Our Top Picks - Best Crawl Space Ventilator With Humidistat In 2023
Tjernlund V2D
Durablow MFB M2D
You might be wondering why on earth crawl spaces get damp and humid, and therefore, why you’d even need a crawl space ventilator with humidistat or a crawl space dehumidifier to solve the problem. The short answer is, the seventies happened. The longer answer is that in the seventies, we began building homes with central AC systems. This had the unintended side effect of changing the average humidity of the crawl spaces in our homes.
Prior to the seventies, the only thing you needed to worry about was “freshening up the air” in the crawl spaces of your home, because the humidity level tended to be the same or very close to the same as the level in the rest of your house. The only thing you really had to worry about was the stale smell that a room or space with no significant air flow go, but the advent of central air changed that.
So which is better for your home’s crawl spaces, a dehumidifier or a crawl space ventilator with a humidistat? The answer is, it depends. Dehumidifiers are the way to go if you have a very large crawl space to contend with, and are most concerned about total system efficiency. A crawl space ventilator can work for you, though, under the right circumstances.
- First, if you’re dealing with a fairly small, enclosed space. That’s important because ventilator fans tend to be effective over a much smaller area than dehumidifiers, so if you have a large space that you’re working with, you’ll need several fans, where a single dehumidifier would do the job.
- The second big consideration is the noise factor. Ventilator fans tend to be noisier than dehumidifiers. That may not matter to you, because we’re talking about crawl spaces after all, and it’s not like you’re going to be spending any more time in them than you have to, but the bottom line is, if the crawl space is, say, right under your bedroom, the noise factor could be a big deal.
Ventilator With Humidistat Reviews
With those two caveats in mind, let’s take a look at some good quality ventilator fans to see if there’s one that’s right for you.
Winner - Tjernlund V2D Crawl Space Ventilator
This is a great ventilator, and a cut above most of the ones you’ll find on the market today. High quality construction means that it’s durable and will see years of service before it needs to be repaired or replaced, and it’s actually one of only a very few crawl space ventilators with a humidistat built in. That matters because the whole point of using one is to be able to better control the humidity in the crawl space.
If your ventilator fan doesn’t have a humidistat built-in, you’ll simply have to buy one as an additional or aftermarket bit of equipment, and why bother with that? For that reason, the Tjernlund is simply convenient. If you’ve got a smallish crawl space to control humidity in, this is an excellent choice and better than anything else you’ll find on the market today.
Durablow MFB M2D
Stainless steel construction means that it’s a durable little machine too, though the company that makes it doesn’t have quite the reputation for excellence in customer service that Tjernlund does, so if there is a problem, the help you get may be somewhat spotty. On the other hand, if you live in an extremely humid environment, the stainless steel construction here will serve you very well. See a decibel level test for this crawl space ventilator on the video below.
Crawl Space Ventilators without Humidistat
Lomanco Crawl Space Ventilator
The above are really the top two contenders in this market space. Most everything else you’ll find, where crawl space ventilators are concerned, are machines like the Lomanco Crawl Space Ventilator.
The Lomanco is fairly typical of the majority of ventilators on the market today, which is to say that it doesn’t come with a built-in humidistat. The reality is that not many do. The problem, of course, is that without this piece of equipment, what you’re basically buying is a very expensive fan. It’s a nice fan, sure, but it just doesn’t give you the monitoring and control capabilities that you actually need to solve the problem of excess humidity.
What Is The Best Crawl Space Ventilator with Humidistat 2023?
Whichever way you go, and whatever crawl space ventilator you choose, be sure to get one with a built-in humidistat. That’s the most crucial feature when considering making the purchase, with everything else being a somewhat distant second.
There aren’t many crawl space ventilators with humidistats on the market, so both the Tjernlund Crawl Space Ventilator and the Durablow Crawl Space Ventilator basically have it cornered, but they are both excellent choices. Tjernlund's excellent customer support reputation made us tip the balance for it to make it our top pick.
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