I am drying a couple plants in a 3'x3'x7' tent. I cut the plant into branches and have them hanging. I left the small sugar leaves on and removed the larger ones. My RH is between 55-60%. I have a 6 inch oscillating fan running on low at the bottom of the tent blowing straight and not up directly at the buds. I have a 6" inline exhaust fan that I have hooked up to a variac speed controller and I'm not sure what speed to put it on. Should I keep it on as low as possible just enough to be able to scrub the air or crank it up a bit to get good ventilation?
Drying room ventilation
- Thread starter rezball
- Start date
See this thread about a $25 hygrometer switch. You could connect your fan to this, letting it come on only when the humidity is too high. You could set it to 85% to get down to that level quickly, then set it down 2% every day until you get to 65% (10 days).I have a 6" inline exhaust fan that I have hooked up to a variac speed controller and I'm not sure what speed to put it on.
I'd probably use a less powerful fan. Maybe a 4" or 6" booster fan, not a turbine. I think a gentler, slower extraction of humidity would be better than turning on a turbine at full blast. But, you've got a variac. You could turn it down to a lower speed (like 40 volts).
The nice thing about using that humidity controller is you can let it's cycle times tell you if you have the fan speed too high or low.
I haven't measured it. I hang in a closet for 3-4 days, opening the door a few times to exchange moist with dry air. I go by how it feels, then cut them down to fit into a Sterlite plastic container. I manage the drying using a Caliber 4 hygrometer inside the plastic container. Seems like they're about 80-88% when they first get into the container. Another 4-5 days opening, fanning, etc, the plastic container.What is the ideal range of humidity for drying, how high is to high?
I haven't used the $25 humidity controller yet. I think that will be *much* easier. Step 1) Turn the fan on when it's over 85% in order to dry it to that level quickly (couple days?). Step 2) Simply push the down-arrow on the controller's face to lower the setting 2% every day. Let it do all the work monitoring humidity, turning on the fan. In 10 days, 65%.
I think how long it would take (how aggressively anyone would lower the setting) would depend on their climate's humidity. I'm in a dry area, so what I described above should work well. If I were in Florida, I might make step 1 = 70%. (I.e., it may not need 2-degree steps every day like I do.).
The controller has a "differential" feature which lets you specify the humidity difference between on/off. How far below "on" conditions the humidity must drop before going off. That would give some control over how fast it goes down. (In my dry climate I think I need only 1% differential so the fan will run more frequently, less often. More like a constant trickling operation. The controller also has a feature to specify how much time must elapse between on/off cycles so it isn't too twitchy. I might need to use that feature so it's not turning on/off too rapidly.).
This seems like a great way to do it. No guesswork about whether 40 volts is enough. Let the controller do the work. You just adjust the variac so the fan produces a calm flow. You don't have to care if it's enough. The controller does that job. If it never turns off, then you know it's not enough.