Used dehumidifier?

[SpaceIsThePlace]

Shopping for my grow room build and I came across a used Dri-eaz Drizair 1200 for sale. https://www.sylvane.com/dri-eaz-drizair1200-dehumidifier.html

It looks like it'd do the job and the guy is asking for $600. It was a rental in its previous life, don't as of yet know how many usage hours are on its clock but it's control panel supposedly tracks that, so I can find out if I go to look at it.

Does anybody have any experience with this unit or even this brand? Opinions?

 

[St. Phatty]

Shopping for my grow room build and I came across a used Dri-eaz Drizair 1200 for sale. https://www.sylvane.com/dri-eaz-drizair1200-dehumidifier.html

It looks like it'd do the job and the guy is asking for $600. It was a rental in its previous life, don't as of yet know how many usage hours are on its clock but it's control panel supposedly tracks that, so I can find out if I go to look at it.

Does anybody have any experience with this unit or even this brand? Opinions?

WAAAY pricey.

Last time I bought a dehumidifier, it was $50 on Craigslist.

If you buy an used one, make sure they will let you run it for a 1/2 hour if you take the time to go look at it.

 

[SpaceIsThePlace]

WAAAY pricey.

Last time I bought a dehumidifier, it was $50 on Craigslist.

If you buy an used one, make sure they will let you run it for a 1/2 hour if you take the time to go look at it.

Yeah, I hear you. $600 is a lot for some used grear, but after tracking Craigslist ads for a couple of weeks, I can say with relative certainty that the $50 options won't cut it. If I had a 4x4 tent, sure. But I'm building a room with a flowering footprint of 8 x16. There's going to be a lot of water in the air. Frankly, I'm not even 100% sure that this commercial unit I'm asking about is up to the task--one of the reasons I'm looking to you fine folks for your input.

 

[TychoMonolyth]

Watching this one.

 

[I'mback]

Yeah, I hear you. $600 is a lot for some used grear, but after tracking Craigslist ads for a couple of weeks, I can say with relative certainty that the $50 options won't cut it. If I had a 4x4 tent, sure. But I'm building a room with a flowering footprint of 8 x16. There's going to be a lot of water in the air. Frankly, I'm not even 100% sure that this commercial unit I'm asking about is up to the task--one of the reasons I'm looking to you fine folks for your input.

Short strokes... if you are bldg an 8x16ft room, you can afford to buy a brand new one. Buying second hand is often buying someonelse's problems. At a minimum, p[assing and buying new will set your mind at ease!

 

[growshopfrank]

Shopping for my grow room build and I came across a used Dri-eaz Drizair 1200 for sale. https://www.sylvane.com/dri-eaz-drizair1200-dehumidifier.html

It looks like it'd do the job and the guy is asking for $600. It was a rental in its previous life, don't as of yet know how many usage hours are on its clock but it's control panel supposedly tracks that, so I can find out if I go to look at it.

Does anybody have any experience with this unit or even this brand? Opinions?

As a used rental unit the price is high.
Its not a LGR type and keep in mind that it will need a external humidstat as well as the hour meter can "roll over" so if you do go see it and it shows very low hours of use but appears beat up it may be very well used.
On the plus side the most common failures on these is the condensate pump followed by the blower motor, parts that you can service if you are so inclined and compressor failures are rare.

 

[SpaceIsThePlace]

Short strokes... if you are bldg an 8x16ft room, you can afford to buy a brand new one. Buying second hand is often buying someonelse's problems. At a minimum, p[assing and buying new will set your mind at ease!

Ha! I wish it were true that I could afford to buy a new one. I guess I can, technically, but I was trying to make all of this happen without going into debt. Que sera. I've grown without complete environmental control before, not interested in doing it again. And yes, I'm hesitant to buy someone else's problems. It would have to be cheap enough that the upside outweighs the downside.

As a used rental unit the price is high.
Its not a LGR type and keep in mind that it will need a external humidstat as well as the hour meter can "roll over" so if you do go see it and it shows very low hours of use but appears beat up it may be very well used.
On the plus side the most common failures on these is the condensate pump followed by the blower motor, parts that you can service if you are so inclined and compressor failures are rare.

Good point on the possibility that it's meter is wrong. I've seen a photo. It looks very well used. I did look at some YouTube repair videos for the model and the pump, for example, seems really easy to replace, so there's that. Haven't set the blower replacement, though.

 

[TychoMonolyth]

Specs say it can pull 15 gallons of water per day from wet carpets. I'm pretty sure you are good for a grow room.

 

[f-e]

15 gallons sounds a lot, but a sealed room with hid's could produce a little more. Presuming it's all grow space.

Often the rating is given, but not the humidity when it was measured. Which can fudge the figures as much as extraction does. Or the intake airs humidity, if there is intake air.

I don't know enough about the room to answer really. But I do like domestic sized units, with built in stats and drains. If you only have one big unit, then what happens WHEN it breaks?

 

[SpaceIsThePlace]

15 gallons sounds a lot, but a sealed room with hid's could produce a little more. Presuming it's all grow space.

Often the rating is given, but not the humidity when it was measured. Which can fudge the figures as much as extraction does. Or the intake airs humidity, if there is intake air.

I don't know enough about the room to answer really. But I do like domestic sized units, with built in stats and drains. If you only have one big unit, then what happens WHEN it breaks?

It's slated to be over half grow space, the rest is work space. 10x25 room, sealed, CO2, almost 5kw of led. I'd be exhausting for maybe 20min at lights out to change the air unless I might benefit from going longer. Two staggered rows of 10x16 against opposite walls with work space on each end of the room, so I'd be able to space out multiple units if I went that route. I'm in the Midwest. Cold, dry winters, moderately humid summers except for maybe 2-3 weeks worth when it's ridiculously wet.

Those drizair units suck...

Wait no they don't, they don't suck any water at all

I recommend 2-3 70pint dehueys on their own 20-30amp circuit with box fans mounted so they help the hot air travel around the room. Space them out evenly and avoid hitting the canopy with the hot dry air to avoid any microclimates that can lead to bug/mold. Day time rh is never as bad as nighttime so keep a wireless meter by you to keep your eye on that the first couple runs

Happy harvests!

Ah! A definitive thumbs down on this thing.

So, you think mount the fans directly on the units? Better than just blowing on them?

Speaking of hot air, one of the things I like about the commercial units is the ducting option. In the winter I wouldn't need it, I'd want to keep all of that heat. But in the summer, I could duct the exhaust, might be able to avoid running the ac after lights out and save a few bucks. Of course, then It would be unusable during lights on unless I wanted to turn off the CO2. Might not need it during lights on though? Do dehueys cycle on during lights on when the AC is running, assuming a properly-sized ac?

 

[SpaceIsThePlace]

Two staggered rows of 4x16. Didn't proofread so well.

 

[SpaceIsThePlace]

What type of ac you running?

I'm torn. I've got my eye on a WiFi enabled 33000 btu mini split. For less than half the price of that mini split, I could buy two 14000 btu window units. (Those being the largest window units I've found so far which will still fit in my basement windows.) Not sure what to do. It's a finished basement with central air, so there is a possibility that I'd be able to get away with the 28000 BTUs from those two window units. But I'm rethinking how much dehumidification power I'll need, the 28k option is looking less likely.

 

[growshopfrank]

15 gallons sounds a lot, but a sealed room with hid's could produce a little more. Presuming it's all grow space.

Often the rating is given, but not the humidity when it was measured. Which can fudge the figures as much as extraction does. Or the intake airs humidity, if there is intake air.

In north America the usual performance standard would be AHAM rating that is based on 80 degrees F with 60% humidity which thankfully is close the average grow room conditions.
So when comparing dewies look for the AHAM numbers for a way to judge operating performance between models higher numbers being better.

 

[growshopfrank]

I'm torn. I've got my eye on a WiFi enabled 33000 btu mini split. For less than half the price of that mini split, I could buy two 14000 btu window units. (Those being the largest window units I've found so far which will still fit in my basement windows.) Not sure what to do. It's a finished basement with central air, so there is a possibility that I'd be able to get away with the 28000 BTUs from those two window units. But I'm rethinking how much dehumidification power I'll need, the 28k option is looking less likely.

With the window shakers you have the advantage of being able to stage them as in have one set to a lower temperature then have the other kick on at a higher temp making them slightly more efficient.
Down side to the window shakers would be security as thieves could knock them in as well as air/smell and light leaks.

FWIW I would have separate devices for temperature and humidity control as high humidity isn't always accompanied with high temperatures especially in grow room conditions,no one wants a PM farm.

 

[SpaceIsThePlace]

With the window shakers you have the advantage of being able to stage them as in have one set to a lower temperature then have the other kick on at a higher temp making them slightly more efficient.
Down side to the window shakers would be security as thieves could knock them in as well as air/smell and light leaks.

FWIW I would have separate devices for temperature and humidity control as high humidity isn't always accompanied with high temperatures especially in grow room conditions,no one wants a PM farm.

To be clear, I'm not considering operating with only ACs for dehumidification. Just concerned that the wattage of multiple dehumidifiers--or one larger unit--will push my cooling needs to a point beyond that which 28k in window shakers can handle. And I think they may. Unless I were to set the dehumidifier(s) on a timer so that they were only available for service during lights out. Might work: that's when I'll need them the most. But, of course "might work" is less than ideal. If it doesn't, that's $1000 I could have put towards a solution that will work.

I'm not too concerned about thieves or light leaks. Smell, on the other hand...

My previous indoor grow was in an attic and the house was taller than all of the surrounding houses. You couldn't smell a thing from the street, didn't even use a scrubber. This will be different. Would you say that window units are more likely to allow odor to escape because of the difficulty in sealing or is it due to a difference in the way that they function vs mini splits? Because if it's just a matter of achieving a tight installation I can deal with that.

 

[SpaceIsThePlace]

Update:

It was a good day on Craigslist. I found and purchased a full 20lb CO2 tank with regulator included for $20 and an old Therma-Stor Phoenix 200 Max for $250. I asked the seller to boil up some water and let it run for a while, it was sucking that water right out of the air, condensate pump works great and the coils were icy cold. I'm a gambler, what can I say?

 

[Bloom SA]

dehumidifiers here in south africa are way, way over priced. I have a 6x4m room with 60 plants. I have a 12000 btu window wall unit in the wall, which manages temps beautifully (lights are led so btu is enough). I tried searching for a correctly sized dehuey. a 100lt/day model was priced at R22000 ex vat or roughly $1500..

Fuck that i thought, so i came across an air to water generator rated at 80lt/day (160pints), essentially a dehuey with a RO filter attached to it...

It worked, but only did half the water it stated.

Eventually, with no second hand options, i got another window wall ac, brand new for R12000 ($800)...

Since an ac and dehuey are the same technology with different application, i thought why not.

This 21000 btu unit has been making 80lt/ day no problem and all i did was 1.put it into the room on a table with drain pipe to a drum and 2. removed the plug so water could drain out the ass end of the unit. It's important to note that modern window acs have this option because the fan on the condensor will actually splash condensation onto the coils to aid in cooling. This doesnt help the room if the condensation is just going to be blown back into the air. I did not install it in the wall because i wanted it to actually raise temps with the smaller unit in the wall reacting at 26 degrees to make sure it didnt warm up too much.
Anyhoo, i now have a constant RH of 50% which i am more than happy about and temps that don't go above 25 degrees (i am talking in celcius here)...

So, using a window ac without its ass sticking through the wall, i have a dehumidifier for half the price brand new.

This is of course all based on compressor technology and not dessicant, but those are even more expensive so this was my work around and has worked beautifully

 

[St. Phatty]

Shopping for my grow room build and I came across a used Dri-eaz Drizair 1200 for sale. https://www.sylvane.com/dri-eaz-drizair1200-dehumidifier.html

It looks like it'd do the job and the guy is asking for $600. It was a rental in its previous life, don't as of yet know how many usage hours are on its clock but it's control panel supposedly tracks that, so I can find out if I go to look at it.

Does anybody have any experience with this unit or even this brand? Opinions?

Is there an empty basement room near the grow room ?

 

[SpaceIsThePlace]

Is there an empty basement room near the grow room ?

Not really. There's a kitchen on the other side of the wall which contains a seedling/clone tent, a hallway which leads to a bathroom and vestibule and a large closet for mechanicals in between them.

 

[SpaceIsThePlace]

I'm in week two of flower now and the verdict is in on the old Phoenix 200 dehuey I bought on Craigslist: though it's a champ, pulling almost 150 pints/day despite being rated for 128/day, my plants are drinking close to 200. The ACs are picking up some of the slack but not enough to dial in the rh. I've been high by about 5% for much of the past couple of days. Gonna have to pick up a 70 pint job to get over the hump.