Dehumidifiers

[banditpowdercoat]

I got a Kenmore portable AC unit this summer. It has a Dehumidify setting. I have been using it off/on all fall and love it. Although, it cools the air when it dehumidifies, right now it's taking the excess Halide heat out too.But when full winter hits I dunno how it will be

[Argentiner]

Where did you guys get your HVR? I too have a plumber friend that could probably install it, so I could save a bit there. How much was the unit itself? I see a danby dehumidifier unit on kijiji but it has terrible reviews.

[kien]

Air Pro heating and air conditioning is installing my unit. $2300 installed.

[zum14]

Originally Posted by kien

Air Pro heating and air conditioning is installing my unit. $2300 installed.

whoooooo. I was looking into these but havent got any prices yet. Little more then I expected but I really like the idea of them. Houses are getting more and more air tight now with all the new doors and windows and such so I find in ours as we upgrade more and more it gets stale inside quicker. I think these are a really smart idea.

[kien]

Originally Posted by zum14

whoooooo. I was looking into these but havent got any prices yet. Little more then I expected but I really like the idea of them. Houses are getting more and more air tight now with all the new doors and windows and such so I find in ours as we upgrade more and more it gets stale inside quicker. I think these are a really smart idea.

Ya.. it wasn't so bad until we replaced our windows last spring. Our house suddenly became air tight and wow.. we had to turn on fans all day long and crank open windows. It was alright in the summer but can't really do that in the winter so the HRV will be a welcome addition for us.

[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.

[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