question re: venting seperate fish room with exhaust fan

[piscies75]

HI: Setting up a built in room for 180 gallon in basement . My contractor suggested I go to Home Depot and buy a quiet fan to run the outside. I bought a 200 cfm NUTone twin blower ventilator but it has been suggested this is not is what I should have. A different contractor told me to get a continious run fan at HOme Depot 110 cfm and to put a vapour barrier and special caulking around it. Do I also need a humidistat or will I be able to set it or run it on its own switch 8O ? Can anyone advise me exactly what to do? please.

 

[Mogo]

I have similar problem with humidity in fish room.

As part of the solution, I installed a louvered door into my fish room to keep some sort of air flow happening.

I was thinking of installing a fan into the furnace warm air duct for winter (distributing needed humidity throughout the house) then switching the fan airflow (maybe by a baffle) directly outside (summer). For winter purposes, the humistat is already on my furnace and could take some load off the furnace humidifier.

Whatever, the fan would be switched, where I can turn it on and off as required.

 

[reefland]

tagged... would like to hear what others are doing.

 

[Bryan Thompson]

Here is what we use. I have the model that has 4" duct and just attached it to a dryer vent I installed in the wall outside the fish room. This thing is super quiet and really moves the air.

http://www.deflecto.com/OMS/tier2_templ ... uctID=1020

Bryan

 

[piscies75]

hey great Brian , I bought the same model tonight at HOme Depot. It is a continuous run model and can take the constant action. Super quiet as well. MIne came with a venting kit and you can turn down the end baffle to reduced it , but appears to be the same unit. Now did you put a vapour barrier around the joist?

 

[Mogo]

Thanks Byan, I will check those units out.

 

[mhurley]

I went all out and installed a heat/air exchanger in my fish room. This monster unit draws air out of the fish room, throws it out of the house, then draws fresh air from outside and puts it into the room. It "exchanges" some of the heat from the outgoing air to the incoming air, so here in Chicago, I'm not pulling in 0 degree air in the winter. It also dehumidifies. My basement used to be in the 75-80% humidity range and quite warm. I tried regular dehumidifiers but they just kick out more heat so it was a hotter and drier basement. I installed this unit, and can control the humidity and the temp is great. I used to have to keep the door open to my fish room because it got so hot in there and I couldn't get enough fresh air, now I can actually close it and the entire basement and fish room stay at a comfortable 40-50% humidity.
Expensive, but worth it for me with a 330 gallon tank and a full finished basement.

Mike

 

[liquid]

marked for archiving

 

[reefland]

I haven't been able to locate a 4 inch version of this. my local Home Depot only has the 6 inch version and that was $160 ouch!

How much did you pay for the 4 inch version?

The 6 inch version is rated at 267 CFM. What is the 4 inch one rated at?

 

[reefland]

I found specs on the 4 inch version, 120 CFM. Claims it's only useful for rooms less than 100 Sq ft. Seems kinda small.