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Would like suggestions on getting humidity down

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Would like suggestions on getting humidity down

IFukup 22 Replies 1,159 Views
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IFukup

IFukup

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#1
Ever since I've switched to autopot set up I can't seem to get humidity in my shed below 55-60. This has caused pmd in last two grows. I have a dehumidifier designed for a basement in my tiny 10x8 grow shed. The shed is fully insulated and equipped with heat, ac and dehumidifier. I would have thought the unit could handle humidity in such a small area. Pics are available for suggestions or if you see flaws in my setup.
Would like suggestions on getting humidity down
Would like suggestions on getting humidity down 2
Would like suggestions on getting humidity down 3
Would like suggestions on getting humidity down 4
 
#2
Ok first there are established formulas for figuring out humidity and temp control. They are based on cubic feet and amount of water removed from the area.

Put some numbers up so I can see what's going on. The numbers we will need are what the system will hold when on which is 55-60 %. Now we will need to know the following.
What is the off humidity like. If you turn your humidity control off.
What is the efficiency of your dehumidification? Normally this is given in pints per day.
What is the temp and humidity of your pass through air. This is the air the lung room/shed will replace the air with.
I could not see but do you exit the air from the tent to the outside of the shed or back into the shed.
Little bit about my grow and what it took.
I have a 4x4 tent in a 12x10 room. It has a 30 pint dehumidifier in the room and the tent exits air and humidity into the wet room not into my lung room. The wet room has a 50 pint per hour dehumidifier. Both dehumidifiers are needed when we get rain. The worst thing about dehumidification is that you can not set it up for an average day. It must be able to handle the max load that may show up with weather.

The last thing to mention is that 55-60 will not work but something else to watch is your transition from day to night. As the tent drops at lights out humidity will peak in the tent. Most folks script or turn the duct fan up a step to improve output to remove the humidity.
 
#3
JIMKSI64 said:
Ok first there are established formulas for figuring out humidity and temp control. They are based on cubic feet and amount of water removed from the area.

Put some numbers up so I can see what's going on. The numbers we will need are what the system will hold when on which is 55-60 %. Now we will need to know the following.
What is the off humidity like. If you turn your humidity control off.
What is the efficiency of your dehumidification? Normally this is given in pints per day.
What is the temp and humidity of your pass through air. This is the air the lung room/shed will replace the air with.
I could not see but do you exit the air from the tent to the outside of the shed or back into the shed.
Little bit about my grow and what it took.
I have a 4x4 tent in a 12x10 room. It has a 30 pint dehumidifier in the room and the tent exits air and humidity into the wet room not into my lung room. The wet room has a 50 pint per hour dehumidifier. Both dehumidifiers are needed when we get rain. The worst thing about dehumidification is that you can not set it up for an average day. It must be able to handle the max load that may show up with weather.

The last thing to mention is that 55-60 will not work but something else to watch is your transition from day to night. As the tent drops at lights out humidity will peak in the tent. Most folks script or turn the duct fan up a step to improve output to remove the humidity.
Click to expand...
I do exit the air back into the lung room. But have turned off the humidity sensor and opened up the tent to try and get the humidity down. It's sad to say but I don't have some of the info requested. I bought the dehumidifier 3 years ago and don't have the manual. The dehumidifier does drain into a 5 gallon bucket as it never shuts off. I will turn it off to see what the humidity jumps up to however. Sorry for the lack of knowledge to help myself out. I feel the tray to grow constantly staying wet and the reservoirs are the culprit. Plus the other tent keeping the coco moist isn't helping.
 
#4
Hey no worries. Let's see if we can still get an idea.
Dehuey on full how long does it take to get 4 gallons or 32 pints of water?
Is there any way to exit the exhaust of the tent out of the shed? This is the only way I can get under 49% humidity when needed.
Also remember the duct system in your tent is moveable. You can mount it to the wall of the shed and run duct to it. It has an arrow for suck or blow configurations.
Consider semi rigid flex as it has a much lower resistance than the duct work provided by the tent folks. Yes it's a pain but there are tutorials on how to bend the stuff on utubeage.
Also.
3 nice plants in deep veg will add another gallon or perhaps even 2 to your equation.
Daily.
 
#5
JIMKSI64 said:
Hey no worries. Let's see if we can still get an idea.
Dehuey on full how long does it take to get 4 gallons or 32 pints of water?
Is there any way to exit the exhaust of the tent out of the shed? This is the only way I can get under 49% humidity when needed.
Also remember the duct system in your tent is moveable. You can mount it to the wall of the shed and run duct to it. It has an arrow for suck or blow configurations.
Consider semi rigid flex as it has a much lower resistance than the duct work provided by the tent folks. Yes it's a pain but there are tutorials on how to bend the stuff on utubeage.
Also.
3 nice plants in deep veg will add another gallon or perhaps even 2 to your equation.
Daily.
Click to expand...
I emptied my five gallon pail this morning at 5 am and have an inch of water in it now at 10 am. I do have my floor unit ac vented through the wall with a clothes dryer vent flap. I'm sure I could do the same for the tents. Just sucks there's 3 of them. 2x2 , 3x3 and a 4x2 all on different walls. Don't however have more than 2 of them usually running at once.
 
#7
IFukup said:
Sorry for the lack of knowledge to help myself out.
Click to expand...
Don't worry about that. We all start at the beginning.

IFukup said:
I feel the tray to grow constantly staying wet and the reservoirs are the culprit. Plus the other tent keeping the coco moist isn't helping.
Click to expand...
Large plants also put a lot of moisture in the air.

Raising the temperature lowers the relative humidity. What is the air temperature?

IFukup said:
Would running another dehumidifier help?
Click to expand...
It probably would. Be careful not to overload the electrical circuit.
 
#8
IFukup said:
This has caused pmd in last two grows.
Click to expand...
Are you referring to white powdery mildew? If so, I understand using an air filter can reduce the spore count, making it harder for mildew to propagate. I have one in my grow room that I made by taping a filter to a box fan. I control it using a tent controller.
 
#9
IFukup said:
I emptied my five gallon pail this morning at 5 am and have an inch of water in it now at 10 am. I do have my floor unit ac vented through the wall with a clothes dryer vent flap. I'm sure I could do the same for the tents. Just sucks there's 3 of them. 2x2 , 3x3 and a 4x2 all on different walls. Don't however have more than 2 of them usually running at once.
Click to expand...
Clothes dryer vent for the win. Take the face off and put a piece of screen and a sticky trap against the wall of the tube. Instant IPM and detector.
My 6 inch drops out of the room and has the carbon filter on it in between the studs on a shelf.
 
#10
JIMKSI64 said:
Clothes dryer vent for the win. Take the face off and put a piece of screen and a sticky trap against the wall of the tube. Instant IPM and detector.
My 6 inch drops out of the room and has the carbon filter on it in between the studs on a shelf.
Click to expand...
My only concern is that it would vent the heat out as well... Dou think that would be an issue?
 
#11
LoveGrowingIt said:
Are you referring to white powdery mildew? If so, I understand using an air filter can reduce the spore count, making it harder for mildew to propagate. I have one in my grow room that I made by taping a filter to a box fan. I control it using a tent controller.
Click to expand...
Yes, powdery mildew. I have the charcoal filters on the end of my tent vents. Is that what you're referring to?
 
#12
My guess is that you are going to spend money on one of the 2 primary environmental conditions. It really depends on if you have any heat support in the tent at this moment.
From trial and error I have found it is easier to add heat and humidity in the tent than to have a dehuey and an AC run into the tent. I position my lung room about 7% under my humidity needs. This allows the cloudforge to cycle very quickly to keep the humidity +- 1% and normally less than that in flower.
Heat I try to keep 3 degrees under expected tent high temp. When I had the autos at 79 degrees the transfer fan hardly ran as it pulls very cold air into the room with very low humidity. My lights alone in flower for the 4x4 will give all the heat I need. The transfer fan is at floor level. The tent in vents are the 2 screen vents in the tent. It also has a false floor that gives it a basement. I ensure the air is pulled from the corner of the tent across and diagonal to the ceiling exit for the tent. Being able to get a substantially smaller tent by lifting up the floor 20 inches allows pumping humidity and heat during seedling and veg much easier.
I also run a smaller 31x31 in stupid mode. No heat support and a humidifier that is on manual mode. It does have 300 watts of lights burning but that is also because I do want to keep the 2 autos in the tent at 75 degrees. I could lift the plants close and use less power but I need the heat.
I would say 3 tents and 2 always in use is just being outstripped by the dehuey size and perhaps even venting all the tents out the shed may still require more removal of humidity.
 
#13
IFukup said:
Yes, powdery mildew. I have the charcoal filters on the end of my tent vents. Is that what you're referring to?
Click to expand...
No, and the charcoal filters can't do much if the tent is left open. Charcoal mainly reduces odor. A downside is they reduce the air flow or make the fan work harder.

I'm talking about conditioning the air in the lung room. We use a spare bedroom for our growing. There are three tents and five plants in there now. I use organic nutrients.

We were having trouble with sinus headaches, so I used an old 20" box fan and some duct tape and attached a 20" filter I bought at a hardware store. There are a wide range of filter capabilities graded on what's known as the MERV scale. My filter is at level 11, which can filter out pollen and spores. I cycle it on and off every 15 minutes using a port on a tent controller. Actually, I use the controller to control the environment in the lung room, including exhaust to the outside and the heat. There are humidifiers in the tents.

This is my first grow with me paying this much attention to the environment in the lung room. Previously, the tents were in separate rooms. So now, like you, I have a dedicated grow space. It has taken some time and some thought to get it dialed in (and it's still a work in progress). Of course, the weather affects the room environment, creating additional challenges--and increasing the benefits of using a controller for the room. We just had an atmospheric river that brought heavy rains and flooding in the area. So, it's very humid and a very hospitable environment for mold. My DIY filter does a surprisingly good job of removing contaminants in the air.
 
#15
If you have a lot of critters and need a lot of filtration make a cube out of 20 inch filters and top it with the fan blowing out of the cube.
My brother in law does house rehab and swears by the filter cube
Screenshot 20251218 110629 Chrome
 
#16
JIMKSI64 said:
If you have a lot of critters and need a lot of filtration make a cube out of 20 inch filters and top it with the fan blowing out of the cube.
My brother in law does house rehab and swears by the filter cube
Click to expand...
I like that! I just taped the filter to the fan, but I've been thinking about changes for version 2.0. I got this idea from woodworking. Sawdust and particulate control are common topics among woodworkers, and there are many DIY examples on the internet. My next creation will make it easier to change filters. So far, we've decided to put in a new filter at the beginning of every grow. The filtration has really helped reduce our sinus headaches.
 
#17
I use this one with great success, and doesn't have to sit inside the tent. The outlet hose is attached to the tent from the bottom for my uses.
Screenshot 20251218 083448
 
#18
Week4Bytch said:
I use this one with great success, and doesn't have to sit inside the tent. The outlet hose is attached to the tent from the bottom for my uses.
Click to expand...
Can't see it. Got this message. It might be because our internet service is limited because of the storms that have hit the area.

1766080063427
 
#19
I can see it now. No idea what changed. It looks like it's a good one for large tents. I have one in my lung room but only need to use it near the end of a grow. Right now, all my plants are in early veg, so I'm running the humidifiers. The plants are just about past the need for them, though.
 
#20
LoveGrowingIt said:
No, and the charcoal filters can't do much if the tent is left open. Charcoal mainly reduces odor. A downside is they reduce the air flow or make the fan work harder.

I'm talking about conditioning the air in the lung room. We use a spare bedroom for our growing. There are three tents and five plants in there now. I use organic nutrients.

We were having trouble with sinus headaches, so I used an old 20" box fan and some duct tape and attached a 20" filter I bought at a hardware store. There are a wide range of filter capabilities graded on what's known as the MERV scale. My filter is at level 11, which can filter out pollen and spores. I cycle it on and off every 15 minutes using a port on a tent controller. Actually, I use the controller to control the environment in the lung room, including exhaust to the outside and the heat. There are humidifiers in the tents.

This is my first grow with me paying this much attention to the environment in the lung room. Previously, the tents were in separate rooms. So now, like you, I have a dedicated grow space. It has taken some time and some thought to get it dialed in (and it's still a work in progress). Of course, the weather affects the room environment, creating additional challenges--and increasing the benefits of using a controller for the room. We just had an atmospheric river that brought heavy rains and flooding in the area. So, it's very humid and a very hospitable environment for mold. My DIY filter does a surprisingly good job of removing contaminants in the air.
Click to expand...
That's awesome... I'm def at the point where I have to get my lung room in check with the autopot system that seems to add way to much humidity.
 
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