dehumidifier 15mins on/15mins off, why not?

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

zem

Well-Known Member
Joined
Dec 6, 2009
Messages
3,483
Reaction score
1,263
i have a need to do it with the lowest power bill possible, buds are enormous, i have no chance without dehumidifier, they will mold. usually i would run it 24/24 i thought i try to put it 15 on/ 15 off cycle, humidity is 45% i am thinking, this must work in preventing any mold, any thoughts why not to do this?
 
I certainly think it is worth a go. You can monitor your rh and see if it is doing the job.
 
Just be careful that it doesn't dry them out to fast..ime
 
pcduck i am not drying the buds, they are still flowering... PuffinNugs, i can set it to how much i need it to be humid but the unit is outside room blowing in so it will not really work. why would it break? when a humid-stat is on, it is always going on/off it doesn't break it...
 
I'm with Puffin, kicking on and off like that will definitely put some strain on it for sure. That's how my A/C died, I figured the same as you. It worked for 2 grow cycles and was an old a/c anyway. Hell give it a shot until your buds are done, then next cycle think of a new strategy to conserve energy.
 
hey zem---not sure what your question is---45% humidity should be safe---do you already have PM in the room---are you just being precautionary---is it raining---if you are bringing in a constant flow of fresh outdoor air into the room already---you might just be wasting power cause the dehumidifier won't be able to keep up with the humidity in the fresh air coming into the room---you might consider shutting down any new fresh air from entering when you run the dehumidifier---seems you would get the most bang for your buck if you ran it when the lights were off as well---green mojo bro
 
I am with Hal - 45% is just fine. That is in the happy zone.
 
i didn't explain right, the 45% RH was when i was already running it 15/15 for 2 days... anyway, i changed it into 24/24 again, i figured, the motor needs to compress the gas in it every 15 mins, so it's probably true that it's harsh on it. i always hear that 45% is great and will prevent mold, but i have seen the inside of buds get mold with this RH, i have to use a dehumidifier in the last month or so of every single grow, or i would get mold in the big buds. the exhaust is running constantly and the dehumidifier is on the intake hole, the body of the machine is outside blowing dry air in... BTW the grow is awesome, i will remember to take some pics :) i have been busy not checking in, but growing on ;)
 
I don't quite understand this--you are not actually removing moisture from your grow room? You are just using air that has been dehumidified from the adjacent room as intake air?
 
The Hemp Goddess said:
I don't quite understand this--you are not actually removing moisture from your grow room? You are just using air that has been dehumidified from the adjacent room as intake air?
yes well the room is more of a box, the dehum wouldnt even fit inside, so it's placed as intake blowing dry air in... it works great this way and i keep the heat of the motor outside too, the sucker uses like 250w 24/24 eek!
 
I agree with Puffin on this one. That dehumidifier is like an AC, it has to turn on a compressor and pump up pressure. Cycling it every 15 minutes would cause the pressures to be crazy inside of it and would at the least prematurely wear out the compressor motor and/or any of the control electronics. However, you may still be able to do something similar to save power.

Try shutting it and the exaust down for 30min every hour(on 60, off 30) This would give it a chance to decompress completely before coming back on again. By shutting all exaust off for the same length of time you don't pull any humid air into the room and being off for only 30 minutes shouldn't allow too much heat buildup. :)
 
Hushpuppy said:
I agree with Puffin on this one. That dehumidifier is like an AC, it has to turn on a compressor and pump up pressure. Cycling it every 15 minutes would cause the pressures to be crazy inside of it and would at the least prematurely wear out the compressor motor and/or any of the control electronics. However, you may still be able to do something similar to save power.

Try shutting it and the exaust down for 30min every hour(on 60, off 30) This would give it a chance to decompress completely before coming back on again. By shutting all exaust off for the same length of time you don't pull any humid air into the room and being off for only 30 minutes shouldn't allow too much heat buildup. :)
i detected some mold because i was late to kick on the duhumidifier, so i decided, the hell with it, i'm gona run it 24/24. my enemy #1 is not mites or fungus or disease... it's mold! i tried fans and everything, i just can't manage to grow big buds mold free if i don't use a dehumidifier. my unit can handle double my current grow, so for max efficiency, i will try using 2 lights every time i grow
 
I'm curious. Do you have a lot of humidity where you are? or is it that your system is creating a lot of humidity? I had a big problem with humidity when I first started my Hydro system and had not got it streamlined. Not to mention a considerable amount of sloppiness in spilling water.

If your outside environment is not too humid (above 60%) then you could actually move your humidifier inside and allow the relatively humid air from outside to come in some and just maintain what is within the room. If most of your humidity issues are coming from within the room, then you are trying to fight it by exausting it and replacing it with dry air from outside. If that is the case, you may be able to look at your system and reduce the amount of humidity that is being created and keep the dehumidifier within the grow space and run it less. Just a thought. :)
 
yeah i live in humid area, in summers it could go above 90% lol but in my room, it would read about 70 or so without dehumidifier. when lights off with dehum on, it's 50% or so, when lights on down to 40. i'm sad today because i removed another moldy bud :( this mistake i made so many times, being late to kick on the unit, when buds are big, even a windstorm inside wouldn't prevent the inside of buds to mold. it is however only 2-3 grams loss so far.. i'm keeping a very close eye to detect anything still there, the dehum is doing its work now
 
Something to try for the next grow is ProTekt from Dyna-Gro. It is a silica supplement along with a nice source of K.

Anyway, it toughens cell walls and really helps plants resist mold/mildew, biting/sucking insects along with other things. Check out Dyna-Gro's website for more info and also Jmans nute study sticky. That is where I first heard of it. It has really helped with my outside plants.

The funny thing is, when I lived in SoFl I never had mold problems and the humidity was seldom below 90%. LOL, if it got below 70% our skin would start cracking. Most days were 90/90, temp and humidity and 'nice' would be in the 80/80 range.

But, since I moved to the piedmont, mold and mildew galore, even with much lower humidity. I guess it has to do more with the big temp differences in night and day. A 30* swing is not unusual and running both the AC and the heat on the same day has happened more than a few times. In SoFl, it was more like a 10* difference, didn't get very cool at night.

Just a suggestion with the ProTekt, good luck with this crop.

Wet
 
thanks wet, it sounds like a good idea i will have to read about it... it is strange how mold grows, i see mold no matter what RH is if i dont kick dehum on and it is a major problem for me, it adds a lot of electric expenses on my grow
 

Latest posts

Back
Top