Humidity issues

[Slim6969]

Hey everyone. Thanks for checking out my post.


I’m having issues maintaining humidity in my grow space. My space is 4’ long 3’ wide
Is in my basement has been insulated and is cut off from the rest of the house


When the fan is off I have no issues with getting the humidity above 40%

When the fan is running it will not go above 30%.

I am running a humidifier in my space as well

The fan is on its lowest setting

Any ideas ??

 

[fanleaf]

Humidifier

 

[Mr. Krip]

Hey everyone. Thanks for checking out my post.


I’m having issues maintaining humidity in my grow space. My space is 4’ long 3’ wide
Is in my basement has been insulated and is cut off from the rest of the house


When the fan is off I have no issues with getting the humidity above 40%

When the fan is running it will not go above 30%.


The fan is on its lowest setting

Any ideas ??

Lower temps, if possible; humidifier, misting the plants & space with plain H2O, bowl of water in the growroom.

 

[Slim6969]

Humidifier

I have a humidifier Sorry I guess I should have put that in my post

 

[Slim6969]

Lower temps, if possible; humidifier, misting the plants & space with plain H2O, bowl of water in the growroom.

I’m running a humidifier Sorry I forgot to put that in my post.

The temp in the room is 26 celsius Or
78.8 fahrenheit

 

[Mr. Krip]

I'm assuming the Huey is in the basement but not in the grow space? Sounds like it's not powerful enough for the whole basement. Can you move into the grow space?

 

[fanleaf]

I have a humidifier Sorry I guess I should have put that in my post

It's always a fight because your blower needs to run to keep temps down and to provide fresh co2 for the plants but the blowers evacuate humidity made by the humidifier too. Since your fan is on its lowest setting if your temperatures are still nice and cool you can actually cover 40 to 50% of the intake on your blower to slow the airflow down a little bit more. Also in my six foot by 6 foot grow area I have a whole home humidifier designed for homes up to 3200 square feet running on high at all times to outwork the exhaust blower so it doesn't blow my humidity straight outside. It's a constant fight and you have to find the balance. Sometimes it's a bigger humidifier, sometimes it's exhaust blower speed and you have to find the balance with your room temperatures also. Sounds to me like you may just need a bigger humidifier than you have.

 

[Slim6969]

I'm assuming the Huey is in the basement but not in the grow space? Sounds like it's not powerful enough for the whole basement. Can you move into the grow space?

Sorry I’ve updated my post. Now lol


The humidifier is in the grow space

 

[fanleaf]

I’m running a humidifier Sorry I forgot to put that in my post.

The temp in the room is 26 celsius Or
78.8 fahrenheit

Yeah with your temperatures at 79 degrees you don't want to turn your blower down anymore because that's a pretty good temperature. All you can really do is get a bigger humidifier or go through the pain of hanging wet towels all the time etc etc

 

[Slim6969]

It's always a fight because your blower needs to run to keep temps down and to provide fresh co2 for the plants but the blowers evacuate humidity made by the humidifier too. Since your fan is on its lowest setting if your temperatures are still nice and cool you can actually cover 40 to 50% of the intake on your blower to slow the airflow down a little bit more. Also in my six foot by 6 foot grow area I have a whole home humidifier designed for homes up to 3200 square feet running on high at all times to outwork the exhaust blower so it doesn't blow my humidity straight outside. It's a constant fight and you have to find the balance. Sometimes it's a bigger humidifier, sometimes it's exhaust blower speed and you have to find the balance with your room temperatures also. Sounds to me like you may just need a bigger humidifier than you have.

I guess I’m in for a bigger humidifier then. Because I don’t currently have the exhaust fan running. My plants are still seedlings and still covered up to keep them humid enough I was planing on in covering them in the next day or so. This is my first grow so I don’t have all the bugs worked out

I wanted to make sure I can get my room in spec before my plants get to big. Glade I’ve done that lol

 

[Mr. Krip]

I guess I’m in for a bigger humidifier then. Because I don’t currently have the exhaust fan running. My plants are still seedlings and still covered up to keep them humid enough I was planing on in covering them in the next day or so. This is my first grow so I don’t have all the bugs worked out

I wanted to make sure I can get my room in spec before my plants get to big. Glade I’ve done that lol

Good move, Brother!

Get your environment in check and everything else is easy!

 

[fanleaf]

Good move, Brother!

Get your environment in check and everything else is easy!

That is the best advice ever. Environment is 90% of the work.

 

[Slim6969]

I 100% agree. I feel like my meter is not working correctly. See pic

You can feel the humity in the grow area but the meter still reads 35%.


Is it posible my fan is blowing the moister away from the meter tip ??

 

[Mr. Krip]

I 100% agree. I feel like my meter is not working correctly. See pic

You can feel the humity in the grow area but the meter still reads 35%.


Is it posible my fan is blowing the moister away from the meter tip ??

Here's a simple way to calibrate/check your hygrometer:

All you need is:

• some table salt
• a small plastic lid from an empty milk jug, soda bottle, or water bottle
• a zip-lock bag
• some distilled water
• Some patience

The science behind this test is that a wet sodium chloride (table salt) mixture will establish a relative humidity in an enclosed space of precisely 75%. By creating that environment inside a plastic bag, you can check to see how far off from 75% your hygrometer is, and then calibrate it accordingly. Here’s how you do it:


Step 1: Fill the empty bottle cap about 3/4 full of salt.


Step 2: Pour a very small amount of distilled water into the cap, to create a slurry. You don’t want all the salt to dissolve. You want it to appear grainy and gooey, like wet sand at the beach just after the surf has uncovered it (see the photo below for how it should look). You can pour off excess water if you put too much in, or play with the water/salt mixture to get it right.


Step 3: Place the lid inside the zip-lock bag, then place the hygrometer inside the bag, display side up, near to the bottle cap. The technically “ideal” location for measurement is suspended 3 inches above the salt mixture, but that level of accuracy isn’t necessary for a $25 device. Placing it right next to the bottle cap is fine.


Step 4: Seal the bag, but don’t push any air out of it. Whatever normal amount of air is naturally inside the bag as you put stuff inside is fine. Place the bag somewhere that’s not too warm — ideally around 70F — that won’t fluctuate much in temperature.


Step 5: Leave the bag overnight. At a minimum, the bag should stay sealed for 6-8 hours. Ideally, 12-24 hours would be great. You want to make sure the humidity inside the bag has stabilized at 75%.

Caliber 4R hygrometer in a salt test

Step 6: Read the relative humidity level on your hygrometer. If it reads exactly 75% — you’re done! If it’s too high or too low, take it out of the bag and use whatever adjustment method is available (buttons for digital, adjustment screw for analog) to set it to exactly 75%. You now have a perfectly calibrated hygrometer!


You can actually use this method to calibrate multiple hygrometers at once (as many as you can fit in the bag). Experts suggest that you re-calibrate a hygrometer every 6 months, but for my application I’ll probably only do it every year or two.

 

[Slim6969]

Here's a simple way to calibrate/check your hygrometer:

Great post thank you very much

 

[fanleaf]

Here's a simple way to clibrate/check your hygrometer:

Ive been growing for years now and had no idea of that sweet lil trick. Thanks man! So, can we still rep+ people on here? If so, how? I don't see it where it used to be.

 

[Mr. Krip]

Ive been growing for years now and had no idea of that sweet lil trick. Thanks man! So, can we still rep+ people on here? If so, how? I don't see it where it used to be.

Thanks, Brother! Much appreciated but I think the +REPS went away when they stole all my "420 Bucks'!

 

[fanleaf]

Thanks, Brother! Much appreciated but I think the +REPS went away when they stole all my "420 Bucks'!

 

[Slim6969]

So just an update I’ve done that test that has been posted It’s only been 7 1/2hours not 12 but I’m definitely not getting the results that I should be. I seem to be going backwards See pix.

 

[Slim6969]

So after this post and googling a bunch I think the problem is not the meter it’s me

The meter has a wire on it with a sencer on the end. This whole time only the sencer has been in my grow space

If I understand how this meter works the sencer with the wire is to go outside so you can see what the temp in outside and in

This just shows how new to this I am and kinda feel like a dumb a$$ lol

I’ve put the whole meter in a ziplock with the salt/water bottle cap to see if this fixes my issue lol most likely will.