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#1
10-17-2009, 04:52 PM
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Mark brought up a good point about turning off the furnace humidifier. Even if it has a humidistat it may fail or measure dry air from another area.
The problem with venting in the winter is you pay to heat the new cold air coming in. An HRV is a good investment. Dehumidifiers are okay in some cases, but they may not be able to keep up. If you are planning to buy one you can hit the second hand stores, news papers, Craig's List, and Kijiji as this is the time of year people typically turn off the A/C and dehumidifier and turn on the furnace and humidifier. What is the current humidity level? It should be below 65%, preferably 55%. The problem could be that your windows aren't as insulated as they could be. It doesn't take a lot of vapour in the air to make cold windows sweat. A second layer of that plastic you put over the inner window gap with a hair drier will help, but it isn't very convenient. Once your furnace kicks in it will burn off a lot of the humidity, assuming you have forced air gas (FAG). Burning wood will add humidity unless you have a wood stove. It isn't an easy fix, but covering the tank at night would help a lot. As the room gets cooler at night, more water evaporates. Just don't forget to take the styrofoam off of the tank in the morning before the light melts it  Eliminating the other sources of humidity in the home (basements, bathrooms, and kitchens) can also help. You could always use it as an excuse for your family to move into a well insulated log cabin with a nice big wood stove. The fish part of the family 
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#2
10-17-2009, 05:11 PM
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You could have my old dehumidifier for free. The only catch is it doesnt seem to work anymore... but being an electrician maybe you could fix it. Its a Maytag that I've had for about 8 years, I only used it during the colder months and this year it suddenly stopped working.
Like you I'm currently unemployed so I dont feel like forking out the $200 for a new one. However the humidity from my 300gal worth of saltwater only has the house sitting at about 50% so I'm not too worried. Like you the windows here would run with condensation when it got cold outside but that is because our landlord is too cheep to update them. I found that using a Shrink to Fit window insulating kit stopped that problem and eliminated a lot of heat loss and cold drafts. Another thing we do is keep the furnace fan running constantly so that the humidity from the tanks is evenly distributed throughout the house.
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"We shall dive down through black abysses... and in that lair of the Deep Ones we shall dwell amidst wonder and glory forever." - H.P. Lovecraft Old 120gal Tank Journal New 225gal Tank Journal May 2010 TOTM The 10th Annual Prince George Reef Tank Tour
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#3
10-17-2009, 05:20 PM
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Thx for the offer russel. I'm up to have a look at it at least
 You will most likely be down my way before I get up there again LOL.My humidity level was 95% this mornig. Windows are all double pane vinyl. But I could add that plastic to some maybe??? Could lower my light times too? add less heat into tank. But I love seeing my fish LOL. Once it drops below freezing constantly, we'll see how the house does?
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Dan Pesonen Umm, a tank or 5
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#4
10-17-2009, 05:33 PM
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Wow, 95% is extremely high. Is it that rate throughout the house? Mold may become an issue for you. You should try a top on the tank for a day or two to see if the source is just the aquarium. Putting plastic on just one window will give you a good test.
I have window sweating issues in my apartment when I do a lot of cooking. I'm on the 22nd floor right by the lake and my windows are ancient 1/8" single pane glass with aluminum frames... not that I'm bragging
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#5
10-17-2009, 08:40 PM
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Quote:
Quote:
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-=Bryan=-
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#6
10-18-2009, 03:10 AM
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Well, the 95% was measured with the Broan humidistat on the hallway wall exhaust fan. Thats when the fan turned on. I would guess it would not be even close to right but??
Today was raining and about 10c left some windows open, fans on and things are a little bit better, but still foggy windows when the sun went down
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Dan Pesonen Umm, a tank or 5
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#7
10-18-2009, 04:34 PM
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Its not the most economical thing, but as soon as you can afford, I highly suggest a Venmar air exchanger. Dehumidifies, brings in fresh air, expells stale old air, and exchanges it so you aren't losing hot air out the side of your house and having to reheat cold air coming in. They are about $750 plus install, but again, worth every dime. Our place stays at a constant 40% humidity and I evap about 2" of water out of my 100g sump a day. (although that might be some overskimming too)
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"what do you mean you need another tank??"
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#9
10-20-2009, 01:38 AM
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Quote:
Steve
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 *everything said above is just my opinion, and may or may not reflect the views of this BBS, its Operators, and its Members. If cornered on any “opinion” I post I will totally deny having ever said this in a Court of Law…Unless I am the right one*Some strive to be perfect.... I just strive.
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#10
10-20-2009, 01:55 AM
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Quote:
ok so to show the effect heating had on relitive humidity here is an example. the relitive humidity outside in 100 mile house is 78% at 5.5 degrees c, so if you bring that air into the house and heat it to 22 c then the relitive humidity becomes 27% so realy if you ran the fan and brought new heated air in you could drop your humidity pretty quick. the problem starts when us cheep buggers keep the house cold  by dropping the temp 4 degrees to 18 we raise the relitive humidity by almost 10%Steve
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*everything said above is just my opinion, and may or may not reflect the views of this BBS, its Operators, and its Members. If cornered on any “opinion” I post I will totally deny having ever said this in a Court of Law…Unless I am the right one*Some strive to be perfect.... I just strive.
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