Condensation fix?

[will?]

Hey everyone,
It’s the middle of wet season here in Australia and I can’t go a day without leaving my air con on dry cycle, otherwise I get home in the afternoon to the wood frame soaked. Are there any more energy efficient ways to stop condensation like this?
Thanks in advance:)

 

[JumboShrimp]

Do you have a photo or two? Is the condensation inside a closed stand? If so, might it come down to removing a door? That's what I had to do, and it made all the difference in the world. (Plus, my 150-gallon tanks have glass tops; here in Florida.)

 

[musselman]

What is the difference between the tank temperature and the dew point? Maybe you can close the gap.

 

[Subsea]

Hey everyone,
It’s the middle of wet season here in Australia and I can’t go a day without leaving my air con on dry cycle, otherwise I get home in the afternoon to the wood frame soaked. Are there any more energy efficient ways to stop condensation like this?
Thanks in advance:)

Will,
Not sure what wet season means in Austrailia. In humid south Texas, we use AC 10 months out of the year because 70% of the heat load is moisture in the air. The dew point is the temperature that moisture in the air will condense. If your aquariums are evaporating moisture into a room already saturated with moisture then condensation will happen.

Either limit evaporation from aquariums or run air conditioners or dehumidifiers. I have both in my home as well as a humidity gauge.

 

[will?]

Do you have a photo or two? Is the condensation inside a closed stand? If so, might it come down to removing a door? That's what I had to do, and it made all the difference in the world. (Plus, my 150-gallon tanks have glass tops; here in Florida.)

The stand is open, and not a cabinet. Most of the condensation actually builds up on the glass and pools around the base of the tank on the stand. My tank has a 4 part glass lid too.

 

[will?]

What is the difference between the tank temperature and the dew point? Maybe you can close the gap.

The tank sits about 25 degrees Celsius consistently due to the chiller, and that’s the optimal temp for everything in there it seems, so I don’t really want to mess around with it too much. Not entirely sure about the dew point, but usually there’s about 80-90% humidity and 35+ degree Celsius temps each day outside, sometimes up to about 40 degrees.

 

[Idech]

Not entirely sure about the dew point, but usually there’s about 80-90% humidity and 35+ degree Celsius temps each day outside, sometimes up to about 40 degrees.

How about running the air conditioner to cool the house ? Keep it at 22-23 C and that would take care of it.

 

[will?]

Hey everyone,
It’s the middle of wet season here in Australia and I can’t go a day without leaving my air con on dry cycle, otherwise I get home in the afternoon to the wood frame soaked. Are there any more energy efficient ways to stop condensation like this?
Thanks in advance:)

Will,
Not sure what wet season means in Austrailia. In humid south Texas, we use AC 10 months out of the year because 70% of the heat load is moisture in the air. The dew point is the temperature that moisture in the air will condense. If your aquariums are evaporating moisture into a room already saturated with moisture then condensation will happen.

Either limit evaporation from aquariums or run air conditioners or dehumidifiers. I have both in my home as well as a humidity gauge.

Wet season is basically our hottest, most humid months, not that it really cools down in winter much in comparison to what I imagine it would be like over there, but the rain, heat and humidity is most significant in far north Queensland from about September to April before it starts to cool down again. Thats the main issue, that there is a huge part of the year taken up by hot and humid temps that are usually upwards of 80% humidity and 35+ degrees Celsius. Might be getting a new aircon soon, so I might be able to set a timer to make it a bit more economically friendly? Is there any way to calculate a dew point or lower evaporation effectively?

 

[will?]

Not entirely sure about the dew point, but usually there’s about 80-90% humidity and 35+ degree Celsius temps each day outside, sometimes up to about 40 degrees.

How about running the air conditioner to cool the house ? Keep it at 22-23 C and that would take care of it.

The only issue is cost. I run my aircon on 30 degrees, dry, but it doesn’t heat at all, so it’s not fighting the chiller, it just keeps the air dry without having to chill the air. I don’t really want to have it on a low temp all day just because of the added cost it adds.

 

[Idech]

The only issue is cost. I run my aircon on 30 degrees, dry, but it doesn’t heat at all, so it’s not fighting the chiller, it just keeps the air dry without having to chill the air. I don’t really want to have it on a low temp all day just because of the added cost it adds.

I think cool would help a lot better than dry but it’s not a setting we use here except for drying the air conditioner itself, when it has condensation in it.

 

[will?]

The only issue is cost. I run my aircon on 30 degrees, dry, but it doesn’t heat at all, so it’s not fighting the chiller, it just keeps the air dry without having to chill the air. I don’t really want to have it on a low temp all day just because of the added cost it adds.

I think cool would help a lot better than dry but it’s not a setting we use here except for drying the air conditioner itself, when it has condensation in it.

Oh okay. It does stop the condensation, but I’ll have a look at cost comparison and see if it is better.

 

[elysics]

I think the most cost efficient solution will be to bite the bullet and get rid of the wood frame and replace it with aluminum. And put some kind of collection pan between the tank and the stand where most of the water can pool and drain into a bucket via a hose or something.

Yes, it will suck to do that, but it just seems like wood is not suitable for your conditions

 

[Subsea]

The only issue is cost. I run my aircon on 30 degrees, dry, but it doesn’t heat at all, so it’s not fighting the chiller, it just keeps the air dry without having to chill the air. I don’t really want to have it on a low temp all day just because of the added cost it adds.

Will,
You have created a catch 22 sceanario. If you don’t set your ac thermostat at a lower temperature, your issue will never go away.

Either run your ac more and pay for the electricity or deal with it. I have lived in South Louisiana & South Texas and your climate is not much differrent. I don’t know what electricity cost in Australia, I pay $0.10 a KWHr in Texas.

 

[Subsea]

Will,
You have created a catch 22 sceanario. If you don’t set your ac thermostat at a lower temperature, your issue will never go away.

Either run your ac more and pay for the electricity or deal with it. I have lived in South Louisiana & South Texas and your climate is not much differrent. I don’t know what electricity cost in Australia, I pay $0.10 a KWHr in Texas.

Also, when you mentioned that you didn’t want your tank water chiller to fight the air conditioner, you LOST me. So I will assume some things.

I understand thermodynamics, heat transfer and reef aquariums very well. If you have a chiller to maintain reef aquarium temperature, then evaporation of moisture from aquarium is not needed to remove aquarium heat and maintain temperature. However, whatever water that does evaporate from aquarium adds to moisture/humidity in the room which increases condensation. So, limit that moisture gain from your aquarium. If you raise the temperature in the room, the same air will hold more moisture thereby reducing condensation.

Where does the exhaust heat from your water chiller go?

Without knowing all details, I will give you an engineering solution. When nobody is home during the day, run dehumidifier to remove moisture from air and to increase temperature of air, which reduces humidity. Get an inexpensive temperature/humidity gauge at about $5.
At days end when people comfort is important, turn AC ON and Dehumidifier OFF. You did say you had a chiller, I think.

 

[elysics]

Also, when you mentioned that you didn’t want your tank water chiller to fight the air conditioner, you LOST me. So I will assume some things.

I understand thermodynamics, heat transfer and reef aquariums very well. If you have a chiller to maintain reef aquarium temperature, then evaporation of moisture from aquarium is not needed to remove aquarium heat and maintain temperature. However, whatever water that does evaporate from aquarium adds to moisture/humidity in the room which increases condensation. So, limit that moisture gain from your aquarium. If you raise the temperature in the room, the same air will hold more moisture thereby reducing condensation.

Where does the exhaust heat from your water chiller go?

Without knowing all details, I will give you an engineering solution. When nobody is home during the day, run dehumidifier to remove moisture from air and to increase temperature of air, which reduces humidity. Get an inexpensive temperature/humidity gauge at about $5.
At days end when people comfort is important, turn AC ON and Dehumidifier OFF. You did say you had a chiller, I think.

I think OP has a compressor chiller that outputs hot air, not a fan chiller that outputs evaporated water because the latter wouldn't work in that climate properly anyway. The evaporation doesn't seem to be humidity from the tank, but humidity from the general outside air that condensates because the aquarium is already colder than the rest of the room.

But to OP: i would put the chiller outside if possible, so it's exhaust does not contribute to your room temp or fight the aircon.

 

[Subsea]

I think OP has a compressor chiller that outputs hot air, not a fan chiller that outputs evaporated water because the latter wouldn't work in that climate properly anyway. The evaporation doesn't seem to be humidity from the tank, but humidity from the general outside air that condensates because the aquarium is already colder than the rest of the room.

But to OP: i would put the chiller outside if possible, so it's exhaust does not contribute to your room temp or fight the aircon.

Yes, I know that AND that was what I discussed. I will reread to see what is confusing.

OK. I said chiller and you assumed I meant fan chilling water thru evaporation.

However, when I said this,

“Where does the exhaust heat from your water chiller go?”

I referred to the heat not the moisture from evaporation. I also recommended that OP use a dehumidifier in his home to reduce moisture in room air.

PS: I also perused OP threads to better understand his sceanario.

@will?
Did I read correctly in an earlier post that you are 13 years old?