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humidity in garage

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bemike61
Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 67 kentucky
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2008-07-16          155357


thanks for all who have gave me some ideas. here is some more info on my garage. i have put on water repellant sealer on outside walls, i also used drylok sealer on inside walls to seal out moisture. it does have gutters to keep rain away from side walls. i have not put anything on concrete floor. my building is 40 x 50.

i do work out in the garage and have the overhead door open sometimes.
thanks

what kind of moisture will i have inthe winter months, it can get down in the teens for a few days at a time. i would like to keep some kind of constant temp to help out .

is there some type of machine that does both. i do not have windows for any ac unit.

murf what do you do in the cooler months. does you homemade unit use alot of electric.





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humidity in garage

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kthompson
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 5275 South Carolina
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2008-07-16          155358


Kentucky? By chance is this built on top of any hill you could put drainage pipe in around it to help pull moisture of of the ground under it? If by chance built in a low area, could you still do so and use a sump pump set up?

Just how old is this building? Have you asked the people who sprayed in the foam if it generates moisture? It seems you have taken some very good steps. kt
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humidity in garage

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kwschumm
Join Date: Feb 2003
Posts: 5764 NW Oregon
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2008-07-16          155359


Warning, geeky stuff follows.

For condensation control you need to keep the temperature inside the garage above the dew point. If you're a tinkerer a cool way to do that would be to rig up a dew point sensor to a dehumidifier. When the temperature/humidity/pressure falls below dew point moisture will condense. If you could find a dew point sensor with closed contact outputs it shouldn't be too hard to rig it up to turn on a dehumidifer when conditions are such that condensation will form.

For maximum energy savings you could use two dew point sensors, one inside and one outside. If the outside air had a higher dew point than inside you could bring outside air in. If both inside and outside are below dew point then close the vents and turn on a dehumidifier.
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humidity in garage

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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2008-07-17          155370


My system only runs 12 hours a day, in 4 runs of 3 hours each. There are however 4 large ceiling fans (0.85 amps each) that run 24/7, this helps keep the air mixed and more uniform in temp. and humidity level.

The water pump is a small shallow well pump, originally designed for a 1/2 hp. motor but I got it free because the motor was toast, so I put a 1/4 hp on it since I didn't need the volume or pressure it was designed for, and am only running with about a 8' total lift, being about 3' of suction and 5' of head.

The furnace fan blower is out of a very small unit, the motor only draws 3 amps.

The system runs all year since the ground water never drops below about 50° F. even in the winter, so I am gaining some heat, between that and 2 dark-painted south facing 12'x12' doors the shop will not go below freezing regardless of the weather, and on a sunny day will be 15° - 20° above the outside temperature.

Best of luck. ....


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humidity in garage

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kthompson
Join Date: Oct 2005
Posts: 5275 South Carolina
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2008-07-17          155372


Murf, many years ago I saw a house some where in Canada that had a southern facing glass wall. It was a double panel design with a few inches between the panels. They used styrofoam beads between the panels with a vacum system to move them. On sunny days them pulled them out and let the sun in, if not a heat gain they moved them back to insulate the wall. I thought that was very neat. kt ....


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Murf
Join Date: Dec 1999
Posts: 7249 Toronto Area, Ontario, Canada
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2008-07-17          155376


A fellow near here built an underground house a number of years back. He just dug into a south facing hillside a bit and then started pouring concrete, sort of like an upside-down swimming pool. He then dug a large pond and buried the structure with the spoils from the excavation.

The neat part is his HVAC system. He put in many large 'chimneys' for lack of a better term, each one just tall enough to clear the surface, and each is topped with a plexiglass dome that has forms a parabolic lens. The inside of each chimney is lined with a moveable curved panel of black aluminum that runs around the inside. When he wants heat, he rtates the panel till it's in the sunshine, when it's too hot (rarely) he moves it out of the sunshine. A ceiling fan below moves the heat around.

His 'cooling' system is a long set of pipes that runs underground for quite some distance then into the house. When he wants cooling he can open the chimneys and pump the cool air in, forcing the hot air out.

He heats about 3,000 sq. feet with a small wood stove and nothing more.

Best of luck. ....


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