air to air exchangers

[acroken]

i would like to here from those of you who use or have used an air to air heat exchanger. i own a AEH1000 air exchanger which i was planning on setting up in my new fish room. my question is, how efficient are they compared to a dehumidifier and fresh air vents? do you feel you are saving the heated air efficiently?how are they on electric consumption? i am hoping to find some positive replies. the concept of fresh warm air in my fish room is very appealing to me but i do not want to be wasting electric and gas running this unit. my fish room is 450 sq ft. i do have other options, one being a wood burning stove and air vents as the stove would take care of the humidity. heating the tanks with heaters is not an option and i am set on central heating, i just want to do it efficiently. my electric is going up at least 10% in January so i am trying to prepare myself now for that.

Thanks

[April]

dale has one..he said its the way to go. i also have one..but mine isnt hooked up yet. just got it. talk to dale..but hes on holidays right now.
not sure on the power used..i also have a commercial dehumidifier that they use to dry up floods. it isnt sufficient evne with two small ones going with it. so..next fall ill be using hte air exchanger.

[Chad Hughes]

I didn't use one due to the power it consumes. I think it works best for commercial applications where you are in the room 12 hours a day. I'm only in my room a couple of hours a day, so I can deal with a little himidity vice paying an extra $100 a month for an exchanger.

One caveat. My entire room is lined with styrofoam. There is no moisture on the walls and I do not get mold. Humidity is about 60%.

Food for thought!

Best wishes!

[Discus-Hans]

i would like to here from those of you who use or have used an air to air heat exchanger. i own a AEH1000 air exchanger which i was planning on setting up in my new fish room. my question is, how efficient are they compared to a dehumidifier and fresh air vents? do you feel you are saving the heated air efficiently?how are they on electric consumption? i am hoping to find some positive replies. the concept of fresh warm air in my fish room is very appealing to me but i do not want to be wasting electric and gas running this unit. my fish room is 450 sq ft. i do have other options, one being a wood burning stove and air vents as the stove would take care of the humidity. heating the tanks with heaters is not an option and i am set on central heating, i just want to do it efficiently. my electric is going up at least 10% in January so i am trying to prepare myself now for that.

Thanks

I've one, the AEL1200, lot of + and - think it's time you come by and we can talk about it.

Tired, to long to type lol

Hans

[acroken]

dale has one..he said its the way to go. i also have one..but mine isnt hooked up yet. just got it. talk to dale..but hes on holidays right now.
not sure on the power used..i also have a commercial dehumidifier that they use to dry up floods. it isnt sufficient evne with two small ones going with it. so..next fall ill be using hte air exchanger.i will check with dale when he returns.
thanks April


I didn't use one due to the power it consumes. I think it works best for commercial applications where you are in the room 12 hours a day. I'm only in my room a couple of hours a day, so I can deal with a little himidity vice paying an extra $100 a month for an exchanger.

One caveat. My entire room is lined with styrofoam. There is no moisture on the walls and I do not get mold. Humidity is about 60%.

Food for thought!

Best wishes!thanks chad. my room now is around 80% humidity and will be worse when i totally enclose it. i have a dehumidifier running 24/7 which helps a little. that dehumidifier has to be costing me $100 a month so it maybe the same electric consumption just better air with the exchanger. the east coast get very humid. you are lucky to be in beautiful San Diego. If i ever move back to the west coast it is going to be in SD:) I want the air condition in this room to be comfortable so when others are in there it is tolerable. the way i am looking at it, if it is comfortable in there maybe my girlfriend will help me out more:D I may set it up and run it for a month or so and evaluate the electric and gas cost. I am more concerned with the amount to heat i will lose. the unit says it retains 90% of the heat.


I've one, the AEL1200, lot of + and - think it's time you come by and we can talk about it.

Tired, to long to type lol

Hans LOL, Hans. I know i need to come there. i am truly scared. I know myself too well. I would walk out of there with boxes and boxes of discus and maxed out credit cards and no cash:D I am planning on a trip there once this room is completed. then i will be ready to stock up. I will be talking with you soon.

Kenny

[Moon]

I had one installed last year. This is mainly because the humidity in my basement was very high and saw traces of mould appearing. My wife is very sensitive to high humidity. I had a dehumidifier running 24/7. This was not enough to control the humidity put out by 25 tanks. So I spent $2500 to have one installed. It works great in the fall, winter and spring months. In the humid summer months it is not much good, but the A/C takes care of it.
Power consumption is about 150W. That's not too bad.
Our Provincial Government gave me a rebate of $400 for this installation. So my cost was just over $2100. Most important thing is "peace of mind" with no complaints from "she who must be obeyed"

[Northwoods Discus]

We had geothermal heat, air and water heater installed this spring and a 300 cfm air exchanger installed also. The A/C is keeping the humidity under control this summer. I plan to have the air exchange control the humidity in the winter due to the low humidity in the incoming air. Our widows in our home were fogging and causing damage to the window frames so I hope my plan will work. Dehumidifiers were not keeping up and they ran continuously and burned out quickly. Plus the worst energy consumption for eliminating humidity. I also like the fact that we get some fresh air circulation. This exchanger was in the 3 grand range and has a computer to control run time based on humidity. It is important since it affects the entire house. Keeping ten tanks running in the house adds a ton of humidity. Just keep fill water was many many 5 gal pails daily.

[April]

its the black mould you need to avoid..its not a good thing. with my fish store i had the ceilings actually raining..and got some mildew. so got mine..but mine was only 350.00 on craigslist.dale found it for me .he got his on craigslist also. this one the guy refused to ship so i got someone from my local forum who lived there to go pay them and throw it on the greyhound bus. id go have a look. all i have to do is some venting..which is not that big of a deal.
we have styro ..and styro on one ceiling and it does work.
the one i got is called carrier air exchanger. about 70 pounds and square. two ventingholes on each end.

[acroken]

so i am ready to install my air exchanger this weekend and have a question. Why do i need to pull air from outside, couldn't i pull air that is already conditioned(heated) from inside my house. If so i could have Y on my two inlets which i could control with a gate. during the cold months i could pull air from inside my house and not have to worry about bringing the temp up to 87 from 20 deg more like 70 to 87? Am i missing something here?

Kenny

[Moon]

The outside vent is simply to bring in fresh air. In the summer it does bring in humid outside air. Your idea of using inside air seems good to me. You could install a bypass incase fresh outside air is needed.

[Discus-Hans]

I've to disagree her with you buddy.

The working of an air exchanger is the COLD air from out side hits the warm humid air from inside what makes the water come out of the inside air and goes in your drain, the cold air blows into your room.

Kenny I told you to come by (or call me) I'm looking into other ways to get the humidity down.

In the winter (cold outside) the air exchanger works the best, but the big one I've blows in the winter so much cold air in, my oil heaters don't shut off,

Hans

[acroken]

The outside vent is simply to bring in fresh air. In the summer it does bring in humid outside air. Your idea of using inside air seems good to me. You could install a bypass incase fresh outside air is needed.


I've to disagree her with you buddy.

The working of an air exchanger is the COLD air from out side hits the warm humid air from inside what makes the water come out of the inside air and goes in your drain, the cold air blows into your room.

Kenny I told you to come by (or call me) I'm looking into other ways to get the humidity down.

In the winter (cold outside) the air exchanger works the best, but the big one I've blows in the winter so much cold air in, my oil heaters don't shut off,

Hans

i know Hans, believe me i want to come down there. Just have to wait till this room is completed. I did not want to bother you with my questions. I appreciate your help. I will call you today. Thanks Hans.

[Moon]

I've to disagree her with you buddy.

The working of an air exchanger is the COLD air from out side hits the warm humid air from inside what makes the water come out of the inside air and goes in your drain, the cold air blows into your room.

Kenny I told you to come by (or call me) I'm looking into other ways to get the humidity down.

In the winter (cold outside) the air exchanger works the best, but the big one I've blows in the winter so much cold air in, my oil heaters don't shut off,

Hans

I stand corrected