Crawl Space Energy Efficiency
Do you know how much energy is consumed by your crawl space moisture control components? Your crawl space moisture control should not be expensive to operate. Your crawl space energy efficiency is important to your home’s overall energy consumption. The consumption of energy should not be significant. Electricity is expensive! Therefore, you want to use as little power as possible to keep your electric bill low.
Depending on the setup you use to control crawl space moisture, it will affect your energy consumption. You will probably have multiple components in your crawl space to enhance your drying and air quality. Not all of these components may be energy efficient when used independently.
The goal of your crawl space solution should be to first solve your moisture problem. Secondly, you want it to be as energy efficient as possible.
Optimize energy use through the management of related components.
Energy Consumption
Dehumidifiers
A dehumidifier is an excellent drying tool and is often a necessary component of your moisture control solution. However, its energy consumption can be significant. A dehumidifier uses between 580 and 850 watts of power. Many manufacturers are making improvements to decrease their energy consumption.
The dehumidifier is often an important component of your moisture control solution. This is particularly true in certain moisture control designs and when a targeted and consistent humidity level is desired. The energy usage should be evaluated and considered for long term costs of the solution.
Fans
An overall moisture control solution may use fans as a component. Sometimes, fans create ventilation to exchange the air of the space. Other times, fans circulate the air within the space. Regardless, selecting fans with low electricity usage will lessen the long term costs of the solution.
Temperature Range
When looking at the overall energy efficiency of a home, temperatures should also be taken into consideration. Temperature affects the solution in a few different ways.
Dehumidifiers become less effective as temperatures drop. This is especially true below 50-60 degrees. In the temperature ranges below 60 degrees, it becomes difficult for the dehumidifier to cool down the air and pull moisture from it. In these lower temperatures, it is important to determine if the dehumidifier should be running to keep it running outside of its operational range. Additionally, to more energy efficient, there may be an alternate drying action such as dry outside air to more effectively and quickly dry the space.
Outside air can be effective as well – but only at select times. From an overall energy efficiency standpoint, it generally isn’t beneficial to bring extremely cold or extremely hot air into the crawl space as it may affect the conditions inside the home. Temperature range of outside air should be evaluated before using it to ventilate a crawl space.
ATMOX Crawl Space Controller
Want to minimize the energy consumption of your crawl space moisture control solution? Good news, there is a solution. ATMOX ACE Controller optimizes your energy usage while properly maintaining the conditions in your crawl space. It effectively controls your dehumidifier and ATMOX fans while reducing energy usage therefore your energy cost!
Learn more about how the ACE Controller uses data from inside and outside of the crawl space to determine the best drying method.
The ATMOXsphere
Discover all aspects of a winning crawl space moisture control solution.
