Dehumidifiers inside or outside?

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nopifarms

Member
Ok so this may seem like a no-brainer question, but just wanted to see what other opinions are on this.

The current design concept is to use large Mylar grow tents within a very large warehouse to create "microclimates" . Currently each microclimate will be about 3600 Cubic SF. Each tent will have a 2 Ton AC unit assigned so we're good on temperature. Each tent will have about 72 plants which I'm calculating will average about 4 pints/day = 288 pints/day

Question: Is it possible to put a 1200 CFM fan to exhaust out the humidity (cycling the air every 3 minutes) out of the grow tent? Meaning, can a 1200CFM be powerful enough to exhaust and control the humidity without dehumidifiers? In this situation, I would put industrial dehumidifiers outside the tent but within the warehouse to control the RH.

The thought is, the less industrial electronics I have under these grow tents, the more comfortable I'll be in the case of an electrical accident.

Thoughts?
 
A

AynOd

Member
nopifarms said:
Ok so this may seem like a no-brainer question, but just wanted to see what other opinions are on this.

The current design concept is to use large Mylar grow tents within a very large warehouse to create "microclimates" . Currently each microclimate will be about 3600 Cubic SF. Each tent will have a 2 Ton AC unit assigned so we're good on temperature. Each tent will have about 72 plants which I'm calculating will average about 4 pints/day = 288 pints/day

Question: Is it possible to put a 1200 CFM fan to exhaust out the humidity (cycling the air every 3 minutes) within that space? Meaning, can a 1200CFM be powerful enough to exhaust and control the humidity without dehumidifiers? In this situation, I would put industrial dehumidifiers outside the tent but within the warehouse to control the RH.

The thought is, the less industrial electronics I have under these grow tents, the more comfortable I'll be in the case of an electrical accident.

Thoughts?
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Air will be moved, not necessarily humidity, depending on how large your grow area is, but changing air once every 3 minutes isn't horrible for airflow...ventilation is going to be your bigger issue, and you haven't yet mentioned the details of that aspect of your setup. I suspect that you might still need a dehumidifier or 4, due to the fact that water is heavier than air and the air is moisture-rich.
 
N

nopifarms

Member
The exhaust will be my only ventilation with a passive intake of air. I'm planning to also add some Co2 to ensure at least 400-500ppm. Can you expound on why ventilation will be my bigger issue if I'm venting out air every 3 minutes?

Grow area is 18x22 within the tent.

Sounds like I may need to just put the dehumidifiers inside the tents.
 
A

AynOd

Member
nopifarms said:
The exhaust will be my only ventilation with a passive intake of air. I'm planning to also add some Co2 to ensure at least 400-500ppm. Can you expound on why ventilation will be my bigger issue if I'm venting out air every 3 minutes?

Grow area is 18x22 within the tent.

Sounds like I may need to just put the dehumidifiers inside the tents.
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Well that gives us a bit more to go on. So, I totally dig the once every three minutes air exchange for the warehouse, but in an 18x22 space, I agree it would be a safe bet putting a good size dehumidifier in each one. Only real option to keep seperate microclimates in my opinion. Others are certainly more creative than myself and may offer much more suitable advice. Best of luck on your adventure.
 
N

nopifarms

Member
Actually the 3 minute air exchange is for the tent, not the warehouse, hence the question of whether or not I need a dehumidifier inside the tent or if I can just keep it outside and depend on the air exchange.

Thanks for your 2 cents!
 
A

AynOd

Member
So you are changing the air every 3 minutes in each tent? Yes, that is fine and you can put the dehumidifiers in the warehouse. Whatever the humidity ends up being in the warehouse is the humidity of the air you will be bringing in to each tent obviously, so keep that in mind when determining how many/large dehumidifiers to get. Google could be your best friend here. I may have gone into details about stuff in my reply you already knew about, but I know in in 5 years some other s.o.b. like me will be reading my 5 year old thread wondering certain things I could have decided not to include because you seem to have it figured out, so I apologize for adding more than you really needed. Just looking out for the future.
 
N

nopifarms

Member
AynOd said:
So you are changing the air every 3 minutes in each tent? Yes, that is fine and you can put the dehumidifiers in the warehouse. Whatever the humidity ends up being in the warehouse is the humidity of the air you will be bringing in to each tent obviously, so keep that in mind when determining how many/large dehumidifiers to get. Google could be your best friend here. I may have gone into details about stuff in my reply you already knew about, but I know in in 5 years some other s.o.b. like me will be reading my 5 year old thread wondering certain things I could have decided not to include because you seem to have it figured out, so I apologize for adding more than you really needed. Just looking out for the future.
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No, totally ok! Always good to hear and reconfirm.
 
Renfro

Renfro

Well-Known Member
You could end up exchanging often enough that you lose the micro climate you are after. I would install a dehumidifier in each space.
 
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