Basement humidity

mrcote1

Non-member
So after spending a fortune this summer running a dehumidifier 24/7 in my basement to control humidity levels from my sump, does anyone else have ways to keep humidity down? Not very much good info on the web. I wish I could make a cover for it but there would be so many opening from the plumbing I feel it would be useless. Anyone have any ideas? My humidity with the dehumidifier off goes to about 75%
 
I have a finished basement and I keep my sump in a closet where I attached a fan to the wall. The air movement keeps the closet dry as a bone and I rarely see above 50% humidity in the basement.


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what is the negative effect of high humidity?
Mold is the big one. It'll grow on any organic material: joists, cloth, wooden furniture, rugs, the paper backing of insulation, etc. Besides just smelling bad, it can be real health hazard.
 
I wish I could make a cover for it but there would be so many opening from the plumbing I feel it would be useless.
When I go on vacation I throw a loosely fitting cover on my display tank and it seems to cut down the evaporation by about 50%. And that's with no cover on the sump at all. Might be worth a try.
 
Some warning.
If you run a tank or a sump in the basement. for a long run, they can cause your boiler, furnace, gas pipes..e.tc to rush.
The salty humidity in the air can cause anything metal to rush over time.
 
I have my sump, refugium, frag tank, and q tank in my basement, all totallying about 375gal right now.

I did use a dehumidifier to keep humidity under 60%, but it ran nearly continuously.

The basement is finished with baseboard heating, but no central air conditioning.

My solution was to install an in-line fan. I will see if I have a picture of it before it is setup. It pulls air from the fish room and exhausts it outside continuously. This in effect pulls air from upstairs down, and the upstairs air is climate controlled.

I use a separate one on the hood for my display tank. Room air is constantly being pulled into the tank and out of the house.

Matt:cool:
 
Tagging along for ideas. I'm thinking of doing a basement sump setup but was also very concerned with humidity and the effect of humidity and salt corrosion on the furnace, water heater etc.

I am trying to avoid having to run a dehumidifier on all the time. Seems like proper ventilation is the way to go, only problem is during the winter though :(
 
the best way is to run a duct less ac during the summer. It will cool the room allowing for less relative humidity the air can hold as well as act as a dehumidifier and pull the moisture out of the air while cooling. During the winter it's common to see air exchangers used that move inside air outside and fresh air inside. The air moving outside warms up the fresh air coming in so as not to cause increased heating bills. The problem with constant exhaust fans is in a "tight" new home is the exhaust fan can potentially cause a vacuum like effect and pull gas furnace air back into the home which could lead to a CO emergency.
 
the best way is to run a duct less ac during the summer. It will cool the room allowing for less relative humidity the air can hold as well as act as a dehumidifier and pull the moisture out of the air while cooling. During the winter it's common to see air exchangers used that move inside air outside and fresh air inside. The air moving outside warms up the fresh air coming in so as not to cause increased heating bills. The problem with constant exhaust fans is in a "tight" new home is the exhaust fan can potentially cause a vacuum like effect and pull gas furnace air back into the home which could lead to a CO emergency.

This happened to me a few years ago. Fortunately the CO alarms went off and saved myself and my family. The exhaust from the furnace flue was pulled back down the fireplace flue that emptied to an ash dump in the basement. Ended up having to get my furnace an open air intake line which is now tied in directly from outside of home to furnace. Now when furnace runs to heat H2O or home, it draws outside air instead of air from flue. I do use an air exchange heat recovery system as well, but that couldn’t replace the air quick enough in this situation. I can’t tell you how many times I have seen people disregard smoke/CO alarms. Fortunately I didn’t.


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I got a new efficient unit it only switches on when humidity reaches a certain point like 55% then it’s not running 24:7 it only runs when needed

Anything 60-65%+ causes mold and will cost you a lot more in the long run

Even when I ran it 24/7 when I first got it I wouldn’t say it cost more than 20-40 a month full time or less
 
I'm no expert on relative humidity, it's been a while since I've looked into it but from what I remember is relative humidity in humidity relative to the air temp. Warmer air can hold more humidity. Running a dehumidifier is good but if you're drying out the warm air, I'd think it'd just replace the humidity with faster tank evaporation. Like a vicious negative cycle.
 
Keeping a lid on it will lessen evaporation. However, I run a fan to increase evaporation to cool the tank. Water is cheaper than electricity (ie chiller)
 
Wall in your sump area and keep running the dehumidifier or replace it with an ac and keep the temp in the room low/humidity low. This way it's a smaller area to cool/dehumidify and it won't impact anything else in your basement.
 
Air exchanger is best option. I did a test with a dehumidifier seeing how much water it pulled out of basement room with my sump in it. I was collecting 5 gal a day for a week straight. In the same time had it on a meter that calculated electricity cost and if it ran like that for a month would cost $95. My ato was working overtime. Air exchangers only cost a few bucks a month to run and won’t be removing the “good” water from your tank. My 2 cents


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