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Recommendations For Garage Dehumidifier?

Discussion in 'Ducati General Discussion' started by Ben Mallinson, Sep 11, 2017.

  1. Anything with a specific heat higher than air can suffer, so that's everything you can see in the shed.
    I accept the higher the specific heat then worse the dew, so heavy / dense materials suffer the worst. Normally metals.
     
  2. Personally, I'd just keep the garage above dew point. Cheaper.
     
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  3. Made a last minute addition to the new garage. Big fat radiator and a nice seal across the bottom of the door. Snug as a bug in a rug :sun:.
     
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  4. It’s always difficult to control and I guess everyone’s storage units are different so require different methods of control. @bootsam seems particularly knowledgeable. I’m fortunate that I have a garage that the previous owner used as a workshop but still it costs to maintain a controlled environment. Some aspects are easy to tackle, eliminate draughts, water ingress, curtains on windows etc. The content of some garages/sheds/outbuildings can outweigh the content value of some houses so why not invest toward a stable environment. I thought about a storage heater as I’m economy 7 but my strip heaters seem pretty effective.
     
  5. I'd use electric radiant heaters to keep the building fabric above dew point. If you use warm air, thats a lot of air to warm up. Plus that air is full of moisture. Air is not just air. Its a mixture of air and moisture and the moisture content is a related to the air pressure and air temperature.

    Using a radiant heater, this will warm all the surfaces and not the air. But I'd make sure all angles are covered. (both sides of bikes and walls, ie one each side for instance) to get greatest coverage. If the fabric and all the bits and bobs in a garage have a surface temp greater than the dew point, then moisture laden air will be unable to condense on the surfaces. If you heat the air, then you need the air to conduct and convect its heat onto the surfaces to bring these surface temps up. This takes time and a fair bit of it too. Not to mention a shed load of energy. Radiant heat will act immediately. Use a black body thermostat to ensure the surface temps are kept at circa >15°C and bobs your aunt.
     
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  6. A common misconception is that people measure the air temps and assume thats the room temp. It isnt. What you 'feel' is known as the dry resultant or operative temperature. This is a mixture of the air temp and the radiated temp of all the things emitting heat. Walls, desks, fucking freezing spanners etc etc. Everything emitts heat. Once it has absorbed heat, it reaches a point and it begins radiating it as per Stefan-Boltzman laws.

    Obviously everything I have mentioned is an approximation for practical purposes as a detailed explanation would see loads of maths and equations and no-one wants to see that on a ducati forum.
     
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  7. TBH I find it quite interesting. Not dealt with this side of environmental control before but have had exposure to clean room maintaining in Pharmaceutical manufacturing. Mostly air flow and pressure regulation, throw in a few particulate monitors and AHU's and its pretty interesting how some facilities are purpose designed..
     
  8. TBH, Im more interested in the fundamentals ie the Stefan Boltzman laws, Planck, Bose etc than I am applying the bollocks for practical purposes. But I find energy and temperature interesting as they're fundamentals. I could read about this all day, alas I have to work and apply this shit to people who care only about cost and how they can shave it to increase their bottom line regardless of the effect on efficiency. I fucking hate this shit as it smacks of half arsed to me. Then they complain when the thing doesnt work quite how it should because theyve essentially bodged it all to save fucking money and thus it costs them more in other costs than they saved in the long run.
     
  9. Insulation.
     
  10. I want to see all your calculations :bucktooth:
    ... so I can check them.:triumph:
     
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  11. Yep, some of us have more than others.
     
  12. If we can keep all out valuables warmer than the air... then
    Robert's your father's brother
     
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  13. Erm...The radiant exitance is proportional to the fourth power of the objects thermodynamic temp. Dont ask what the proportionality is. Ive forgotten. But it involves Pi and loadsa letters including k.
     
  14. Are yes Kevin... good mate of mine.... oh no I think it's Kelvin, don't know him.
     
  15. Kelvin, scots guy. Liked kettles.


    (k is plancks constant = 6.626E-34 m2 kg/s, I can remember this, but not where i put favourite 8mm spanner)
     
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  16. As Boots has already said its a question of keeping surfaces above dew-point. Unless the building has a leak or there is a window or door open to a wet air outside, the moisture in a garage will be condensation. You can heat air as much as you like but unless the surfaces are above dew point or the building is hermetically sealed and the air bone dry to start with, condensation will form which then has to be captured and removed or vented away. Raise the surface temperatures with insulation and the condensation won't form in the first place.
     
  17. If all the surface temps are above the dew point Gimmy, air leakage can be as much as you like, condensation from the air will not occur.
     
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  18. You can take a horse to water....
     
  19. But a pencil must be lead :D
     
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