Anyone else affected by the humidity during night?

Posted by flowjcv@reddit | plano | View on Reddit | 24 comments

Since around mid-May, I noticed that my apartment gets to 75%+ humidity at nights, making sleeping tough.

Optimal humidity should be no greater than 50%.

I'm gonna buy a dehumidifier asap, but honestly I didn't think I'd need one here.

Anyone else noticed this? How are you dealing with it? Do you have a dehumidifier or is a ceiling fan good enough for you? Or does your AC have built-in humidity management?

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Admirable-Spite-1831@reddit

It has been more humid this spring and summer than normal (to me). I grew up in the mid-south/delta and I have said "Wow! It feels like the south today." more mornings this year than I did all the last two years together.

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sleepyLynt@reddit

That indoor humidity level seems really high even during the humid months. I have dehumidifier in my bedroom during this time of year to help keep comfortable.

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Delicious_Hand527@reddit

Agree. Bizarrely high. I have a humidity sensor in my house. it's currently 16%.

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flowjcv@reddit (OP)

Is that typically May to September?

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sleepyLynt@reddit

Yep, May through September has the higher dew points and humidity. Some historical data

https://www.planoweather.com/wxdewpointsummary.php?

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flilmawinstone@reddit

Need to get your system inspected and have maintenance done on it. No way you should have high humidity like that with the air conditioning running

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flowjcv@reddit (OP)

I’ll check tonight but I’m pretty sure it gets that high because the outdoor humidity is like 93%+ since mid-May

If the outdoor humidity is normal then it’ll be 63% indoors at 65 F.

That’s still kinda high. Ideally I want it under 50%.

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oneone0ome@reddit

Have you brought this up with management? Indoor humidity consistently above 60% can lead to dangerous levels of mold growth

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Cloudy_Automation@reddit

The outdoor humidity is coming into your house. If your apartment has a masonry exterior, all the rain we have had may be soaking the masonry. There is an air gap between the masonry and the sheathing on the wall, and it dries both towards the outside and the inside.

Additionally, they likely sized the AC unit to handle 95-100 degree days, and only installed a single-speed unit because that was the cheapest possible AC unit they could buy. In moderate outdoor temperatures, that unit is short-cycling, which means it isn't running for very long. That leaves most of the humidity on the coils to evaporate. A two stage unit would run at a lower speed for longer, which removes more humidity.

In my house, it's 77 degrees indoors (and coincidentally outdoors as well, with 49% indoor humidity. But, I have a continuously variable fan and compressor, which is running at 28% of maximum. The only manufacturer who makes a really good unit like that is Trane, and it definitely wasn't the cheapest model. Carrier Infinity is OK, but it's compressor doesn't run as slowly. This information doesn't help you now, but something to look for if you buy a house someday.

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Cloudy_Automation@reddit

One other suggestion is to keep the room warmer and run a ceiling fan. The warmer temperature will have a lower relative humidity for the same absolute humidity amount because warm air can hold more total water vapor, and the fan will circulate more air to disperse your body heat. Not everyone like feeling a breeze, so this might not work for you

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a_polite_redditor@reddit

the best way to combat humidity in your home is to run the A/C. By running the AC, not just the fan, you take a good portion of the moisture out of the air, and discarding it down the drain. A dehumidifier may help too.

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flowjcv@reddit (OP)

I always have my AC running at 65 at nights. Costs me extra but whatever.

However, I think the humidity was still too much starting around mid-May. AC alone with no fan wasn’t enough.

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raw2082@reddit

Yeah I agree there’s something wrong with your AC unit. I keep mine on 72 and my humidity doesn’t get any higher than the 40s. My unit is about 9 years old.

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tj2286@reddit

AC on that low and humidity that high seems to indicate a problem.

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Distribution-Radiant@reddit

Central AC lowers indoor humidity as a byproduct of running. 75% with the thermostat set so low screams that your condensation drain at the coil may be clogged.

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Farazod@reddit

The AC would trip at this point. There's both a line sensor and an internal one plus some people have a pan sensor. If all fall then you'd notice a wet ceiling.

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Distribution-Radiant@reddit

It depends. My mom's house didn't have any sensors until they got a complete new system about 5 years ago - no pan sensor, nothing on the condensation drain. The existing pan had an overflow that it was draining through (drained out of the side of the house through the soffit).

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