Remote Humidistat for crawlspace Dehumidifier?

[Johnboy2978]

Hello all. I recently had a company to come in to do a major overhaul on my crawlspace. I had them to do an encapsulation of the space and also install a crawlspace dehumidifier to address any humidity in the space to keep mold and termites from returning (I also had a complete termite treatment around the entire house prior to having this done). The crawlspace is extremely cramped and difficult to maneuver around. My crawlspace is L-shaped (garage on cement pad completes what would be a rectangle). They installed a Sante Fe Edge dehumidifier and I've put some remote humidity sensors down there to keep track of how it's doing. The part of the space which was the worst is the very back corner which happens to be furthest away from the dehumidifier unit. Due to the tight space, they couldn't put the unit back there. I've got a sensor in the back corner and one beside the unit and the one beside the unit reads about 50% which is excellent but in the back corner it's 65% If I installed a remote humidistat and placed it in the back corner area would that fix my issue so the unit measured from that and ran until that area was in the 50% range, or do I need some kind of fan or something to stir the air?

[Dan O.]

Install a fan IMO

If I installed a remote humidistat and placed it in the back corner area would that fix my issue so the unit measured from that and ran until that area was in the 50% range, or do I need some kind of fan or something to stir the air?

I don't know if just having it run longer by sensing the humidity at a remote area would work. The dehumidifier would still just be treating the air closest to it (ie. the LESS humid air). It *might* eventually dry the more humid area too but not very efficiently IMO.

I believe installing a fan to get the humid air *to the dehumidifier* (an important point!) would be a more effective method plus also insure even humidity throughout the whole space. A simple fan might be able to be connected to its own humidistat to operate independently and only when necessary, for energy efficiency.


This is really an HVAC problem rather than an appliance problem. You might want to check with some of the ppl in the HVAC forums. They might be able to share their actual experiences or ideas.

LINK > Home Repair Forum : Indoor Home Repair : HVAC


JMO

Dan O.
Appliance411.com
The Appliance Information Site
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[Johnboy2978]

Thanks Dan. I thought a fan might be the answer too. I'll post in the hvac forum.

[Dan O.]

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No problem.

Just one note of clarification, the fan should be set up to move the humid air toward the dehumidifier as effectively as possible, not just 'stir' the air in the space.

If you get a chance let us know how you eventually make out.

Dan O.
Appliance411.com
The Appliance Information Site
=D~~~~~~

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