my Santa Fe Classic does SUCK

[inreplyavalon]

Not the water out the air but as far as performance is concerned.

The thing pulls maybe 5-7 gallons a day and is rated for much more. It cannot get the humidity in my room below 50% when the lights are out. My room is 13x13 feet.
I have tried adding a heater to warm up lights out for better performance out of the coil, and i have even returned it and had another shipped to me.

I want to love this thing but its making it really difficult for me.

Anyone have any thoughts?

 

[BigDawg]

would need more info on your setup.

also.. what are your lights out temps usually?

 

[inreplyavalon]

would need more info on your setup.

also.. what are your lights out temps usually?

Happy to provide it BigDawg. Grown in coco in 3-5 gallon containers. Half the room is in driptowaste the other half is on blumats. Lights out temp is 60-65 usually.

the dehui is about three feet off the ground up against a side wall. They're 4 wall fans and a recirculating scrubber. 8400 watts. sealed room with a mini split and a wall banger.

Only thing i can think of is its too close to the AC 'treated air output' which is already somewhat dehumidified.

So many folks speak so highly of these units. I set up my soleus 60 pint a day 200$ old dehui and it out performed this thing.

 

[eyes]

in a 169 sq ft room, it should have no problem with that level of saturation. as you know there effectiveness goes down when the temps drop-but since im sure your not much more than 10-15 degree variance with lights on/off that shouldnt be a problem. are u sucking in cold air as its trying to dehumidify?

are there any open sources that its drawing from besides the room?

What temperature are you maintaining in the room with the lights out and the dehumidifier off with your heat source?

If the room temp is not maintained, the dehumidifier will be in constant defrost mode.The one i have usually doesnt like below 68 before its constantly defrosting.

Another overlooked item- make sure the filters are clean- when they fill with dirt,and thc the dehumidifier will not work properly.(i know it sounds dumb).

How long have you had it and has it run properly in the room,with plants before not running properly? If it has run properly and has since stopped working properly,check the filters.

Do you have a sealed room and how hot does it get when the dehumidifier is running? if its too hot youll choke off the dehumidifier.

do you have any inclination that its never worked quite right since purchase? then try a 70 pint another brand, different source, and see if it does the trick.

 

[inreplyavalon]

in a 169 sq ft room, it should have no problem with that level of saturation. as you know there effectiveness goes down when the temps drop-but since im sure your not much more than 10-15 degree variance with lights on/off that shouldnt be a problem. are u sucking in cold air as its trying to dehumidify?
NO The room is sealed
are there any open sources that its drawing from besides the room?
AGAIN THE ROOM IS COMPLETELY SEALED
What temperature are you maintaining in the room with the lights out and the dehumidifier off with your heat source?
THE TEMP LIGHTs OUT IS BETWEEN 63-70 degrees
If the room temp is not maintained, the dehumidifier will be in constant defrost mode.The one i have usually doesnt like below 68 before its constantly defrosting.
WELL IF THE THING WILL BE IN CONSTANT DEFROST BELOW 68 then its a piece of shit and that is contrary to what it claims. The guy at thermostor said above 60 and it should perform fine

Another overlooked item- make sure the filters are clean- when they fill with dirt,and thc the dehumidifier will not work properly.(i know it sounds dumb).
GOOD REMINDER, THEY ARE KEPT CLEAN

How long have you had it and has it run properly in the room,with plants before not running properly? If it has run properly and has since stopped working properly,check the filters.
I HAVE HAD IT OVER A YEAR. I RETURNED THE FIRST ONE AS IT PERFORMED EXACTLY LIKE THIS ONE. THEY FOLKS AT SANTA FE SAID IT MUST BE A DEFECTIVE UNIT, SO THEY SENT ME ANOTHER. THEY BOTH PERFORM EXACTLY THE SAME, NEITHER ARE 'DEFECTIVE'.

Do you have a sealed room and how hot does it get when the dehumidifier is running? if its too hot youll choke off the dehumidifier.
SEALED ROOM TEMP RANGE IS 63-80 DEGREES DARK/LIGHT

do you have any inclination that its never worked quite right since purchase? then try a 70 pint another brand, different source, and see if it does the trick.
YES IT HAS NEVER DONE WHAT THEY ADVERTISED IT TO DO, BUT NEITHER DID THE REPLACEMENT. CONSIDERING THE RAVE REVIEWS THEY GET FROM GROWERS I BELIEVE SOMETHING WITH MY APPLICATION IS DISCOURAGING IT FROM PERFORMING. I ALREADY DID SET UP MY OLD 60-70 PINT SOLEUS AND IT OUTPERFORMED THE SANTA FE.

THANKS FOR HELPING OUT EYES, MY ANSWERS ARE IN BOLD ABOVE

 

[chefro420]

I think it's too small for your room . You should have prob got the Dual xl . I love my bitch , about to go dry hump her in a minute! I almost got the classic , then said fuck it and got the XL !

Yours does 110 pints at 80 degrees and 60% humidity . So at 60-65 at night , it prob does substantially less then 110 pints . Id try to raise the room temps up closer to 70 at night and see what that does ? Doing coco I imagine you water 1+ x a day? Running Coco in my opinion will add a shit of humidity to your room compared to soilless . The difference in humidity at 60 degrees compared to 70 is quite a bit .

Really think you need an dual xl though . Surprised with a mini split and window banger and this it still doesn't cope ....

 

[inreplyavalon]

I think it's too small for your room . You should have prob got the Dual xl . I love my bitch , about to go dry hump her in a minute! I almost got the classic , then said fuck it and got the XL !

Yours does 110 pints at 80 degrees and 60% humidity . So at 60-65 at night , it prob does substantially less then 110 pints . Id try to raise the room temps up closer to 70 at night and see what that does ? Doing coco I imagine you water 1+ x a day? Running Coco in my opinion will add a shit of humidity to your room compared to soilless . The difference in humidity at 60 degrees compared to 70 is quite a bit .

Really think you need an dual xl though . Surprised with a mini split and window banger and this it still doesn't cope ....

what up CHEF. so whats your nightime temp running the dual? I did put a heater in the room at one point and kept the temps around 68-70 and it performed slightly better but never has it pulled even half the water out that it claims to be able to.
I am going to need another powerful dehui here in a minute and am too skeptical of these units. the dual sounds like a powerhouse, but alas so did the classic...

 

[chefro420]

Also you keep the a/c running at night too right? They work in tandem with the deheuy . I run night temps at 70-72, 78-79 during the day . Also you have 8k going , so I imagine seeing your running coco too , that your plants are fucking huge! Very dense canopy too I bet ! Not even sure if 150 pints a day would help you ? Maybe another 150 pint unit + the 110???.....

 

[inreplyavalon]

yeah both ac's run at night. I dont think they are doing much cooling but the one that has a dry option is set to dry. I have found i am better off keeping my nighttime temp in the low 60's which discourages mold/rot. cold air can hold less water than warm so the RH percent will be higher when the air is colder, but the amount of moisture is lower. I think this is why i have only had mold issues once. though that was last round and i hope the spores hanging out in the room dont make an appearance.
Yeah they are some pretty large plants. usually 3-5 per 1000. lots of tops on each. Topping them and keeping the kolas more plentiful but smaller helps to discourage mold as well.
I am not going to add any more dehui power until the one i have is actually performing better. the sad shit is my 200$ unit pulls more water out of the air. you dont always get what you pay for...
thanks for the explanation chef, it clears some things up

 

[eyes]

do you have any inclination that its never worked quite right since purchase? then try a 70 pint another brand, different source, and see if it does the trick.
YES IT HAS NEVER DONE WHAT THEY ADVERTISED IT TO DO, BUT NEITHER DID THE REPLACEMENT. CONSIDERING THE RAVE REVIEWS THEY GET FROM GROWERS I BELIEVE SOMETHING WITH MY APPLICATION IS DISCOURAGING IT FROM PERFORMING. I ALREADY DID SET UP MY OLD 60-70 PINT SOLEUS AND IT OUTPERFORMED THE SANTA FE.

that just answered all your questions-its nothing you did and it doesnt sound like your set up at all. sounds like its the dehumidifier since you set up the soleus and its out performing it allready. sounds like a crappy design to me if a little soleus is kicking its butt.

 

[praisehim.]

ur dehu is too small. go bigger.

 

[eyes]

inreplyavalon- Ive run a stand alone vent free propane heater in the room with the light on and off. with the lights off and active venting, i increase the temps to 80f(at night) and with the cold, crisp air,that usually below 50 percent humidity, im able to keep the humidity in check no problem.

since you are running a sealed room,and not venting,if the heat in the room is too low then an a/c wont be able to do its job. if you are running a sealed room with no venting then increase the heat in the room to 80 and let the a/c do its job of cooling and dehumidifying at the same time. screw the dehumidifier. ive always run 80/50 percent humidity with great success.

your nighttime temps are too low- when temps are too low growth slows down to a crawl and nutrients are'nt utilized as affectively. take advantage of that a/c and bring those room temps up with a heater with a thermostat. set that thermostat on that heater for 80 and let that a/c cool and dehumidify at the same time. if the a/c is too big it wont run enough. if its too small it will run all the time. bonus is all the co2 youll get from that heater as well with the lights on.

 

[eyes]

inreplyavalon- Ive run a stand alone vent free propane heater in the room with the light on and off. with the lights off and active venting, i increase the temps to 80f(at night) and with the cold, crisp air,that usually below 50 percent humidity, im able to keep the humidity in check no problem.

since you are running a sealed room,and not venting,if the heat in the room is too low then an a/c wont be able to do its job. if you are running a sealed room with no venting then increase the heat in the room to 80 and let the a/c do its job of cooling and dehumidifying at the same time. screw the dehumidifier. ive always run 80/50 percent humidity with great success.

your nighttime temps are too low- when temps are too low growth slows down to a crawl and nutrients are'nt utilized as affectively. take advantage of that a/c and bring those room temps up with a heater with a thermostat. set that thermostat on that heater for 80 and let that a/c cool and dehumidify at the same time. if the a/c is too big it wont run enough. if its too small it will run all the time. bonus is all the co2 youll get from that heater as well with the lights on.

 

[BigDawg]

yeah strange that your smaller dehumidifier works better than the santa fe..

that's a lot of watts and plants for that size space in my opinion. I bet the santa fe would perform better in a larger space actually.

 

[chefro420]

Filter clean?

 

[inreplyavalon]

Praisehim i will take that under advisement, thanks for participating in my problem solving. I am hesitant to spend more money on a dehui when the one i am using is only working at less than half its ratings.

EYES these are interesting ideas. I am not sure i see the point in heating up my room for the sake of getting my AC to turn on so that it will also dehumidify the room. I see how that could be helpful for the plant, but seems like i am going to have power draws (AC/heater) going head to head with each other. My AC's are pulling a combined 22 amps and add a heater on top of that. Versus the 6.9 amps the dehui pulls. Though if the dehui is not getting the job done, which its not, than its a shitty comparison. As i said interesting idea and i am going to think on it.

BigDawg thats something to consider. its a bit counter intuitive but i think you may be right. It gets to be a jungle in there with a pretty full canopy and lots of moist coco. In a bigger room the percentages would shift. Of course i got wha i got to work with, and damn is it bright in there!

Chef it is clean. Have checked it a bunch hoping it was my issue.

If things change or i make some adjustments i'll report back, otherwise i appreciate all the assistance

 

[eyes]

The heater is powered by propane. the electrical side is 1 amp for the electronic ignition. so power requirements are negligible. I see this as an only choice if the dehumidifier is not working properly. the water vapor has to go somewhere. if its not removed by a duey,then you have 2 choices. venting- which you are not doing or a/c that not only cools but dehumidifys at the same time.

If the room is not heated then the a/c will not cycle on and off properly. we have to heat the room to simulate lights on and trigger the a/c to run. too cold a room leads to bud rot as well. a saturated airstream and cold temps equals bud rot and mold.

There is a problem: since you are not venting,there will be by- product burn off from the heater that wont have anywhere to go as in a traditional vent. Ideally, a hydronic,water,baseboard heating system,would be better. Wood stove. electric 8-16 ft baseboard(that will increase the bill.probably not ideal).another idea would be to duct veg room light heat into that room during lights off.

bottom line(my opinion of course) no room should be without a proper heating system come winter. 60s temps are too low and 70 is more ideal. although a dehumidifier will heat the room,depending on insulation of the home,location of the room position in relation to house heating,size of the room,temps outdoors,it may not be enough once the temps change outdoors.

 

[eyes]

did you get the humidity under control? what route did you take to fix the situation?

 

[inreplyavalon]

bottom line(my opinion of course) no room should be without a proper heating system come winter. 60s temps are too low and 70 is more ideal. although a dehumidifier will heat the room,depending on insulation of the home,location of the room position in relation to house heating,size of the room,temps outdoors,it may not be enough once the temps change outdoors.

Your explanation above was really spot on. Bottom line i have been lazy and inflexible in coming up with a solution for this problem. I even have a box built around my 24,000btu wall banger and duct the heat it generates outside of my house. I have been telling myself for a while now that i need to push that heat into my living space. Shit its snowing outside as i type! We can use the heat. So just as easy i can direct it into the flower space. Maybe i can put an auto damper in some duct at the end of one side of a T and when the flower room is dark time the damper to be open, and when the lights are on have it close. Is it possible to set up a damper in this way? The only ones i have used are the simple nonelectric back-draft sort. Other wise i could have it running in there all the time but hate to be cooling air that is the AC exhaust. redundant.
Either way Eyes i will be using one of your suggestions. I have a place for my dehui to go and so can give it a shot just warming the room and seeing if the AC's will drop it. I prefer to cut holes in my flower room during the switchover so i may wait.
I am currently running 70% on week 7 of flower. fingers crossed.

 

[eyes]

inreplyavalon- if you have the a/c set-up already,with it sealed with the box around it, i dont see why you cant use it to heat,but, where it gets complicated is when you pressurize a room that air need to go somewhere and usually in a hvac system it would be directed to a return duct.

How many a/cs are presently in the room? what size/btus? first id see if that 70 can properly dehumidify the room.then id check what temperature is achieved from that deuey running in the room. if its dehumidifying, but the temps are too low, the room will need heat. what about a space heater? i ran (2) 16 ft electric baseboard heaters in a 20 x 24 room(something like that) .dont they offer a heat pump option on those mini splits?

I understand wanting that heat off the back of the a/c for sure. I mean,thats alot of power with that 24k(just read it above) running. Youd almost be better running (2) dehumidifiers-1400 watts compared to 2400 watts(a/c). i know 2 dehumidifiers would heat that room up toasty in a little 13x13(thats what it is ,right?) no problem. 70 percent is too high. def need to get that down pronto or inner bud rot when you break it up. running all that duct without a return vent risks carrying some smell in the house as well.