klashnekoffsmoker
Active Member
I got a noob question for ya.... How to measure and increase/decrease humidity accurately??
humidity, how to measure it and control it
- Thread starter klashnekoffsmoker
- Start date
GroErr
Well-Known Member
There are many ways, here are some I have direct experience with. I have 2 cabinets, a tent, and a 4x10x7' flower room. All behave slightly different, depending a lot on what I'm using them for at the time.
The key to your "accurately" is your hygrometer to measure the effects of whatever method(s) you use to humidify or dehumidify. Sensors that can store and allow analysis/measurement are great for that. I use the La Crosse sensors which allow exactly that.
Measurement: Hygrometer, available anywhere for $2 - $200 depending on what you want to spend. e.g. I spent $70 on mine but it measures temp, humidity, and a soil temperature probe + it's wireless, sends data back to a server, where I download it for analysis/history.
Increase Humidity: Not something I've had to deal with much, but did have a small cabinet that for whatever reason was drier than I like it for running clones. It was small, like 14"D x 30"W x 45"H. I simply added a couple of $1 store storage containers full of water and ran the intake fan across them, raised humidity by 10-15% depending on how much water was in the container. Of course there's the obvious like running a humidifier but most people need a de-humidifier to reduce humidity.
Reduce Humidity: Timers on an exhaust fan is the easiest, likely most common. You can buy controllers like I bought the Titan EOS 2 controller for my flower room. It can be set to humidify or dehumidify and has separate settings for day/night. In practice I'm not using it. I control temps and humidity with variable speed inline fans and timers. it's more flexible and reliable than any controller I've tried (including the big brand name Titan controller sitting in a storage container). I like a lot of air exchange and these controllers can work but if your room doesn't need exhausting to say lower humidity, there's no exhausting of stale air. On a timer, there's predictable air exchange as often as you want it. Just a preference though, if you're not comfortable with using timers and want a hands-off approach a controller is easy. Another way to reduce humidity is to bring in drier air than what is in the room. e.g. If I run my inline fan bringing fresh air in from my furnace duct work, the air coming in is around 40% humidity, my room is typically say 60%. Running only my incoming/drier air for 45 min/hr reduces and maintains my humidity around 45%. Depending on the time of year, therefore the humidity in the house/air feeding my room, I may use both incoming and exhaust, or one or the other.
There's a lot of ways to manage it, depends how much you want to spend, what your priorities are (hands-on vs. hands-off), DIY you can do a lot of creative things to increase or decrease your temps/humidity. As mentioned up top, measuring it in short increments is how you get accuracy.
The key to your "accurately" is your hygrometer to measure the effects of whatever method(s) you use to humidify or dehumidify. Sensors that can store and allow analysis/measurement are great for that. I use the La Crosse sensors which allow exactly that.
Measurement: Hygrometer, available anywhere for $2 - $200 depending on what you want to spend. e.g. I spent $70 on mine but it measures temp, humidity, and a soil temperature probe + it's wireless, sends data back to a server, where I download it for analysis/history.
Increase Humidity: Not something I've had to deal with much, but did have a small cabinet that for whatever reason was drier than I like it for running clones. It was small, like 14"D x 30"W x 45"H. I simply added a couple of $1 store storage containers full of water and ran the intake fan across them, raised humidity by 10-15% depending on how much water was in the container. Of course there's the obvious like running a humidifier but most people need a de-humidifier to reduce humidity.
Reduce Humidity: Timers on an exhaust fan is the easiest, likely most common. You can buy controllers like I bought the Titan EOS 2 controller for my flower room. It can be set to humidify or dehumidify and has separate settings for day/night. In practice I'm not using it. I control temps and humidity with variable speed inline fans and timers. it's more flexible and reliable than any controller I've tried (including the big brand name Titan controller sitting in a storage container). I like a lot of air exchange and these controllers can work but if your room doesn't need exhausting to say lower humidity, there's no exhausting of stale air. On a timer, there's predictable air exchange as often as you want it. Just a preference though, if you're not comfortable with using timers and want a hands-off approach a controller is easy. Another way to reduce humidity is to bring in drier air than what is in the room. e.g. If I run my inline fan bringing fresh air in from my furnace duct work, the air coming in is around 40% humidity, my room is typically say 60%. Running only my incoming/drier air for 45 min/hr reduces and maintains my humidity around 45%. Depending on the time of year, therefore the humidity in the house/air feeding my room, I may use both incoming and exhaust, or one or the other.
There's a lot of ways to manage it, depends how much you want to spend, what your priorities are (hands-on vs. hands-off), DIY you can do a lot of creative things to increase or decrease your temps/humidity. As mentioned up top, measuring it in short increments is how you get accuracy.
GrowinDad
Well-Known Member
depends on your setup. As pointed out above, some basic things have a huge impact. I run a flower tent and a veg cab in the same room of my house. So I actually run a small humidifier just outside of the intake of the Veg cab and a dehumidifier in the larger room to dry up intake air for the flower tent.
Diff light systems make a diff as well. I run LED which doesn't have heat drying up the air as well.
I have a few cheapo ($5 wal mart) temp and humidity monitors. They are close enough for me...
Diff light systems make a diff as well. I run LED which doesn't have heat drying up the air as well.
I have a few cheapo ($5 wal mart) temp and humidity monitors. They are close enough for me...