Looking into Air Exchangers. Any Advise?

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
I've been following this thread in hopes of getting some good info on what people are using to keep the fish room comfortable and yet not really jack up the electric usage by running a dehumidifier 24/7.

Trev, keep us posted on the install and the results you see. I'll appreciate it!
 
Will do

Im sure it will be a pretty easy install and hopefully keep the moisture down
 
YOu live in Michigan right? Cold winters and hot summers... I recently bought and HRV from pexsupply.com...It will work great in the winter time to draw the humid air out and bring fresh air...and at the same time heat the incoming air while exhausting the warm humid air.....

but...and it is a big one....in the summer time when it gets hot out......you will be drawing in humid air....most people dont run the air exchanger in the summer time or very little...the key is air movement by use of fans and unfortunately the darn dehumidifier.....but if you have a central air system like I do in my house......which I use in the summer time...that will also draw out the humidity in the house as well. another thing to consider is ...installing a bathroom exhaust fan...but be careful when doing this too...you dont want to create negative air pressure..

Hope this all makes sense and helps you out. Oh and one more thing.....I only hooked up my HRV air exchanger in my fishroom only and did not hook it into the central HVAC system of the house.
 
cjbarth;5110485; said:
YOu live in Michigan right? Cold winters and hot summers... I recently bought and HRV from pexsupply.com...It will work great in the winter time to draw the humid air out and bring fresh air...and at the same time heat the incoming air while exhausting the warm humid air.....

but...and it is a big one....in the summer time when it gets hot out......you will be drawing in humid air....most people dont run the air exchanger in the summer time or very little...the key is air movement by use of fans and unfortunately the darn dehumidifier.....but if you have a central air system like I do in my house......which I use in the summer time...that will also draw out the humidity in the house as well. another thing to consider is ...installing a bathroom exhaust fan...but be careful when doing this too...you dont want to create negative air pressure..

Hope this all makes sense and helps you out. Oh and one more thing.....I only hooked up my HRV air exchanger in my fishroom only and did not hook it into the central HVAC system of the house.

thanks for the great info!

the guy told me the same exact thing about the summer time. he also said that i can set it on a lamp timer to come on for a short amount of time at night in the summer...

i will be installing it this weekend, i will keep everyone posted!
 
How did this work out for you Trev?

Now that it's starting to cool down and I'm closing windows at night, I'm getting humidity of around 70% in the fishroom. Everymorning when I walk into the room I expect to see the walls covered in black mold! :nilly: Hasn't happened yet, but it is a concern.

Running a 600W dehumidifier would cost me $140+ per month, so I am looking into other options...this sounds like exactly what I need.
 
It worked out rely well at my old house but i recently moved and the old owner of the house left behind a super duty dehumidifier so i havent even needed to hook up the air exchanger... I will prob end up selling it

It did wonders at the old house. Took the humidity of the whole house down to 30 to 40 and uses like no power


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use bubble wrap for the big sump :) and cable ties that can be re opened takes some time but u can make the sump pretty well sealed. other option is the drill some cover glass but thats normally done before its all plumbed etc.

I am testing a method for humidity now my fish rooms normally around 70-80%, which I quite like has a few positives only down side is the mold but I dont have much and water dropping from the roof on cold nights which I do have. anyways I have seen many green thumbs use plants to soak the humidity up, I have put a few in my room and its sitting at 60% so a 10-20% drop just off a few plants which I am happy with. I now want to try some of the suggested plants for this method and see how that works, but so far it seems to be working, I run a dehumidifier on the R/C unit I use to heat all the tanks up also so its not just plants but the plants have made a big difference imo.
 
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