Humidity keeps going up

[Steve]

So my humidity is going up and I’m thinking about getting this.

hOmeLabs 30 Pint 1,500 Sq. Ft Energy Star Dehumidifier for Medium to Large Rooms and Basements.

I run only a 3x3 grow tent and my humidity is constantly between 60-65. I bought a small dehumidifier but i don’t think it pulling enough water fast enough. So since everything is in my closed in furnace room I was thinking about putting this dehumidifier in the furnace room and put the humidity at 45 maybe? That way it compensates in the tent . But then I was thinking about putting it in my tent Instead and just dialing in what I want it! just not sure if that would hurt the plant because the heat it will put off. Wondering what you guys think? Thanks

[James]

The unit I purchased is 30 pints and puts out quite a bit of heat. Gotta heat up the air to turn it into water. Getting the humidity down during all of flower stage is really important to quality, resin and the prevention of mold. 60-65 Rh is okay for veg, but you’ll want to get that down to 40-50% if you can for flower. Maybe you can increase airflow and ventilation to lower that RH?

If you intend to add a dehumifier that will pull 30 pints every 24 hours you will need to adjust ventilation to compat heat. I do find the hose hookup feature ideal so you don’t have to check on it everyday. It took about 4 hours for my first run to fill 30 pints (just under 4 gallons) and the auto shut offs on these devices are nice.

Other options
Consider defoliation, a portable air conditioner or turn up the current AC

More info here
Rh, Temps, helpful guide

[chris_barfield]

Choice is yours honestly you have decide wether you want to dial in the area outside of the tent or inside … if your gunna go the inside way whatever you out inside is ok just don’t face the device directly onto the leaves and you should be fine … I have friends that control from the inside and some that control the outside

[Steve]

I lollipoped this thing about a week and a half ago and they have drank a ton I was also thinking that this could be part? I was hoping it would slow down. But I do have the fans to the max except the blue one in the corner you see and that small bucket in the middle is the little dehumidifier I got. So either small a/c (which I would imagine will make my electric bill skyrocket) or a full room dehumidifier then. Here are the pics I just took.

[chris_barfield]

So here’s the thing the dehumidifier will bring rh down but raise heat a bit

[Steve]

So heat over mildew. How bad is the heat for a plant? Man I really don’t want to f these girls up in this stage.

[James]

Temps
temps above 80°F (26°C) in the flowering stage will not only slow down bud growth, but can reduce the potency and smell of your buds - keeping the grow room temperature under control is especially important in the flowering/budding stage!

Do you have room for an oscillating fan?

[Steve]

No room for an oscillating but I feel that I have a lot of fans. I even have 2 small usb fans you don’t see in pic

[Steve]

By the way thanks guys for your help!

[Steve]

Thanks for your help by the way

[James]

The dehumidifier I have can be positioned to push the cold air back out in a single direction and the hot air the other.

Dehumidifier I bought

It’s a little louder on “turbo mode”

i circled the area on the pic where the hot air comes from. The back side you feel the cool air.

[Steve]

Yes that looks like a better one that I chose, thanks!

[Steve]

I think I’m going to get this one and shape the end of duct tubing to fit where the heat escapes and feed it outside of tent . Yeah ordering it tonight.

[James]

The one you selected “homelabs” has a lot more reviews and is almost 5 stars. It’s only 10$’s more for the homelabs. I can’t speak to it really as I don’t own that model, but the great thing is you can buy both and use amazon returns free 30 day return. Run them for a week side by side and see what happens. I use this in a spare bedroom and it does the job. Over all temp of the bedroom is not really affected. When you’re next to the dehumidifier you will feel the heat and only when in front of the heat exchange. It takes about 5 minutes before you notice the heat coming out of the unit and can’t feel the heat at all about 16-24 inches away. My only con is the inability to set a temp and the unit only engage at 50% 60% ect. This thing will just keep sucking until it fills 30 pints (hose is not hooked up) and shuts off.

Here is a little test at roughly 12 inches directly in the path of the heat

With the unit off

One minute

5 minutes

10 minutes

15 minutes

Experiment done in a much bigger area than 3x3. Pointing the heat exchange away from your grow the temps won’t rise as much and as quickly “obviously”, but the heat catches up and expands. In the 15 minutes tested above I moved the meter about 12 feet away at the end (same room - unit still on) and temps were down 4 degrees cooler and the RH was also slightly higher 12 feet away 61ish

Does the homelab model have adjustable settings such as set to 50%, 60%?

This Dehumidifier has adjustable settings, but mixed reviews

[Steve]

That’s amazing how quick that worked for you. Does yours have a hose drain to it? The one I’m looking at looks like you can dial in the humidity you want!

[James]

Yeah most of them have a drain hose that uses gravity to drain in continuous mode.

The tech for dehumidifiers is getting better (more efficient) and less expensive. Please note, that dehumidifiers especially the ones that suggest a certain RH setting I question. Without a trusted meter handy I wouldn’t take the rh reading on the unit very seriously from what I’ve read about them, typically if you want 50% rh set the unit to 40%

If you find one that can set a RH at 40%, isn’t loud and is 30 pint or more @ me. I’d return or replace my current with a solid dehumidifier that checks all the boxes.

•Under 250$
•Has the ability to set true RH 35%-80% and doesn’t have to be in “continuous mode” to be manually set.
•Isn’t loud
•portable
•amazon preferred

[Steve]

What range can you set your RH? I tried to find it on website but couldn’t find? Are you not happy with yours? I’m about to buy it!

[James]

I don’t want to tell you one way or another, but on my unit which I am returning only because you cannot manually set the RH. The unit is quiet and effective. You saw in my tests it’s effectiveness. I want to further control my unit to perfect RH temps if possible.

It just runs and runs until it shuts off due to the container being filled at which time it beeps since I do not have the drain hose hooked up. It gets down to 35% and stays there. You do not have the ability to set to ideal/ optimal humidity levels such as 70%, 60%, 40% on the unit I have. It’s not a bad unit, but imo not the unit for our desired needs.

I’m considering the Frigdiare version as it’s programmable in steps of 5% increments.

Found Here

[Bplatinum9]

I didn’t know that RH could be set on dehumidifiers thanks for the post! 1,2 grobo on!
I ended up with this one from Eva Dry. $229.95
EDV-4000 Rotary Desiccant Dehumidifier

Ideal for Home and Office

***Drain hose not included

Rated 4.79 out of 5 based on 14customer ratings

(14 customer reviews)

[Steve]

I ended up buying the one you returned hoping that I can divert the heat out of the tent and actually not use it during the veg state because that is when humidity is good for me. I’ll hook up the hose and take pics of setup and tell you results. I get mine Thursday. Then I can just use this during flowering to make sure I don’t get mold.
I would do the room but I think by having a dehumidifier in the furnace room can throw things off with the furnace. So I’ll let you know