# Controlling humidity/temperature in DTG areas



## bkadv (Sep 15, 2015)

Hi all! Running a Brother GT-381 here in tropical Minnesota. Humidity has been starting to be a thing for about two months now and I'm really starting to struggle. If I'm going by Brother's standards (64°F-86°F/18°C-30°C, with 45-85% relative humidity), right now it's struggling to maintain 40% humidity; last month it bounced in the 50%s, the last few weeks it's fluctuated between 37%-58%. The temperature I'm able to control well, with it only changing a few degrees around 70°F.

I have an evaporative humidifier that humidifies 2,300 sq. feet as well as a smaller evaporative humidifier that I have under my ink bay that humidifies 1,050 sq. feet. Aside from the fact that it's a pain for me lug water in there daily, it's not really making that drastic of a difference in the room I'm in (which is 20'x30', with tall-ish ceilings).

I'm not the owner of this machine/business but I'm pretty much the sole operator, so when things go awry it falls on me. I take pride in maintaining my machine and playing "let's see how much I can manipulate the weather in my room", but last winter was tortuous before I finally convinced my boss to get a bigger humidifier (we're talking trying to print white ink in single-digit humidity percentages). He doesn't seem to understand that maintaining the room's climate is super important, so I'm trying to think of creative ways to solve this problem.

I've called our HVAC guy but he's busy and hasn't really been very communicative, but said something about a fogger or a steam-generating machine? I guess I could try replacing the wicks, too, but I'm looking to see what you guys do to control the temperature/humidity in your DTG areas. 

Thanks everyone!

-Brittany


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## raise (Apr 11, 2008)

Easiest option to try is get a large tarp to create lower ceiling over the printer and place the humidifiers under the same shade. The goal is to keep the printer and the airspace near it stable, don't need to humidify the entire room. Cutting down the amount of open air the humidifiers need to maintain might be your simplest option.


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## equipmentzone (Mar 26, 2008)

bkadv said:


> Hi all! Running a Brother GT-381 here in tropical Minnesota. Humidity has been starting to be a thing for about two months now and I'm really starting to struggle. If I'm going by Brother's standards (64°F-86°F/18°C-30°C, with 45-85% relative humidity), right now it's struggling to maintain 40% humidity; last month it bounced in the 50%s, the last few weeks it's fluctuated between 37%-58%. The temperature I'm able to control well, with it only changing a few degrees around 70°F.
> 
> I have an evaporative humidifier that humidifies 2,300 sq. feet as well as a smaller evaporative humidifier that I have under my ink bay that humidifies 1,050 sq. feet. Aside from the fact that it's a pain for me lug water in there daily, it's not really making that drastic of a difference in the room I'm in (which is 20'x30', with tall-ish ceilings).
> 
> ...





You could get a greenhouse kit from Harbor Freight for around $500 to $700. Set it up in your large room and put your printer inside it along with a humdifier. Makes it very easy and cost effective to control the humidity level for your printer.

Here is a picture showing one of our customers setup. 

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## AnACustomPrints (Dec 1, 2016)

Although we are working in a smaller area we have noticed certain consistancies. When the Ac or AC cuts in the humidity is dropped drastically. To offse this problem we have found that cutting the air circulation frompoutside sources helps maintain humidity. Also we circulate the in room air with a fan. This eliminates dead areas and spreads the humidity. Also we have found the humidity is more important than temperature. We have had times where the in room temperature has been a s low as in the 50;s but ther humidity was up. No printing problems. We agree that covering the machine at night helps to trap the humidity. Often we leave the humidifier on and the fan all night. The best results seem to be when the humidity is at 52% and the room temperature is 82 F.


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## equipmentzone (Mar 26, 2008)

You should also be aware that the 50% humidity level needs to be maintained 24/7 around your printers. 

Unfortunately, some printer owners keep the humidifiers on only during the workday and shut them off when they leave for the day. You definitely want to be sure that the humidity stays at a consistent level constantly. There are large evaporative humidifiers available that have enough water capacity to run for 3 or more days without needing to be refilled.

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## bkadv (Sep 15, 2015)

equipmentzone said:


> You should also be aware that the 50% humidity level needs to be maintained 24/7 around your printers.
> 
> Unfortunately, some printer owners keep the humidifiers on only during the workday and shut them off when they leave for the day. You definitely want to be sure that the humidity stays at a consistent level constantly. There are large evaporative humidifiers available that have enough water capacity to run for 3 or more days without needing to be refilled.
> 
> _


Thanks for this and for the greenhouse suggestion. I'd seen that picture a while back and have mentioned it to my boss. Do you have any recommendations for a large evaporative humidifier? The one I use I have to refill daily, sometimes once in the morning and once before I leave.


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## equipmentzone (Mar 26, 2008)

bkadv said:


> Thanks for this and for the greenhouse suggestion. I'd seen that picture a while back and have mentioned it to my boss. Do you have any recommendations for a large evaporative humidifier? The one I use I have to refill daily, sometimes once in the morning and once before I leave.




This is the evaporative type humidifier that we use in our demo rooms and recommend to our customers:

AIRCARE Designer Series 5.7-gal. Evaporative Humidifier for 3,600 sq. ft.-4DTS 900 - The Home Depot

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