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The humidity has been letting up over the last couple of weeks it seems; however, I'm curious how many other homeowners saw humidity / condensation issues like never before?
Examples:
- A/C not able to pull indoor relative humidity below 65% some days, even when thermostat set so low it's almost always on (not short cycling). Good Trane system that is only a few years old and is confirmed proper size for the home, properly installed etc.
- pooled up water in the clothes dryer, even though the vent to the outside has been recently cleaned
- condensation under interior window sills (to the point of dripping down over the floor moulding)
- water collecting in light fixture (single story house floor, under an insulated attic) and around bathroom fan, even when that bathroom not in use.
- wooden windows that could have been deemed as "in reasonable shape" a year ago turned to useless mush in only one summer.
I am not an "expert" at these matters by any means but I don't recall ever seeing anything like this. My HVAC tech says he saw a lot of humidity related issues this summer, and he made a similar comment (despite being in the business a while, not seeing this before). He didn't differentiate much between too much water due to simply humid air versus all the rain and flooding we got earlier in the summer -- I'm fortunate to have escaped any flooding issues so I'm talking strictly about damp air here.
How's the humidity in your crawl space? Air is pulled from it when your system is running. Our crawl space is close/vapor barrier with a dehumidifier set to 65% and we don't have the issues that you're seeing.
How's the humidity in your crawl space? Air is pulled from it when your system is running. Our crawl space is close/vapor barrier with a dehumidifier set to 65% and we don't have the issues that you're seeing.
I had a crawlspace dehumidifier installed, which keeps it at/below 60%, but I did this fairly late in the summer, perhaps too late to notice a large impact on indoor air. Very pleased with the dryness of the crawlspace itself though, which was a swamp prior, so it needed to be done. I have a vapor barrier down there and the vents closed off, but it's not "sealed" in the true sense of the term. I always thought if a crawlspace is really sealed (vapor barrier up the walls) you don't need a dehumidifier.
How's the humidity in your crawl space? Air is pulled from it when your system is running. Our crawl space is close/vapor barrier with a dehumidifier set to 65% and we don't have the issues that you're seeing.
Agree with this. This was my first summer here, but I replaced the old single pane windows and closed the crawlspace when I moved in. No water on the windowsills or in the crawlspace and the central AC actually did not cost nearly what I was expecting
Our crawl is closed. We have added a single supply from our 1st floor HVAC that opens in the crawl. This supply should have a positive close and variable damper with no air return to the air handler. This arrangement provides enough humidity control that no dehumidifier is needed even in an odd summer like this one where our downstairs HVAC has minimal runtime.
I'd still suggest that overly high indoor humidity levels in a conditioned space can be due to excessive air infiltration. Windows/doors/fireplaces are likely suspects. Also ensure that all crawl space floor penetrations are sealed. Sealing penetrations in the attic floor is good too.
Often times folks complain about dry indoor conditions in the winter - also typically an air infilration issue.
This summer has had the least amount of humidity in years, and the pest control guy said the moisture readings in crawlspace were very low, considering it's summer.
Nothing like what you're experiencing has been going on.
Do you have a roof fan? Sometimes those can be so powerful that they pull humidity up from the crawl into the home.
We had that problem a few years ago, till we disconnected it.
Don't have a dehumidifier in crawl, just leave vents closed and have vapor barrier.
Here is a really helpful site where we did some research and discovered our attic fan was the source of excess humidity in the house.
Our crawl is closed. We have added a single supply from our 1st floor HVAC that opens in the crawl. This supply should have a positive close and variable damper with no air return to the air handler. This arrangement provides enough humidity control that no dehumidifier is needed even in an odd summer like this one where our downstairs HVAC has minimal runtime.
I'd still suggest that overly high indoor humidity levels in a conditioned space can be due to excessive air infiltration. Windows/doors/fireplaces are likely suspects. Also ensure that all crawl space floor penetrations are sealed. Sealing penetrations in the attic floor is good too.
Often times folks complain about dry indoor conditions in the winter - also typically an air infilration issue.
Frank
Windows are getting replaced soon, as most of them are in pretty bad shape, but they went from "ok" to "bad shape" in record time. It will likely be next summer before I get to see how much the windows helped.
This summer has had the least amount of humidity in years, and the pest control guy said the moisture readings in crawlspace were very low, considering it's summer.
Nothing like what you're experiencing has been going on.
Do you have a roof fan? Sometimes those can be so powerful that they pull humidity up from the crawl into the home.
We had that problem a few years ago, till we disconnected it.
Don't have a dehumidifier in crawl, just leave vents closed and have vapor barrier.
Here is a really helpful site where we did some research and discovered our attic fan was the source of excess humidity in the house.
I don't have an attic fan, just a vent ridge for the roof (which is fairly new). Do you have any sites that conclusively back up the lowest humidity in years theory? That contradicts what two separate HVAC professionals have told me (one who is a tech for a large company, the other who is an independent friend who does repairs only). Also watching local weather I saw nothing but reports of "relief from record level humidity coming soon" when the weather started to get dryer.
My crawlspace stays roughly about the same temp and humidity level as my home after installing the dehumidifier. I monitor it via a remote hygrometer.
I have not experienced anything like what you listed this summer, or any summer. This one seems no different, except maybe a little cooler.
It amazes me how much variance there is in opinion here. Just search WRAL for the terms "Chapel Hill" and "flooding". Back in June and July there were folks who had been involved in agriculture on the news saying they've not seen anything like this in 50 years.
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