Garage Humidity

[mathrulz]

Curious what everyone finds to work the best for reducing humidity in your garages? I’ve had a 50-pint portable dehumidifier for the last number of years and it has worked well, but recently isn’t performing anymore. It seems to be an issue with the compressor that isn’t worth fixing. Looking at new ones there seems to be a ton of reviews of these things only lasting a year or 2 now a days. Seems incredibly wasteful to have to keep buying and throwing these things away every couple years.

Does anyone have a small HRV unit set on a humidistat with good or bad feedback on how well it works in a garage application where the air temp is cooler? Anything else that works well?


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[sirkdev]

what is your floor water drainage situation? Been down this road. tried a dehumidifier but went back to parking mats and squeegee them off every 3-4 days depending on how much cold slush brought in etc.

 

[Frosty19]

What type of heat in your garage?

We usually just do a ventilation fan out the wall on a humidistat for garages.

 

[mathrulz]

what is your floor water drainage situation? Been down this road. tried a dehumidifier but went back to parking mats and squeegee them off every 3-4 days depending on how much cold slush brought in etc.

I have a floor drain and excellent slope, so no pooling water. When it’s cold out and the vehicles come in fairly dry, it’s not an issue. But when it’s warmer and vehicles in/out daily with some snow and slush on them, the humidity gets up there even with little to no physical puddles on the ground.


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[mathrulz]

What type of heat in your garage?

We usually just do a ventilation fan out the wall on a humidistat for garages.

I have a reznor UDAP forced air heater. It works well to circulate the air and evaporate the moisture, just need a way to then get the moisture out of the air.

Ventilation fan would probably work, but seems very inefficient. Would also need a fresh air inlet for it to work otherwise the exhaust would just suck a vacuum inside the garage I imagine and all the door seals would ice up as the cold air tried to get in.


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[zal]

I’ve been running two dehumidifiers (50 and a 60 pint) since 2010 in my garage. I haven’t had to replace one yet and they both run all winter long. I do clean the screens twice during the winter to make sure they’re not working harder than it needs to. I also keep the garage at 13°C as I find any colder, the dehumidifiers don’t work as good.

 

[puddle]

I've got a in-wall fan that comes on with a humidity controlled switch (like the thermostat). When I pull into the garage with a snow covered vehicle, the drains in the floor take the brunt of the liquid and the fan kicks on till the humid drops. I also have a fresh air vent that brings in fresh air. Absolutely no moisture on the walls.

 

[Zrock]

Go as big as you can find.. I have ben running one in my house for the last 5 years from Canadian tire with no issue. I went with as big as i could find as the smaller one before never shut off, this one only seems to run a few hours a day to keep up now except in the rainy season.

 

[sirkdev]

I’ve been running two dehumidifiers (50 and a 60 pint) since 2010 in my garage. I haven’t had to replace one yet and they both run all winter long. I do clean the screens twice during the winter to make sure they’re not working harder than it needs to. I also keep the garage at 13°C as I find any colder, the dehumidifiers don’t work as good.

I think that was my problem, I run my garage at 8-9C and dehumidifier did not work for me not really interested in venting heat out the wall either so for me the Reznor heater and floor mats work ok.

 

[ferniesnow]

We usually just do a ventilation fan out the wall on a humidistat for garages.

I've got a in-wall fan that comes on with a humidity controlled switch (like the thermostat). When I pull into the garage with a snow covered vehicle, the drains in the floor take the brunt of the liquid and the fan kicks on till the humid drops. I also have a fresh air vent that brings in fresh air. Absolutely no moisture on the walls.

They work well. New house sealed tighter than they have ever been sealed before and three years ago I had the same problem. Mold was starting to appear on the drywall and I had to do something. Electrician just happened to have a humidistat that he didn’t use in someone else’s house. We put in an attic fan with an 8” intake. Installed an 8" ceiling vent and an outside vent just below the eaves and connected everything together with 8” flexible round ducting. Set the humidistat to 40% and let ‘er rip. Works great expect for when the outside humidity is high but that usually doesn’t last for long periods of time.
This year, I installed an 8’ electric baseboard heater and a ceiling fan and the dry heat from the heater works in my favour. I have had no mold for the last 2 years.

 

[ZRrrr]

I think that was my problem, I run my garage at 8-9C and dehumidifier did not work for me not really interested in venting heat out the wall either so for me the Reznor heater and floor mats work ok.

We had kept ours at about 10 to 11 C. This year I bumped it up to between 12 and 13 C. Made quite a difference.

 

[DaveB]

what is your floor water drainage situation? Been down this road. tried a dehumidifier but went back to parking mats and squeegee them off every 3-4 days depending on how much cold slush brought in etc.

I do the same. In wife's (attached) garage she parks on a mat. I use a shop vac on it if there's lots of water (and sand and dirt and rocks and salt, grrr). In my detached garage I also park my truck on a mat....suck up the water as required as well. Kicking the mudflaps before parking cuts the water-sucking in half. I leave both spaces at 16C all winter....crank it up to whatever for spending time (you know....beers) out there. I've found with a well insulated space that leaving it at 16 doesn't cost any more than leaving it at 10....once everything inside is up to temp, the furnace runs the same. Overhead forced air in both spaces.

Edit: finished drywall in both garages and ZERO mold in 9 yrs.

 

[Frosty19]

I would think unless you never open your overhead doors any heat recovered by an hrv at 8 degrees C over a basic fan and intake will be lost in about 5 seconds when you open the door to drive a vehicle in or out.

 

[Couch]

The portable ones are hit and miss .. have on in the garage that runs 24/7 for past 5 years or more and others that hardly last a year ....

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[mathrulz]

I’ve been running two dehumidifiers (50 and a 60 pint) since 2010 in my garage. I haven’t had to replace one yet and they both run all winter long. I do clean the screens twice during the winter to make sure they’re not working harder than it needs to. I also keep the garage at 13°C as I find any colder, the dehumidifiers don’t work as good.

What brand / model do you have?

I agree with keeping the temp a little warmer as well.


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[zal]

What brand / model do you have?

I agree with keeping the temp a little warmer as well.


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Whirlpools.

 

[TylerG]

This is an interesting thread as we are dealing with this in our garage. I also don't think my vehicle doors are insulated which is not helping the situation. I'll try bumping the head up some. I already have a fan running that blows under the SUV in there to try to lower some of the moisture

 

[zal]

This is an interesting thread as we are dealing with this in our garage. I also don't think my vehicle doors are insulated which is not helping the situation. I'll try bumping the head up some. I already have a fan running that blows under the SUV in there to try to lower some of the moisture

But if you have nothing to remove the moisture, I just hangs in the air. You’ll especially notice it when the garage windows freeze right up.

 

[TylerG]

But if you have nothing to remove the moisture, I just hangs in the air. You’ll especially notice it when the garage windows freeze right up.

Yes. I'm going to look for a dehumidifier for the garage now.

 

[sirkdev]

Yes. I'm going to look for a dehumidifier for the garage now.

Keep in mind Tyler you will need to maintain about 15-16C for a humidifier to work effectively. If your doors are not insulated that is priority one IMO. You will blow the budget on gas.