Florida, humid weather. Hubby likes thermostat at 80. I don't. At 80, the salt-shakers have moisture on them, salt sticks to top, fridge had lots of condensation between and around door, etc. I am warm and sweaty, just sitting still. Just dropping the 'stat two or three degrees makes a great difference. Dumb question: should the house be less humid, even at 80? Is this an AC problem or a hubby problem? :o)
"Norminn" wrote
hubby problem
the A/C is designed to remove humidity, but since he has the temp. set so high, the unit is not staying on long enough to do its dehumidification work
turn the thermostat down to 72, if the humidity problem goes away, and it will, then you need to clonk him over the head and tell him to get with the program
if it is still humid in the house at 72 or less, then you have a clogged condensate drain
cheers!
cowboy
PS - if he realizes that he is the problem, and he STILL likes it at 80 better, then tell him he has to buy you a dehumidifier (about $150 at home depot or sears)
dehumidifiers essentially don't have any effect on room temperature (might raise it half a degree) but it will certainly make it MUCH more comfortable and moisture free!
cheers!
cowboy
Hi Norminn, hope you are having a nice day
On 29-Jun-05 At About 04:38:07, Norminn wrote to All Subject: AC question........too humid
N> From: Norminn
N> Florida, humid weather. Hubby likes thermostat at 80. I don't. At N> 80, the salt-shakers have moisture on them, salt sticks to top, N> fridge had lots of condensation between and around door, etc. I am N> warm and sweaty, just sitting still. Just dropping the 'stat two or N> three degrees makes a great difference. Dumb question: should the N> house be less humid, even at 80? Is this an AC problem or a hubby N> problem? :o)
Dropping them temp will make you feel more comfortable and lower the humidity a little. But too low can also cause a problem due to the fact that the RH actually becomes higher.
-=> HvacTech2
One of the advantages of the variable speed AC systems is that they do a better job of removing humidity ins situations like this, when less cooling is desired. By running the air handler slower, the temp of the air moving over the coils is lowered, thereby causing more condensation to occur. Don;t expect that you'd want to switch for that reason, as it wouldn't be cost effective, but it should be considered when if you need a new system.
If he likes it warm get a dehumidifier or 2, not only will it remove moisture but it will raise room temps a bit forcing the AC to run more, removing even more humidity. Size of dehumidifier is important, how big is the house, You need to start with a good humidistat, a digital would be best as anolog need to be calibrated and usualy come uncalibrated. If you have a basement you may want one there also. If he really likes it warm you have few cheap options.
Reducing the cool airflow seems like a better idea to me. Partially close a few outlets, and so on. Or trickle rainwater over the outdoor coil to lower the indoor coil temp and RH and add about 20% to the EER.
Agreed, for an AC with a thermostat. But they make the AC work harder, since they convert latent to sensible heat (at 1000 Btu/pint), and the electrical energy used by the fan and compressor ends up inside the house, vs outside.
Nick
I have a suggestion that may make your life much better and save some money in the process.
Have a small wall mounted air conditioner installed in 'your' room and set the temperature to your liking, not your husbands. Let him be in charge of the house air conditioner and you be in charge of your room air conditioner.
In our case, the master bedroom is the wife's domain and she has a wall unit mounted above the bed. It provides a cool dry environment and a constant white 'fan' noise that is perfect for sleeping. During the day she can do her needle work or reading in the cooler end of the house while I work in my hot office in the other end of the house. We are both happy and our electrical bill was cut in half.
While dramatically raising the electric bill :-)
Nick
Nick,
Before you reduce air flow, Better check to see that it is not too low already. Get a contractor in with a flow hood and measure the existing air flow.
If it is 400 CFM/Ton or higher, reducing the air flow a little will remove more moisture while not hurting efficiency or slugging the compressor. Most manufacturers specify a minimum of 350 CFM/ton. Lennox says you can go down to 300 CFM/ton with their equipment.
Half of the systems are 200 CFM/ton or less, which is already hurting efficiency and possibly the equipment. Test and measure before you do something rash and really screw things up.
Norminn, you can get an April-Aire or Therma-Stor whole house ducted dehumidifier to dry out the whole house. It can be tied into your existing duct system.
Stretch
My AC is also oversized, even with fan professionaly reset to low I don`t dehumidify. My added cost of a 70 pt dehumidifier adds 3-4$ a month, Kill-a-watt verified. The extra heat load helps to. Other alternatives they have won`t be any cheaper as it takes energy to be comfortable. A inline house dehumidifier would work well but initial cost I imagine triple that of stand alone units. A VS DC furnace would be best, but im sure cost is a main concern here.
Or Simply make the husband wear winter clothes.
This is Turtle.
When running thermostats at higher degrees you get into high humidity levels in a house which is not good for your furniture , wood work , or appliances. What happens is on days where it's not very warm at all at say 85ºF or 90ºF . The unit will not run long enough to get the water vapor out of the air and you will have the high humidity condition as you described. So here is the problem.
1] the HVAC system in your house is too big for the house by not running long enough to get the moisture out of your house.2] Running a HVAC system in Fla. on 80ºF is asking for humidity problems with
100%RH a norm.3] Years back there was a average temperature that normal people most liked and it was 68ºF to 78ºF in their homes. Your Hubby is not normal by being outside the range.
4] By Letting moisture high enough to form water on anything in the house is not healthy at all and starts to grow germs and mold in your home. So you have a Germ Factory at 100% RH in your home.5] There is a old saying that says if all in a house can't agree on the right temperature to set on. You should turn it off till everybody agrees on what they like. Also if you can't be confortiable in your home with the air conditioner on and the right temperature. Just turn it off and just cost a whole lot less to have.
TURTLE
Sounds too high, based on the OP's posting. What is "too low"? Keeping the the cool air outlet temp over 40 F seems OK. Along with installing a freezestat.
Nick
Sounds like you are not counting the extra load on the AC.
Right. In summertime, you need all the extra heat you can make :-)
Nick
He will never realize that he is a "problem". He criticizes me when the battery in the TV remote dies :o) No joke. House is a good deal more comfortable at 77-78; quite a difference.
MAKE him wear........? If I could MAKE him do anything, I would MAKE him keep his dirty little hands off the thermostat. He is 90# heavier, carries a gun, and is a retired cop. One does not MAKE him anything but breakfast, lunch and dinner :o) Someday he will be where there is no AC:o)
Turn the thermostat to 72 and buy hubby a sweater.
Put rice grains in the salt shaker.
If your thermostat is at 80 degrees and you have a humidity problem, there are two things to check first:
a: Is your a/c running long enough to dehumidify your house? (Apparently not - perhaps your a/c is actually too large for your house); b. Outside air is getting in through openings, or open doors or windows.
We're not only in Florida, but we live next to a lake. Although the outside humidity is 80-90% (when it's not higher!) inside our humidity is currently
56%. We leave our thermostat at 78 degrees (daytime) and 80 degrees (nighttime). We are careful to seal up the windows and not leave doors open -- and ensure we have some air moving, so when necessary we have a ceiling fan turned on. Even outside in the lanai, staying in the shade and having a ceiling fan on will keep us comfortable.OT, but germane -- according to today's paper we've already had over 15 inches of rain in June (not counting the three inches from yesterday and today) and for May and June we're 17 inches over the normal amount! No wonder it's so humid outside.
Mechanical or digital thermostat? If mechanical, simply tweek the calibration so thermo reads "80" when room is 77. Everybody's happy.
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