[Dr Winston O Boogie jr]

Originally Posted by NotFromAroundHere

Running the a/c removes moisture from the air. When the home is not occupied, it isn't necessary to cool the home, but it is necessary to control moisture. The humidistat's purpose is to reduce the cycling of the a/c, but still keep the humidity level in check. My instructions from Munn's call for the humidistat to be set at 60%, and thermostat to 78 degrees. Think of it as a switch between the a/c and the thermostat. In effect, the a/c won't come on until the humidity gets higher than 60%, then the humidistat switches on, which allows the a/c to run until the humidity gets below 60%. Regardless of how hot it gets. The temperature inside an unoccupied home is essentially irrelevant, the moisture is what needs to be regulated.

When the home is occupied, the humidstat is set to "on", and the thermostat set to whatever temperature the occupant finds comfortable. Since the humidstat "switch" is always on, it doesn't interfere with the a/c coming on to make the house comfortable.

When I lived in Sarasota back in the eighties, I was s snowbird. I had a humidistat because if you leave the thermostat set to 80 it will run constantly during the summer months. The idea of a humidistat is to ignore the thermostat and turn on the AC only when the humidity reaches a certain level. If I recall correctly we either turned the thermostat off or set it to its highest setting. If you're going to leave the thermostat on 78 or 80 the humidistat is a waste.