Dehumidifiers

[Delphinus]

If you're handy (REALLY handy), Home Depot sells HRV's and you can install one yourself for considerably less.

I ran a dehumidifier for years (boy you get strange looks when you buy a dehumidifier in Calgary), but, they are noisy and the effect is localized at best and as soon as you unplug it the humidity jumps right back up.

80% humidity is going to be a HUGE problem down the road. Weeping windows when it's cold outside, damp walls leading to mildew on and in the drywall. I had the same problem, 6 months after moving into my current house I had all of the above, and the dehumidifier was running 24/7. This was with a 2 reefs - a 90g, 75g; and a 30g FW in the house. Really not that much volume of water and the damage was astounding. The problem is as stated that houses are more and more airtight these days so the humidity has nowhere to go. I was faced with a critical choice: scale back or quit, or install the HRV.

It hurt to pay that much but it was worth every penny. In fact, the more I learned about HRV's, the more I realized what a great idea they are. I will never not have a HRV in my house again - even if I don't have fish tanks. They're that good of an idea. As stated they ventilate air but unlike an exhaust system, it replaces the air pulled out and uses the exhaust air to preheat the incoming air at something like 80% efficiency (ie., 80% of the heat of the outgoing air is recovered - very important when it's -20 outside!)

AirPro Heating did mine. I got 3 quotes - Fagnan's, Sears and AirPro. AirPro was not the cheapest but they impressed me enough that it was worth the price - sold me a better high end unit, a better understanding of the problem at hand (they were very interested to learn about the fish tanks too!) and just did a better job of explaining how the HRV was going to solve the problem and what sort of sized unit for the required air turnover and so on. I'd recommend AirPro in an instant to anyone. Hopefully they're still as good these days.

[lastlight]

If you are familiar with Dez's tank you know it's a fair size and when you walk in the house you don't sense any humidity at all and that impressed me. If you have a canopy and can conceal the ducting it's possible to suck all that humid air out and expel it outside. He has a fan that runs 24-7 I believe. Cheap solution if it will work for you. He might have HRV but I don't think he does.

[Dez]

Originally Posted by lastlight

If you are familiar with Dez's tank you know it's a fair size and when you walk in the house you don't sense any humidity at all and that impressed me. If you have a canopy and can conceal the ducting it's possible to suck all that humid air out and expel it outside. He has a fan that runs 24-7 I believe. Cheap solution if it will work for you. He might have HRV but I don't think he does.

Thanks for chiming in Brett. I have a "sealed" canopy with a fan on one side of it (it's just a computer fan -DC). That runs 24/7 sucking air from my living room into the canopy. On the other side I have a flexible dryer vent pipe going all the way into my basement and a fan on the other side sucking the "humid" air from my canopy into my fish room in the basement. The fish room is always closed. My fish room is controlled by a cheap dehumidistat (from Rona) that controlled a bathroom fan that vents straight outside. Basically if my fish room hits 50% humidity, the bathroom fan is automitically venting everything outside. I have a 150 gallon display, 75 gallon RO water storage aquarium, a 40 gallon mixing bin always full of water, a 75 gallon aquarium hooked up to the system (open top), a 50 gallon frag tank (open top), a 20 gallon frag tank (open top) and a 100 gallon sump open top. I have gone through one winter already and the only windows that "weep" are my bedroom windows on the second floor after a hot shower (our ensuite does not have a door) in the winter time. We have gone through a winter already and the other windows don't weep. After having humidity problems in our old house this was our solution.

hope this helps.

[Coleus]

I never measured the humidity level, i should go home and check lol

[kien]

Originally Posted by Coleus

I never measured the humidity level, i should go home and check lol

Another added side effect of an HRV would be the reduction of built up CO2 in your house because fresh air is always drawn in. This in turn I would imagine would help keep your tank's pH in check

[Argentiner]

Thanks guys. I think I'll check home depot for prices and talk to my plumber friend to see what he says too. I think a dehumidifier might not be a great long term solution. Now I'm really worried about the humidity in the house! lol. I've had this tank going for a while now.

[Delphinus]

I notice a huge difference in air quality with houses with HRV's too. In fact it's code now for houses of a certain R rating (R2000?) that they require HRV's.

Venting does work too but my understanding is that you rely on open windows, the cracks under doors, or just the general non-air-tightness of the house to replenish the air that's drawn out. Because it's both taking air in and pulling air out the HRV does not have to fight against negative air pressure.

But it's a hefty investment, much the same as say, retrofitting central A/C into a house or something along those lines.

If you have a high efficiency furnace one intermediary or workaround step you can take to deal with excessive humidity is to run your furnace fan on 24/7. I don't recommend this on a non-high-eff furnace - I tried it at my old house and the sticker shock on the next month's utility bill was pretty bad. The high efficiency furnaces have DC motor drives though, so they use a fraction of the electrical draw that their AC counterparts do. I wish I had known this when selecting a furnace. The home builder described the difference to me as something like 5% added efficiency on the combustion and in hindsight I should have done more homework than just taking the builder's word for things.

[wingedfish]

Originally Posted by Delphinus

If you have a high efficiency furnace one intermediary or workaround step you can take to deal with excessive humidity is to run your furnace fan on 24/7. I don't recommend this on a non-high-eff furnace - I tried it at my old house and the sticker shock on the next month's utility bill was pretty bad. The high efficiency furnaces have DC motor drives though, so they use a fraction of the electrical draw that their AC counterparts do. I wish I had known this when selecting a furnace. The home builder described the difference to me as something like 5% added efficiency on the combustion and in hindsight I should have done more homework than just taking the builder's word for things.

FYI: as of January of this year, you cannot buy a mid eff furnace. They are all 90% or better with the top of the line being 98%. Hi efficient does not mean ecm blower (variable dc) That is an add on and an expensive one but well worth it in long term cost and comfort.

All housed built since about 1975 on should have a fresh air pipe of 4" or better piped right into the return air of the furnace. Running your furnace fan full time will draw air and ventilate and cost about $30 a month (ac 1/2hp blower) in electricity plus the cost of energy to heat that added air. It doesn't take long to add up to the costs of an HRV. An HRV will cost money to run also. Cheaper than the alternative and designed for the job. Most can be wired to run on a dehumidistat so it runs when needed.

[MitchM]

I've had 3 HRV's installed (in various buildings) by Indoor Air Comfort Solutions in Calgary. http://www.ic-heatcoolsolutions.com/

HRV's are the way to go. By just running an exhaust fan you can run the risk of creating negative pressure in your house which could result in furnace/water heater gases being drawn back into your home. Depends on how tight the house and how strong your exhaust fan. If you have a powerful hood fan over your stove that can create the same problem.
HRV's can be set up to create a slight positive pressure.
I can keep our indoor humidity around 45 - 55% with an HRV.

Mitch