Humidity issues (can’t get it up ) DIY ultrasonic fogger

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BigGreenThumb

Active Member
Hey RIU… so after a constant battle the last couple of weeks, I’m here for some help and advice. As always it’s much appreciated…

Where I’m at it’s cold and very dry out. Im having a hard time keeping my tents humidity higher than MAYBE 35-40% while running a small humidifier 24/7 in the room they are in. I’ve tried bowls and wet towels in the tents with not much help..

Some info to help.. there are 2 tents in a 10x9 room.. one is 2x4x5 the other is 2.5x5x7ish. Both tents are exhausted out of the house because of heat issues…
One of the tents has a Viparspectra xs4000 and the other has 2 xs1000s. I’m currently keeping the room at around 75-77 with an oil filled heater (Have a bowl of water sitting on top to evaporate) and tents stay at about 82-84F when lights are on. The larger tents 6” exhaust runs at about 25% and the smaller tents 4” at about 50% both tents have some small fans also circulating around.. I’ve tried exhausting inside and not running the heater but temps crept up to almost 90 and had to go back to the outside exhaust setup.
I’m thinking of biting the bullet and building a couple of small DIY foggers to pump cool mist into the tents directly, each being controlled by a humidistat like an inkbird..

Would a small single head fogger be sufficient for each tent if I wanted to keep it fairly consistent? Am I still going to battle the humidity issues with a setup like this because of the exhaust or is this thing going to constantly run and cause other issues? Would I be better off humidifying the room the tents sit in with a larger fogger and control with a humidistat instead?
Also where is the best place to dump mist into the tent? I’m assuming the top but is it a bad idea to have the mist drop over the lights?
 
myke

myke

Well-Known Member
BigGreenThumb said:
Hey RIU… so after a constant battle the last couple of weeks, I’m here for some help and advice. As always it’s much appreciated…

Where I’m at it’s cold and very dry out. Im having a hard time keeping my tents humidity higher than MAYBE 35-40% while running a small humidifier 24/7 in the room they are in. I’ve tried bowls and wet towels in the tents with not much help..

Some info to help.. there are 2 tents in a 10x9 room.. one is 2x4x5 the other is 2.5x5x7ish. Both tents are exhausted out of the house because of heat issues…
One of the tents has a Viparspectra xs4000 and the other has 2 xs1000s. I’m currently keeping the room at around 75-77 with an oil filled heater (Have a bowl of water sitting on top to evaporate) and tents stay at about 82-84F when lights are on. The larger tents 6” exhaust runs at about 25% and the smaller tents 4” at about 50% both tents have some small fans also circulating around.. I’ve tried exhausting inside and not running the heater but temps crept up to almost 90 and had to go back to the outside exhaust setup.
I’m thinking of biting the bullet and building a couple of small DIY foggers to pump cool mist into the tents directly, each being controlled by a humidistat like an inkbird..

Would a small single head fogger be sufficient for each tent if I wanted to keep it fairly consistent? Am I still going to battle the humidity issues with a setup like this because of the exhaust or is this thing going to constantly run and cause other issues? Would I be better off humidifying the room the tents sit in with a larger fogger and control with a humidistat instead?
Also where is the best place to dump mist into the tent? I’m assuming the top but is it a bad idea to have the mist drop over the lights?
Click to expand...
Fill pots of wet soil.
 
myke

myke

Well-Known Member
When sucking air outside it’s almost impossible to raise humidity when the air i the house is dry. I grow in soil and when I water my plants humidity spikes immediately. But like you I vent outside so it’s lost. I just tuff it out until plants grow a little. Once you get some leaves humidity will rise.
 
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BigGreenThumb

Active Member
myke said:
When sucking air outside it’s almost impossible to raise humidity when the air i the house is dry. I grow in soil and when I water my plants humidity spikes immediately. But like you I vent outside so it’s lost. I just tuff it out until plants grow a little. Once you get some leaves humidity will rise.
Click to expand...
damn man..yeah I see it’s basically a losing battle but I figure someone had to have a way to tackle the issue!
 
B

BigGreenThumb

Active Member
Billy the Mountain said:
You could try placing the humidifier's output near an intake vent, the negative pressure will pull the moisture into the tent.
Click to expand...
well that’s essentially what the diy fogger will do, is basically dump mist into the tent when humidity drops, but I feel like with the exhaust the humidity is always going to be low-ish and the fogger would Constantly run causing other mold and bacterial issues
 
Billy the Mountain

Billy the Mountain

Well-Known Member
You'll have to experiment with your exhaust fan settings, humidifier output, and controller settings to find a happy medium. Its generally a balancing act to find the "least worst" combo for your particular environment.

Good luck!
 
myke

myke

Well-Known Member
BigGreenThumb said:
well that’s essentially what the diy fogger will do, is basically dump mist into the tent when humidity drops, but I feel like with the exhaust the humidity is always going to be low-ish and the fogger would Constantly run causing other mold and bacterial issues
Click to expand...
If growing is your future consider having some mother plants or other types of plants in your house.The best humidifier is a big plant.
 
Billy the Mountain

Billy the Mountain

Well-Known Member
100% true

Tap water in those types of humidifier can clog a filter quickly with an ultra-fine talc.

I noticed my fan speed getting progressively higher to maintain a set temp. Took me a few weeks to figure it out. The pre-filter was caked with an ultra-fine talc. Shop vac or compressor were ineffective to clean the filter. A wash in soapy water was needed to remove the fine powder imbedded in the filter.
 
G

GarageGardener69

Well-Known Member
Billy the Mountain said:
100% true

Tap water in those types of humidifier can clog a filter quickly with an ultra-fine talc.

I noticed my fan speed getting progressively higher to maintain a set temp. Took me a few weeks to figure it out. The pre-filter was caked with an ultra-fine talc. Shop vac or compressor were ineffective to clean the filter. A wash in soapy water was needed to remove the fine powder imbedded in the filter.
Click to expand...
yeah I noticed with my ultrasonic the same thing with the powder. Just took it out of tent thankfully
 
GreenestBasterd

GreenestBasterd

Well-Known Member
I have a similar battle where I am.
I’ve found two humidifiers (decent ones) in the bigger rooms/tents with a combination of slowing down the exhaust fan speed and bottom watering on large trays help immensely.

Foliar feeds can also be used a few hours or so before lights on which should leave considerable amount of moisture around before your humidifier comes back on.

Another trick is having a flood tray the size of your tent on the ground with pots on risers. Then plug the tray and fill with water.

good luck mate.
 
DoubleAtotheRON

DoubleAtotheRON

Well-Known Member
Billy the Mountain said:
100% true

Tap water in those types of humidifier can clog a filter quickly with an ultra-fine talc.

I noticed my fan speed getting progressively higher to maintain a set temp. Took me a few weeks to figure it out. The pre-filter was caked with an ultra-fine talc. Shop vac or compressor were ineffective to clean the filter. A wash in soapy water was needed to remove the fine powder imbedded in the filter.
Click to expand...
Man, it took me a minute to figure it out too. We had just had some construction done in the mother room, and I figured it was gypsum dust from the drywall. I knew I had cleaned it up well, but thought the fans were kicking up some dust. But, it was the humidifier/atomizer. Did the same thing to me,.. clogged up my ac filter, the squirrel cage on the fans.... it was a mess.
 
1

1212ham

Well-Known Member
BigGreenThumb said:
damn man..yeah I see it’s basically a losing battle but I figure someone had to have a way to tackle the issue!
Click to expand...
Figuring it out can be a journey! If its cold and dry outside i'd be looking to vent that warm humid air inside the house. What type of furnace, forced air? Humidity in grow room and other parts of the house?
 
H

Hairybuds

Well-Known Member
Don’t worry too much about rh at 35-40, that’s ok, more important is keeping your temps in check. As the plants grow you’ll have more rh. A trick I learned is you can control how much rh you have by the amount of leaves you have. You might run into having too much at one point.
 
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BigGreenThumb

Active Member
1212ham said:
Figuring it out can be a journey! If its cold and dry outside i'd be looking to vent that warm humid air inside the house. What type of furnace, forced air? Humidity in grow room and other parts of the house?
Click to expand...
It is, but I find it kind of fun trying to figure it out and dial everything in…

the whole house is pretty dry… the basement is the warmest part of the house for some reason, so exhausting out is a better option for me.
It’s a hot water gas boiler and water heater…
 
B

BigGreenThumb

Active Member
Hairybuds said:
Don’t worry too much about rh at 35-40, that’s ok, more important is keeping your temps in check. As the plants grow you’ll have more rh. A trick I learned is you can control how much rh you have by the amount of leaves you have. You might run into having too much at one point.
Click to expand...
I notice this already… transplanted 3 into 5 gal pots and RH went up at least 10% in the tent..
 
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