Humidity issues in basement. Will a heater help?

jalapus logan

jalapus logan

be all. and supports it to
Silver Member
I'm interested in y'all's thoughts about this. Here is my pool room set up in an unfinished basement w/ concrete floors (yes, you see that correctly the walls are deep purple at my wife's suggestion, she's an artist, so I always defer to her judgement in such matters):

attachment.php


Anyway, humidity can make this table play pretty tough. I'm mostly concerned about playability of the 9' diamond you see here. I've got 2 + year old Simonis 860 HR on it currently with a good amount of play on it. But it does seem to have life yet. The only heat to speak of is the central overhead metal peice, which you can see the silver tubes radiating out from to heat the upper floor (which I rarely see anymore with two tables he he he).

So what I'm wondering is what would happen if I take my small radiator heater (one about this size) and put it under the table??? I know that some three cushion tables are heated. Maybe this would help???

Whacha think?
 
jalapus logan said:
I'm interested in y'all's thoughts about this. Here is my pool room set up in an unfinished basement w/ concrete floors (yes, you see that correctly the walls are deep purple at my wife's suggestion, she's an artist, so I always defer to her judgement in such matters):

attachment.php


Anyway, humidity can make this table play pretty tough. I'm mostly concerned about playability of the 9' diamond you see here. I've got 2 + year old Simonis 860 HR on it currently with a good amount of play on it. But it does seem to have life yet. The only heat to speak of is the central overhead metal peice, which you can see the silver tubes radiating out from to heat the upper floor (which I rarely see anymore with two tables he he he).

So what I'm wondering is what would happen if I take my small radiator heater (one about this size) and put it under the table??? I know that some three cushion tables are heated. Maybe this would help???

Whacha think?
Click to expand...

It will help warm the humidity... not get rid of it. A small dehumidifier might do better.
 
Heating the cloth directly will help drive some of the moisture out of it depending on the overall humidity level of the surrounding air (the idea behind heated slate tables), but the far superior solution is to get a dehumidifier running. Heating air in general just allows it to hold more moisture. So if your basement walls are net contributing moisture anyway, heating the space will just continue to ramp up the saturation of the air.

You will also find that the dehumidifier will help heat the space (it pumps hot air off the compressor coils and there is a net heating effect, just like a fridge or an airconditioner in an enclosed space). Stick the dehumidifier under the table and you might just have the best of both worlds!! ;o)
 
Hi,
My table is in a basement just like yours except that my wife does not care what color the walls are.
We have been living in the house for 15 years and I doubt she has been down there twice.
I put an area rug under the table as concrete floors not very comfortable to play on.
I also put a self draining humidifier I got at Costco in the same area and it did help the table play quite a bit better.
I do not care for the idea of having an electric heater running unattended for safety reasons.
 
bdcues said:
It will help warm the humidity... not get rid of it. A small dehumidifier might do better.
Click to expand...

Yes, +1 to this keeping in mind a dehumidifier will help but not most likely totally take care of the problem as this is not a "sealed room."
 
madhatter44 said:
Hi,
My table is in a basement just like yours except that my wife does not care what color the walls are.
We have been living in the house for 15 years and I doubt she has been down there twice.
I put an area rug under the table as concrete floors not very comfortable to play on.
I also put a self draining humidifier I got at Costco in the same area and it did help the table play quite a bit better.
I do not care for the idea of having an electric heater running unattended for safety reasons.
Click to expand...

Damn... I keep a space heater in my basement to use when I'm playing (it gets cold in my basement) and now I can't remember if I turned it off the last time I used it!
 
bdcues said:
It will help warm the humidity... not get rid of it. A small dehumidifier might do better.
Click to expand...

I had the same set up for 3 years ^^^^^^^^^ this ^^^^^^^^^.

You can get fancy with it or you can get a simple dehumidifier that you empty your self. I found after just an 1 or 2 hours of running I could see the difference in play (banks mainly)... so I started not running it 24/7 but maybe 2 hours before and during practice...
 
Humidity

I have my table set on a concrete floor with carpet. A dehumidifier will work fine
 
dehumidifier, don't skimp, home depot. get one with the clear plastic hose that can run to a drain. turn it on, leave it on year round.
 
Pretty much all the advice in this thread is solid. As someone who works in flood mitigation and structural drying I can promise you a heater will only make things worse. The warmer air will hold more moisture not less, so it was mentioned that this area isn't sealed. By introducing a heater you'll be attracting more moisture. Then if you hit a rapid temperature drop you'll hit dew point in the basement and cause everything to sweat.

However if you use a heater in conjunction with a dehumidifier you can solve the problem. The heater will expand the atmosphere and the dehu will thin out the moisture.

I know it might sound crazy but if you can at all afford it I would invest in something significantly bigger than a small home depot dehu. You can find commercial ones used for structural drying between 300-400 dollars on the used market. Some times even at pawn shops for less. Pricey but you won't need to partner a heater with it and it'll drain 20 times the amount of moisture in half the time.
 
I agree with everybody on here, especially Bishop. I had the same sort of basement layout and I got a dehumidifier and it made a pretty big difference on how your table plays. It makes the banks more natural and your cloth will speed up a fair amount. I would get a dehumidifier that is oversized, spending a few extra dollars makes a large difference.
 
A dehumidifier worked great for my situation. I didn't hear anything negative about the utility bill, so I must have passed that department
 
Bishop said:
Pretty much all the advice in this thread is solid. As someone who works in flood mitigation and structural drying I can promise you a heater will only make things worse. The warmer air will hold more moisture not less, so it was mentioned that this area isn't sealed. By introducing a heater you'll be attracting more moisture. Then if you hit a rapid temperature drop you'll hit dew point in the basement and cause everything to sweat.
Click to expand...

I probably could have elaborated on my "sealed comment" but yeah +1 to this. I work in the HVAC area for selling commercial heating/cooling products for data centers etc and having a sealed room or vapor barrier is important with helping the efficiency of our equipment (I rep Liebert), especially in regards to dehumidifying and humidifying a space. Pretty much most homes will not have sealed basements so it will never be perfect, but a dehumidifier does help especially in the spring/summer. Ours gets full on a humid day in less than a full day sometimes.
 
I run a dehumidifier in the summer in my basement. Humidity can get extremely high down there during those summer months. Very easy to control to about 50% or even lower with my gauge on the wall. I usually turn it on when it gets above 50.
 
Spimp13 said:
I probably could have elaborated on my "sealed comment" but yeah +1 to this. I work in the HVAC area for selling commercial heating/cooling products for data centers etc and having a sealed room or vapor barrier is important with helping the efficiency of our equipment (I rep Liebert), especially in regards to dehumidifying and humidifying a space. Pretty much most homes will not have sealed basements so it will never be perfect, but a dehumidifier does help especially in the spring/summer. Ours gets full on a humid day in less than a full day sometimes.
Click to expand...

Thanks everybody for the advise. As for the basement being sealed or not, I have replacement windows an painted all the walls with UGL drylok sealer then a couple coats of purple on top of that. Its not too bad, but I can tell this table p!ays tougher and slower than my buudy's diamond for sure. I guess one good thing to come from my situation is a stroke that can really move whitey around when needed he he he.

Looks like a dehumidifier is in the cards soon. I've had this set up since 2006, so its about time. I'm just too damn frugal to pop for "extras". Then again, I've got two pool tables, so I guess I've got "extra" covered...
 
jalapus logan said:
I guess one good thing to come from my situation is a stroke that can really move whitey around when needed he he he.
Click to expand...

Good observation - might be part of why Filipinos are so good.

You have a large area there. I will defer this to the experts, but would one dehumidifier near each table be a good idea?

As for self draining dehumidifiers, I like the idea of being able to do both. With units you have to empty yourself, you can gauge for yourself how much moisture is being removed from the air. You might find you don't need it (them) running in the winter months. But you can always use the hose for self draining when you want to.

EDIT: I also like the idea someone posted about setting up a humidity meter in the room.

Fatz

PS. Two spaces after a sentence is no longer the convention.
 
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As others mentioned, a dehumidifier.

I have one in the shop that gets a workout in the summer.

One of the things that you will have to worry about with high humidity is eventually getting
mould on the walls and other places that you would rather not have it.
 
I suggest you take some measurements to find out what the temp and humidity variations are throughout the year before buying anything. Once you have some info; you can apply a solution that will work.
 
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