Zone HVAC for your train room/basement

I'm not sure what you are trying to accomplish here. I will say my train room can cool down to the mid 50's during colder weather. That

being said I do notice my smaller motorized units run slower until they warm up.  I would look more to humidity levels in the room being to high or to low vs temperature.

The quest of this topic is questioning if any have had negative secondary effect with daily cycling of their HVAC motorized zone dampers.

Zone dampers will adjust the cold temp of a winter basement to a comfortable level while you are active with your RR.  At other times the basement air will be untreated and drift back to the 60 +/- degree natural temp.

My concern lies in the layout it's self. Not so much the trains.

Multiple dampers are installed in supply lines to switch treated air from one area to another.

Give forum member aubv a call. His number is in his profile. He's in your pay grade with layouts. He may have some clients with direct experience.

I purchased a simple digital thermometer/hygrometer. That will help identify the culprit. The displayed hi/lo is very useful.

I think that you already suspect that it's the humidity affecting the frame and deck material more than the temperature fluctuation.

A system designed for a home with zoning most likely has an Aprilaire humidifier operating with the heating system. That can't be disabled by the zoning unless a separate and different type is designed into the system for the basement zone.

The trainroom should also have it's own return ducting.

The possibility exists that warm, 50%-55% humid air is being pumped into the trainroom and not taken out. Then it will dry out until the room is used again. More frequent cycles than seasonal changes. My trainroom is displaying 16% at 70°. heat, but no humidifier.

I would agree that humidity affects the layout itself the most.  But before you invest in a humidifier, look into venting your basement. In my small, 10' x 20' basement, I have installed an outside vent with one of those Radon type fans.  The fan runs on 110 volts and is made to run 24/7, 365.  It is controlled by a humidistat.  So I simply set the stat to the desired humidity level and the fan runs whenever the humidity gets to or above that point.  I only wish I had this set-up when I had a layout down there.

Tom Tee posted:

Multiple dampers are installed in supply lines to switch treated air from one area to another.

 

 For most residential applications this is a waste of time and money.  Layouts have been in basements for years without troubles. If you so desire or have conditions that make it necessary , put in a separate system for that area. Maybe just some ventilation or humidity control if that satisfies your needs. Actually I'm thinking about a heppa filter system to eliminate the dust from accumulating on my trains and buildings....

Thank you for your comments.

My thought to go down this path is for health and personal comfort.

Up until this point I just put up with what ever temp was present.   My humidity is well balanced year round with an April Air humidifier and a free standing dehumidifier.  However this winter I was too sick to work but still scooting around on the concrete floor under the layout wiring and such.  Being finally on the mend I do not want a repeat.

As far as dust control goes, I have several big box Delta shop dust collectors placed around the 2k/' room.

I am in the  process of installing a dual zone Retrozone system to avoid another bad health event like this year.  It's not that expensive when you dial in your health and lost work to the overall cost.  However nothing can protect me from stupid.

Never having had a RR room which will be fully sceniced and experiencing daily 15 degree temp swings I was curious as to any long term effect with scenery damage.  There are minor seasonal gap opening at the various lift outs of my 2 rail layout but very manageable operation wise.  This will be my first winter with direct heat in the RR room.

I use a whole house dehumidifier and a separate zone for the basement. No problem at all. 

Sounds crazy, but maybe one needs a floor fan at slow speeds in the doorway of the train room.  Just enough air replacement so to keep problems at bay?

My train room is a stand alone building that I built and is 1800 sq ft with 180,000 btu furnace and 4 tons of ac that does every thing that I need.Where I live we don't have humidity issues,if it is 35 degrees in the morning,I turn on the furnace and it goes up to 60 degrees in 30 minutes which is good enough.The room has 10 ft ceilings and 2x6 walls that are insulated and the attic is insulated with radiant barrier over the insulation with 2 1800 cfm exhaust fans set to start at 105 degrees.

Mikey