to duct it to the outside and leave the garage alone. If you try to AC the garage, depending on the garage door, you might end up losing so much to the outside.

There isn't enough room to wall off a separate room if I am still going to be able to fit my car inside. Loss through the garage door is a concern, I was also thinking of looking into a properly sealing garage door (i.e. a true external type door). Maybe for the new tank I could wall off a small section directly above it (basically a canopy) and vent it directly outside or into the living room for the house A/C to deal with.

If you are set to do the whole garage. Think of a split unit with a "cold weather" outside coil. I know it does not get as cold as it does here in the DC area, but to run a unit in temperatures below a certain temperature will not be effective and can cause damage. I know this as having to replace a few outside compressors until our facilities department listened and read our requests.

The unit you are looking at for through the wall will not be able to handle the colder outside temperature. Look up MINI-SPLIT unit. They range from $800-xxxx

If its cool enough outside though, the A/C shouldn't be running right? Maybe I can somehow use my apex with a temp sensor outside to make sure the unit doesn't run in outside temps that are too cool (what are we talking, 70? 65?).

In dealing with large bodies of water as some have a fan blowing across the top will cause evaporation, which is the quickest and cheapest form of cooling. But if the humidity is still up it will not be able to evaporate enough and will cause room problems too, like you are trying to eliminate.

I have always used fans for cooling in the past and never needed a chiller before, but a fan in the garage wasn't doing anything, the air is already saturated in humidity and heat.

Where are you in Cary. I was just down there last weekend. Over by Cary towne center.

I'm in north Cary in the Morrisville area.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

I put a 25k btu minisplit in my garage and insulated the attic and put in an insulated garage door . I vent 3kw of lighting into the attic. I live in tx with high summer temps and humidity.

Unless your climate is mild, i think you'll need considerably more than 8k btu.

You don't necessarily need a chiller if you can control the air temp. An ac also has the benefit of lowering humidity and is cheaper per btu.

I agree with not necessarily needing a chiller... I never needed one until I moved my sump to the garage. I'm having a hard enough time keeping the tank cool now with only 1/4 of the water volume in the garage, not sure how I will do it when the whole tank is essentially in the garage without climate controlling the garage.

 

[worm5406]

Yes you need to control the humidity, so sometimes it may be necessary to run the AC in the cooler months. It is not a large add on price wise.

Remember an HVAC system the AC largely controls humidity.

If I were you, I would get a split unit, put the compressor outside and let it cool the entire garage. You will be surprised how little it takes. Place the unit nearer the tank to suck up the humidity quicker and let it run year round. That will keep it within limits that are acceptable to you and the significant other.

 

[Sonicboom]

+1 worm and murks replies, consider something like this, I have these in all our server closets.
http://www.amazon.com/Haier-Ductles...78&sr=8-2&keywords=mini+split+air+conditioner

 

[wiseman79]

I would also consider an air exchanger system. Also, while not exactly your scenario, I'll share what I did as the technique may have utility if adapted to your situation. I placed an intake vent above my 350ga system, it is ducted through my attic with simple insulated flex duct with an inline fan in the middle. It outputs through another ceiling vent in the hallway where one of my HVAC returns is located. Worst case it distributes heat and humidity through the house semi-evenly instead of stifling the one room. Best case when the heat or AC is running this humid air is taken up by the HVAC return and the house HVAC processes it (The AC dehumidifies and cools it during the summer, in the winter it supplements my heat and helps the furnace do its job). Made a big difference with the heat/humidity of the room the tank is in, and lowered my heat bill dramatically this past winter.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

I think for now, actual air conditioning is too large a project and would not be efficient without replacing the garage door. I am going to try an exhaust fan first... I think I can save some money on the humidistat too by running it off the apex to run for 10 minutes every hour or so. When I install the larger tank, I am going to try to create some kind of hood or canopy over the tank and directly vent that outside.

 

[worm5406]

Just be careful it does not create a chimney effect that sucks the moisture out every 10 minutes and makes you lose too much. (was more thinking about other times of the year)

While it does naturally evaporate, once the air above it gets replaced with dryer air it will evaporate more until it creates a balance, based on temperature also though.

It is a whole temperature/humidity/air flow aspect. This is why some people use RH (relative humidity) sensors and trigger it that way.

It wont hurt but you might have more replacement.

 

[LobsterOfJustice]

My thought is that I'm really trying to control two things... temp and humidity. So even if the humidity is lower than the setpoint, if the garage is hot I still want the fan to come on. I see what you're saying too though....