Humidity and precipitation

[karimwassef]

I have a 660g system with a 380 DT, 180 sump and 100 surge.

I have a massive 12 ft skimmer and a lot of surface turbulence with waves and surges.

The tank body is in my garage with an outside chiller, a window AC, a dehumidifier and a vent fan.

I'm in Dallas, and it has been raining pretty heavily and constantly recently, which has limited the benefits of my vent fan since the outside air is just as humid.

I now have water droplets forming on everything and forming little puddles of fresh water that add up...

I've resorted to using the AC to extract the humidity, but it's not hot in TX yet. So I need to run a very cold garage to keep the humidity low.

If I run the dehumidifier, it pumps so much heat in, that I need to run the chiller...

Since this is the large tank forum, I'm hoping someone has faced this and has a smarter option.

 

[dave.m]

If you enclosed your system more you could give it it's own HVAC unit. It's difficult to say without more information on your set-up's configuration.

Dave.M

 

[karimwassef]

<a href="http://s1062.photobucket.com/user/karimwassef/media/55D6D60A-5593-4749-8EEF-E50A6B38052A_zpso4ixwwat.jpg.html" target="_blank"><img src="http://i1062.photobucket.com/albums/t496/karimwassef/55D6D60A-5593-4749-8EEF-E50A6B38052A_zpso4ixwwat.jpg" border="0" alt=" photo 55D6D60A-5593-4749-8EEF-E50A6B38052A_zpso4ixwwat.jpg"/></a>

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[dave.m]

That could definitely be walled in and then given separate air treatment.

Dave.M

 

[karimwassef]

What would that treatment be?

Being in the garage, I already have a separate airspace and the tank takes about 1/3 of it as it is.

 

[dave.m]

Lots of people use one of those AC split units. If the space around the tank and equipment was enclosed you could treat just that one space. Have you considered one of those?

Also, you could consult with a HVAC expert to see what options they might provide that is appropriate for your area.

Dave.M

 

[bcheriyan]

I am in north Texas have too much humidity problem, too much I have very less evaporation since I depend on Kalk in ATO it been a problem .. I have to dose 2 part manually. Does having dehumidifier help ... Just checking..

 

[karimwassef]

I have an AC unit. It pulls the humidity, but also lowers the temperature and consumes a lot of power while the weather is not cool yet.

The dehumidifier works too but it overheats the tank by pumping heat in.

 

[nuxx]

I feel you, we're in Austin with 650 gallons of system volume.

Then about another 300 in QT and Frag Tanks.

Have a 50 and 70 pint dehumidifiers running. Didn't need one last summer, but the winter was terrible. Pools of water on all the windows.

The two dehumidifiers cleared it right up.

Don't really notice the extra heat, we have a pretty open laid out house with tall cellings though.

 

[karimwassef]

My garage is pretty small and sealed, so the heat doesn't get out easily.

The vent fan is on humidity sensor but it's been running continuously since the rain started.

I'm thinking of running the dehumidifier and AC on a temp controller. That way they don't fight with both running on at the same time.

 

[Ches]

Check out D2mini's

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTqs8w7xTyw

 

[karimwassef]

Nice but my car passenger side parks within 2" of my overflow PVC. There's no room for a wall and the tank + equipment is vertical with a small footprint of 10' x 3' but 12' high.

It's immediately adjacent to the garage sink and a 5' tall water softener that's right up against the garage door opening.

I basically took 3' on the far right of my garage and dedicated it to the tank. The rest still holds two cars (my passenger mirrors folded in).

But the whole garage is very small so the AC is able to bring the temp down to 72 in a few minutes.

 

[ca1ore]

How old is the dehumidifier? I run a recent vintage model in my basement fish room that doesn't pump out all that much heat. Also, not sure of cost, but I did read while back about split dehumidification units.

 

[karimwassef]

It's a year old. Runs near constantly and outputs through a hose into the yard outside.

 

[H20ENG]

If you use a ducted dehumidifier you could control how much heat is discharged to the room vs outside. Be aware though that when. You discharge air from the garage makeup air has to come from somewhere. It may be almost as humid. Your tropical garage is likely holding way more humidity than the much cooler outside air though.
Maybe use poly sheeting and tent the area? A temporary and very thin wall. Then your dehumidifier can work on just that small volume rather than the whole garage.

 

[karimwassef]

I've put up clear shower curtains to create a baffle between the garage and tank.
The fan blows air from the garage over the tank, traveling along the long side.
At the end of the tank, I have the dehumidifier that takes in the humid air and expels warm dry air back into the garage.

I've turned my AC off completely at this point.

The garage roof vent expels some of the warm air.

My chiller is now running about 4 hours a day to keep my tank at 83.

 

[SPotter]

while its not cheap, i would suggest looking into a mini split system. My fishroom is in my garage and it was walled off and had its own portable ac unit but that just wasnt cutting it. I was seeing significant temp spikes and it was only may. I purchased a Carrier mini split and a 1hp chiller for mystem. I am now able to cool my entire garage, keep the door to the fish room open and maintain a humidity level of 55% with temps at 70 degrees in the garage. This has kept my tank temps solid at 78 degrees and my chiller only comes on about 4-5 times a day for a total of 2 hrs run time. Like I said, not a cheap solution but it gets the job done!

 

[karimwassef]

My window unit works fine to cool and removes humidity.

My problem is what to do when it's humid but not hot.

My garage last night was 75F and 95% humidity. I'd have to run my heaters if I turned the AC on.

At this point, I'm putting an OR switch that runs either my dehumidifier or my AC based on the air temp.

If I run both and my tank pump, I blow a breaker... So it's got to be either/or.

 

[SPotter]

Not sure I follow why you would have to run your heaters if you turned the AC on? You said in an earlier post that your chiller runs 4 hrs a day just to keep the tank at 83 degrees. Whats your target temp for the tank?

I have my garage ac set for 70 degrees as that the humidity in the garage at 55%. If I set the temp to 75 my humidity begins to climb into the 80's. If you lowered your garage temp 5 degrees at best it would lower your tank to 78 degrees. This would cut down on the amount of time you need to run the chiller and dehumidifier.

 

[matt210G]

You could look into a HRV (Heat Recovery ventilator)as an alternative to de humidifier