paulhdear: Double-glazing to solve condensation problems (8. Feb 2008 19:14)

Hi,
I'm about to build a tank for tropical ants, and I want to avoid condensation on the glass. Of course I will be keeping the temperature and humidity at the correct levels, but even then it is still a problem.

I have a plan to use a sealed double-glazing unit for the front of the tank - I figure this should eliminate condensation. Does anyone have any thoughts or comments on this?

Thanks!
Paul

JimmyVe: (8. Feb 2008 20:37)

hm.... maybe that is not a bad idea Paul. Never tried it myself, but i think it should work. If your farm is finished let us know and place some pictures. ;)

paulhdear: (8. Feb 2008 20:54)

Will do. The basic design is about 45cm tall, 40cm wide, 25cm deep. There will be several 1cm holes in the sides, at the bottom (just above the level of the substrate) and close to the top; these will be used for tubes, temperature probes etc; the other holes can be mesh-covered for ventilation, or plugged (depending on how much air circulation I need). Heating will be from heat mats underneath (plus more on back wall if necessary), with thermostat.
Does anyone else have condensation problems, and how are they usually solved?

JimmyVe: (10. Feb 2008 14:24)

The farm i heat up (for my exotic ants) don't have condensation, but the other farm do. As long as it doesn't gets to bad i don't do anything about it. :)

paulhdear: (10. Feb 2008 16:05)

I guess it depends partly on where the heat is coming from. I think under-floor heating is worst (for condensation) because it leaves the front glass colder. I've ordered all the glass - I'll let you know how it goes!

miszt: (10. Feb 2008 16:09)

i'm afraid double glazing isnt going to do much to stop condensation, there will always be a tempreture diffrence

unless u use some kind of Strip/Wire heater inside the double glazing to warm the glass, this could work very well, similar to the way the glass heater works on the rear window of a car, u wuldnt even need double glazeing

tbh, you could even just use 2 low power heat mats, one on each side, that will stop the condensation, or have good ventilation

The only thing that will stop condensation is having the glass at exactly the same tempreture or heigher, than the warm moist air inside, even 0.5C diffrence between the two will cause condensation, except at very high temps

experiment with the positioning, and use things like Foil and Black matirials to keep the glass warm, or the wire heater idea shuld work to

paulhdear: (10. Feb 2008 16:13)

I think the double-glazing should help. With single glazing you have warm, moist air (inside) coming into contact with glass which is cold (from the outside). In double glazing, the inside pane is warm and the outside pane is cold, but there's no moisture in the air-gap (because the unit is sealed and dehydrated with silica), so no condensation - same as in your house. Anyway, we'll see once I get it built.

miszt: (10. Feb 2008 16:38)

but there is still moisture inside the farm, yep give it a try, its possible it will work, as long as the inner glass is at the right temp :) if not, theres some suggestions that shuld sort it

paulhdear: (10. Feb 2008 16:55)

True, but the same thing happens in your house (warm moist air inside, cold air outside), yet double-glazed windows don't get condensation. Fingers crossed, anyway - I'll keep you posted.

miszt: (10. Feb 2008 17:28)

lol tell that to my windows

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