Dehumidifier in a Fish Room

[MarkoD]

so i put a dehumidifier into my fish room and it does a great job lowering the humidity. but it puts out a lot of heat and was heating up the room and tank

so i decided to disconnect the bathroom style fan and vent the dehumidifier all the way outside. but still for some reason it seems to be heating the room a lot. (8 feet of the exhaust pipe is not insulated and probably releasing heat back into the room)

anyone have any suggestions?

[rayjay]

I installed an HRV.

[gregzz4]

Marko, I've never used one, but 2 thoughts

Can the unit push air the 8 feet, or does it need a booster fan ?
Does all the heat created go out the pipe ?

As I said, I've never used one

[MarkoD]

The total pipe length is about. 40 feet. And it pushes great. Warm air gets out. It's Just the first 8 feet that are not indulated and the pipe heats up

[mark]

seems you've figured it already, insulate the pipe though HRV are nice

[MarkoD]

I guess my question is, if I'm venting the warm dry exhaust outside, am I actually lowering the humidity in my fish room?

[jorjef]

Is the water still collecting in the reservoir? Ignore my question, I misinterpreted yours

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by MarkoD

I guess my question is, if I'm venting the warm dry exhaust outside, am I actually lowering the humidity in my fish room?

That's a pretty must the most inefficient way of doing it but yes you're lowering humidity however not anymore than removing the dehumidifier and just using the fan would. Whatever goes through the dehumidifier goes outside so why use the dehumidifier which is only heating up the room which will actually increase humidify as warm air holds more moisture. The only difference is you're removing the water first and pumping the warmer and dryer air outside, so unless your goal is to waste energy you're not accomplishing anything more with the dehumidifier. Just use a fan on a humidistat to control the rooms humidity, otherwise you could also use an air conditioner to do the same thing as the dehumidifier but cool the room at the same time which will lower humidity further.

[daniella3d]

no, not really because you are putting the dry air outside, so you are basicelly removing humidity from the outside air since the dry air it not going inside your home.

That would be like exhausting the cool air from an AC unit outside the house...no point really and a waste of energy.

Mine also create quite a bit of heat but since it's my basement then it's not too bad.

You could be using a portable AC unit instead. These can remove humidity nicely and put out cold air at the same time you would just need to put the exhaust outside, so the hot air would go outside and the cold dry air would cool down your fish room.

I use both, I have central AC and a dehumidifier in the basement so my home is cool and dry.

Originally Posted by MarkoD

I guess my question is, if I'm venting the warm dry exhaust outside, am I actually lowering the humidity in my fish room?

[Myka]

Do you have central AC? Or a high efficiency furnace that you could leave the fan on all the time without costing a fortune?

Either option will produce positive air pressure in the room provided you make sure the room is sealed well (check the door in particular, maybe lay a towel on the floor to block the air under the door). Then drill a 1" hole in the wall to the outside at floor level, shove a 1" PVC pipe in there and put mesh on the end so that bugs don't get in. Humid air sinks, the positive air pressure will push air out the vent. No additional electricity used.

An HRV is the best long-term option though.