My condensation management setup worked!

dewbane

Michael McIntyre
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My username is also the name of the shop equipment condensation management system I spent a couple of weeks putting together. It's finally alive, and it's working!

I could afford equipment or building, but not both, and it's hard to make stuff with a building. I have an unheated, uninsulated shop with a dirt floor, and I've been battling serious condensation problems all winter. I ran across a guy on Youtube who had put together an Arduino-based system to manage this problem, but he wasn't very forthcoming with the details. He provided the operating theory, but I had to go off and learn enough to put a system together and make it happen for myself. This was rewarding, but it was not fun.

I spent a couple weeks of spare time working on this thing. I get temperature and relative humidity from a sensor, and use that to calculate the dew point with some math I stole off the internet and could never explain. I have a temperature sensor mounted on my mill and my lathe, and each machine has a pair of silicone pad heaters plugged into a relay for that machine. The system logic turns on the heat as required to warm the equipment to 1°C above the dew point. I bench tested it thoroughly, and after all these hours of banging my head against the wall chasing bugs in both the hardware and the software, I finally deployed the system in my shop yesterday.

It's cold outside and very foggy, so I rushed out to the shop as soon as I got home to see how the system was working. I was greeted with this display:20180307_042549.jpg

Here's what the box looks like (doubling as a handy hanger for my parallel keeper), along with the lathe relay box:
20180307_042622.jpg

I will tidy up the wiring tangle after I establish that my sensor placement is going to work. I drilled a hole in the lathe bed casting at the headstock end (g0602), just above the tunnel. If I ever run into a combination of change gears that interferes with that, I'll have to back up and punt. On the mill (g0704), I mounted the sensor in the plastic box that used to house the worthless chip shield that was constantly in my way. On the lathe, I mounted one heater toward the far end where the tailstock is usually parked, and I mounted the other just below the ways, as close to the headstock as possible. On the mill, I ended up mounting both of the heaters on the back of the column, because nothing else seemed workable.

Time till tell how the system performs, but so far, so good! Dew point 34°F, very high relative humidity, but my equipment is at 35 and 36, and it's bone dry. I don't yet have any idea how fast the equipment will heat up, what temperatures it can reach, or if this system has enough potential to keep my equipment condensation free under all circumstances. It's off to a good start, and I was stoked to come home and find the system had done its job.
 
This sounds awesome let me know how it works bc im gonna be in the same boat you are in
 
Nice work. This type of thing is how Ingot into micro controllers in the first place (making a temperature controller for cooking) and I now have a long list of things I have made. I like your idea.
 
Good idea, while the initial investment of time and thought was considerable it negates worry about condensation and rust without heating an entire building.
 
Very clever idea! Good job! Also, when you get back to us, maybe give an insight on what your before and after electric bill looks like?
 
I can't imagine this is a large power use. Can you give info regarding the heaters you used? The only thing that occurred to me is that you may want heaters in the xy table too.
 
Great idea! Pad Heaters? I hadn't thought of that.

In your post you stated "I will tidy up the wiring tangle after I establish that my sensor placement is going to work".
And as soon as your back is turned they will re-entwine themselves like spaghetti in a pan... :grin:
 
Very clever idea! Good job! Also, when you get back to us, maybe give an insight on what your before and after electric bill looks like?
It would be interesting to hook it up to one or more Kill-A-Watt meters that keep track of electrical cost.
http://www.p3international.com/products/P4400.html
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Kill-A-Watt-Electricity-Monitor-P4400/202196386
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_A_Watt
I use a similar device to keep track of the heating cost in my house. Last winter I used 14.98 kWh of electricity to heat my house, costing less than $2.50, and yes, that is for the entire winter. I did not use my operational central heating system at all. Yes, this is the California central valley, but still, it gets below 20F here at times, and foggy for days, and my 1983 vintage house has just barely to 1983 code insulation, single pane windows, and a slab floor exposed to daylight at the edges. I have been doing that for about 10 years.

Edit: Come on spring time!
 
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It would be interesting to hook it up to one or more Kill-A-Watt meters that keep track of electrical cost.
http://www.p3international.com/products/P4400.html
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Kill-A-Watt-Electricity-Monitor-P4400/202196386
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kill_A_Watt
I use a similar device to keep track of the heating cost in my house. Last winter I used 14.98 kWh of electricity to heat my house, costing less than $2.50, and yes, that is for the entire winter. I did not use my operational central heating system at all. Yes, this is the California central valley, but still, it gets below 20F here at times, and foggy for days, and my 1983 vintage house has just barely to 1983 code insulation, single pane windows, and a slab floor exposed to daylight at the edges. I have been doing that for about 10 years.

Edit: Come on spring time!
Bob, I like your way of thinking. But unfortunately, around my house the wife knows exactly where the thermostats are! And how to operate them! It’s a good thing I installed a photovoltaic solar system. Wait for it…Wait for it…Wait for it. Because it makes my living space spouse proof from light switches, appliances and thermostats:)…Dave
 
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If it's like many projects I have worked on, it'll stop working (or go into unexplainable oscillation) as soon as you
clean up the wiring :p seriously though, cool (warm) project
Mark
 
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