heating a fish room

[TKC747]

How do you heat your fish room if it is in a garage or a basement?
Please don't say you have a heater for each tank LOL:typing:

[bovsbaitboxes]

I have my fishroom in my basement they are hooked up in central system so I have 3 300 watt heaters in sump that works also you could build walls insulate and put a small heater in the room

[maddog10]

I heat my room with a single 1500w oscillating room heater. Cost about $50. Room is roughly 11' x 13' and the walls are not insulated. The air pumps and dehumidifier generate heat as well. Heater is set at 77 which keeps the upper tanks at about 78 and the lower tanks at around 76. Heater runs for about 5 minutes every hour, more if I have the fish room door open (door was open when I took this photo).

http://i52.photobucket.com/albums/g36/maddog10/Fish%20Rooms/Michael%20Hill/fr-5.jpg

[joe_jaskot]

I have a heater for almost all of my 30+ tanks. Keeps my basement warm. LOL! The heaters don't really go on that much with all the volume of heated water. My gas furnace is also in the basement.

[gregga]

maddog......explain how the heater runs only 5 minutes out of every hour. Does that oscillating heater have a setting so it kicks on whenever the room drops below a certain temp? Do you manually have to turn on and off?
I've always been leary about running a portable heater when no one is home. Finally, have you ever figured out the cost of running that unit compared to heating tanks individually?

[joe_jaskot]

Portable heater danger - http://blogs.consumerreports.org/safety/2008/02/space-heater-ri.html

[magdrive]

When I had A large fish room in my basement I used a ventless gas heater to heat the room.

Home Depot Sell them they are called emberglow blue flame heater.
I used this type of heater for years with no problems and some have a blower moter option that you can install later.
This type of heater heated half my basement to 84 degrees and kept my tank about 78 degrees and this included 2 300 gallon vats.

[mack74]

I have the same set up as Joe. Heater in every tank and they dont go on that often due to all the tank volume heating the basement. The dehumidifier also throws out alot of heat.

[the_watcher]

I have used Delongi oil based heaters over the years. I feel that they are safer.
HD or Lowes .... for about $45.00 - $50.00... Looks like an old fashioned
steam radiator in the homes (that is one for the old timers).
But some of the older Dehumidifier give off heat too.
So in my old fish from the combination of the Dehumidifier and the Delongi
heater I was able to heat my old fish room (12 X 18).
Of course I put in R30 in the basement when I was finishing the basement.
But the tanks that were near floor level and on the outer wall of the room
the temps were a little lower. During the winter I would move the heater
to that area... that was enough to keep the tank temps around 74.
A few years back I had a nice thread on another site about heating the fish room
and keeping the heat in and airflow circulation.
I used a cheap fan to circulate the heat as this unit did not have a blower.
I live in the boon docks ... Near Peter(Atlantis) and Doug(RSC) 75 miles north
of NYC so it gets cold up hear real fast.

[maddog10]

maddog......explain how the heater runs only 5 minutes out of every hour. Does that oscillating heater have a setting so it kicks on whenever the room drops below a certain temp? Do you manually have to turn on and off?
I've always been leary about running a portable heater when no one is home. Finally, have you ever figured out the cost of running that unit compared to heating tanks individually?

The room stays warm enough that the heater does not need to run that often. If the temp drops 2 degrees it comes on, most of the time the room stays 1 or 2 degrees warmer than the heater is set for. Not sure if it is cheaper to run or not, but there is a lot less things to worry about plugging in.

[greyd]

I use a dayton electric heater that is hardwired in to it's own circuit. I was too paranoid about using any other type of heater if I was gone for the weekend or longer. The dayton is the type you'd see in a gas station bay that would kick on when they opened the garage door. This is the 2nd winter I've used it, no problems.

[davidhusker]

so when do you decide not to use a heater for each tank and when to switch to a central heater in the room? 4 tanks? 5 tanks? I have 4 tanks running now, with 2 100w and 2 150w heaters. If i add two 40 breeders, would it make sense to heat the room?

The gas furnace in the room also, which helps a lot.. but its summertime now. Ill probably close the door and open the window on the hot summer days to help out. I usually do this and unhook all my heaters for the summertime.

And another thing. How does the dehumidifier add heat to the room?

[Heyguy74]

so when do you decide not to use a heater for each tank and when to switch to a central heater in the room? 4 tanks? 5 tanks? I have 4 tanks running now, with 2 100w and 2 150w heaters. If i add two 40 breeders, would it make sense to heat the room?

The gas furnace in the room also, which helps a lot.. but its summertime now. Ill probably close the door and open the window on the hot summer days to help out. I usually do this and unhook all my heaters for the summertime.

And another thing. How does the dehumidifier add heat to the room?

The only way the dehumidifier adds heat is by the motor running. An older one would probably run hotter and give off more heat

[nick a]

"The only way the dehumidifier adds heat is by the motor running"

Not quite accurate. My dehumidifier takes in cool, moist air and blows out warm, dry air. Bearing in mind that Texas winters are not severe, that warm air discharge is enough to keep my fishroom toasty. It uses approx 250 watts (about 2 amp) and is the ultimate in efficiency that I've found so far. It does double duty (provide heat & dehumidify) all for what a submersible would burn in just one of my 30+ tanks.

[Tony]

"The only way the dehumidifier adds heat is by the motor running"

Not quite accurate. My dehumidifier takes in cool, moist air and blows out warm, dry air. Bearing in mind that Texas winters are not severe, that warm air discharge is enough to keep my fishroom toasty. It uses approx 250 watts (about 2 amp) and is the ultimate in efficiency that I've found so far. It does double duty (provide heat & dehumidify) all for what a submersible would burn in just one of my 30+ tanks.

What model do you have? Right now, my fishroom has about 22 tanks and I have heaters in each of them. I only do this because we're a bit paranoid about a space heater starting a fire.

I do run a dehumidifier, but it is a "passive" design where there are refrigerated coils on the back with a drip reservoir underneath. Hot exhaust is blow out the front. Being older than me, I'm sure it is not very friendly on the electric bill.

Your dehumidifier sounds like it kills two birds with one stone....

[Heyguy74]

"The only way the dehumidifier adds heat is by the motor running"

Not quite accurate. My dehumidifier takes in cool, moist air and blows out warm, dry air. Bearing in mind that Texas winters are not severe, that warm air discharge is enough to keep my fishroom toasty. It uses approx 250 watts (about 2 amp) and is the ultimate in efficiency that I've found so far. It does double duty (provide heat & dehumidify) all for what a submersible would burn in just one of my 30+ tanks.


I should explain it better. The moist air is brought into the dehumidifier and cooled down to remove the mositure by passing through the evaporator. Afterwards the heat is put back into the air by the process of moving the air past a condensor. This heat is created during the moisture removal process. Heat gained is equal to heat loss. Any additional heat will be created by the motor.