Electric Bill W/Humidistat

[bluedog103]

There has been some recent discussion about the value of a humidistat so I thought I'd give some current information.
I got my electric bill today for the period of 8/24 to 9/24. Total was $24.77. I consider the $75 I paid for our humidistat (including installation) to be a great investment.

[ajbrown]

I share this, but as I am not back in TV yet, I do not have all of the facts. I will post what I find upon my return.

I had one installed this spring before leaving, I tested it before I left verifying the AC did not come on at 82, but did at 86 when humidity rose. This is my fourth summer I have left the same home unoccupied in TV. In the past three I set the thermostat to 82 degrees, no dehumidistat.

This summer I set the thermostat to 82 and the dehumidistat to 60%. The way it is installed the temp must be 82 AND the humidity must be above 60% for AC to come on.

I did not see any significant savings this summer. My home watch person verified the house was at 86 when they were there and the AC was off, so I am perplexed to say the least.

Either something not right, or the humidity has been high enough that it is almost always > 60% when the temp > 82.

:shrug:

[bargee]

We installed a humidistat 5 years ago.When we leave for four months during the summer it cuts our vacation time electric bill by 2/3rds.

[bluedog103]

I share this, but as I am not back in TV yet, I do not have all of the facts. I will post what I find upon my return.

I had one installed this spring before leaving, I tested it before I left verifying the AC did not come on at 82, but did at 86 when humidity rose. This is my fourth summer I have left the same home unoccupied in TV. In the past three I set the thermostat to 82 degrees, no dehumidistat.

This summer I set the thermostat to 82 and the dehumidistat to 60%. The way it is installed the temp must be 82 AND the humidity must be above 60% for AC to come on.

I did not see any significant savings this summer. My home watch person verified the house was at 86 when they were there and the AC was off, so I am perplexed to say the least.

Either something not right, or the humidity has been high enough that it is almost always > 60% when the temp > 82.

:shrug:
That's strange. Do you have everything shut off in your house? I'm sure the humidity must be about the same all over the area.
The only thing I left on was the refridgerator.

[ajbrown]

Same shutdown procedure for the house as every summer. :agree: on the strange part.

Do you have numbers for 09 with no dehumidstat?

[golfnut]

aj, how much is your electric bill in the summer, mine is $25 with the humidistat set at 55%, I turn the thermostat off so it does not regulate the temperature in the house.....gn

[ajbrown]

aj, how much is your electric bill in the summer, mine is $25 with the humidistat set at 55%, I turn the thermostat off so it does not regulate the temperature in the house.....gn

Not nearly as good as others, it is around $45 - $50. I do leave on the refrigerator, no pool or spa, it is a Wisteria, so not exactly a mansion. All same as 2009 except in 2010 I added dehumidistat.

My bill did not go down this summer with the dehumidistat. In August the bill was even a smidge higher compared to 2009.

It is a puzzle I will work on this winter.

[bluedog103]

Not nearly as good as others, it is around $45 - $50. I do leave on the refrigerator, no pool or spa, it is a Wisteria, so not exactly a mansion. All same as 2009 except in 2010 I added dehumidistat.

My bill did not go down this summer with the dehumidistat. In August the bill was even a smidge higher compared to 2009.

It is a puzzle I will work on this winter.
We just closed on the house in March so I don't have last year's numbers. Our house is also a Wisteria.

[laryb]

Not nearly as good as others, it is around $45 - $50. I do leave on the refrigerator, no pool or spa, it is a Wisteria, so not exactly a mansion. All same as 2009 except in 2010 I added dehumidistat.

My bill did not go down this summer with the dehumidistat. In August the bill was even a smidge higher compared to 2009.

It is a puzzle I will work on this winter.
AJ, I have an At Ease, 1481 sq. ft. with a de-humidistat and my bill with the refrigerator on has been about $45 a month.

[BETHPAGE BLACK]

Hey AJ are you turning your thermestat OFF....??
It needs to be in off position for the humistat to be effective...55-60% on the humistat and you should see a big difference....Laura

[ducati1974]

Can some of you post the make & model of your humidistat? I'm an HVAC man in Mass. & we don't use such things here much but I'd like to pick one up for my TV home.
Rick

[bluedog103]

Can some of you post the make & model of your humidistat? I'm an HVAC man in Mass. & we don't use such things here much but I'd like to pick one up for my TV home.
Rick
I'm a snowbird who hasn't returned to TV yet so I can't help you with the make etc. Perhaps some of the other snowbirds have returned who can answer your question.

[ilvgolf]

Does this work if you live here full time?

[chuckinca]

Probably if you can stand the house temp around 85.

My mother kept her house in both the Chicago burbs and TV at 83 year around! We couldn't stand it no matter what the season was - it was still too hot.



.

[bluedog103]

Does this work if you live here full time?
The following is an explanation by Handiman, which is a very good explanation of what a DEhumidistat does. Hope it helps.

Jul 2007
Location: Emmalee Villas, Mallory Square and Canandaigua, NY
Posts: 857

DE Humidistats

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Its summer in the villages and the rains have begun and the outdoor humidity is very tropical. This is all well and good when your sitting in the pool but NOT a good thing for the interior or your home.
Let me try to explain what a DEhumidistat will do for you. First off its not a harmful thing for you home interior to be 85. It is a harmfull situation when your home has a relative humidity of 85 inside combined with the heat. So what can we do besides run the airconditioning at a livable temperature resulting in a lower interior relative humidity when were up north for a number of months? Seems wastefull doesn't it and yes it is. At this point you should be asking yourself how can I not run the AC when I'm away and save electricity and still keep the interior of my home safe.
A device called a DEhumidistat is simply a device that when set at 60% does not allow the AC to come on unless the humidity is above 60%. Even though the temperature inside the home is 85, there is no need to cool it if the humidity inside is dry. You Arizona folks know all about this. It costs approx. $50.00-$60.00 and can be installed with a very short service call. It is wired in series with the low voltage coming to your thermostat and simply will not allow the AC to turn on until two parameters are met, one the inside temperature must exceed the temperature set on the thermostat (78-80) AND the relative humidity inside the home must exceed the set humidity level (60%)
Conversations with various folks who have used these devices while away have told me of savings in the $100.00 per month range for the hottest months in summer. As you can see this device pays for itself usually very easily in the first month or two. This is not a device for use when the home is occupied, so it is merely turned to the ON position and the thermostat does its thing.

Being a northerner myself, these devices were a mystery to me until I used one. Color me in the "still learning mode"
__________________

Upstate NY and The Villages-If your not living on the edge, your taking up way too much room."

[iaudit]

Can some of you post the make & model of your humidistat? I'm an HVAC man in Mass. & we don't use such things here much but I'd like to pick one up for my TV home.
Rick

I don't think a humidistat will work, you really need a dehumidistat. A humidistat is used to add humidity to house, usually used to control a hot air furnace humidifier. A dehumidistat is used to remove humidity from a house. I installed a Honeywell's H46C-1166 dehumidistat.

Also, here is a link to a thread from last year on whether to wire it in series or parallel:

https://www.talkofthevillages.com/forums/showthread.php?t=22816&highlight=dehumidistat

[k2at]

When most of the people say humidistat, they really meant to say dehumidistat. They do not want to add humidity to their house, they want to minimize it therefore what they are installing on their thermostat is really a dehumidistat and not a humidistat which adds moisture to the interior of one's home. Boy, it even sounds complicated to me.

[BETHPAGE BLACK]

AJ..dont know the name of my humistadt (dehumistad) as I am in NY right now..but we have Munns service contract and when they came out to do their periodic service, they installed it and it was so cheap and so easy..If you plan on snowbirding,,thats when humistadt pays for itself..My bills all summer were so low; I felt like I was cheating.....Laura

[ajbrown]

Hey AJ are you turning your thermestat OFF....??
It needs to be in off position for the humistat to be effective...55-60% on the humistat and you should see a big difference....Laura

My thermostat is set to 82 degrees. The dehumidistat is wired in series with the thermostat. In my home the AC should come on when the temprature > 82 degrees and humidity > 60%.

The point of my post was that I have 4 years of summer electric bills. Only this summer using a humidistat, all of the others I simply left the thermostat at 82. There has been no significant savings this year as compared to others.

I am not there with a hygrometer to verify that my dehumidistat works, but will do that when I arrive shortly for the winter.

[ajbrown]

AJ, I have an At Ease, 1481 sq. ft. with a de-humidistat and my bill with the refrigerator on has been about $45 a month.

Thanks Larry, pretty much the same. Like I wrote in another post, the puzzle for me is not that the bill is $45-$55, it is that installing a dehumidistat did not save any appreciable money for me.....

[Barefoot]

they installed it and it was so cheap and so easy..If you plan on snowbirding,,thats when humistadt pays for itself..My bills all summer were so low; I felt like I was cheating.....Laura

Me too Laura, our electric bills are so low, the dehumidistat works like a charm.

But on the other hand my irrigation system was reset by a specialist (fill in sounds of laughter here). Our July bill was $180. After the specialist reset, our August bill was $350. :cry::cryin2::ohdear:

[sallistang]

The term STAT just means a device that will start or stop something based on temp or humidity. The humid and thermo are wired in series that means both have to close to turn on the a/c .So if the thermo is set at 82 and the humid set at 60% the house must be over 82 and the humid above 60 to turn on. Now to turn off either one has to be satisfied.So if it shuts off on temp the humid could still be above 60%.This could result in a temp. hi humid condition .The system could be set up to parallel and the temp set at 85 and humid at 60%.As far as saving $ I don't think there is any.

[iaudit]

The term STAT just means a device that will start or stop something based on temp or humidity. The humid and thermo are wired in series that means both have to close to turn on the a/c .So if the thermo is set at 82 and the humid set at 60% the house must be over 82 and the humid above 60 to turn on. Now to turn off either one has to be satisfied.So if it shuts off on temp the humid could still be above 60%.This could result in a temp. hi humid condition .The system could be set up to parallel and the temp set at 85 and humid at 60%.As far as saving $ I don't think there is any.

When wired in series, I believe the best setting would be a thermostat of 76 degrees and a humidity level of 60-65%. The lower temperature setting should be sufficient to remove enough humidity from the house to satisfy the humidity level and it should shut off when that level is reached. I disagree with you saying that there would be no $ savings, especially at this time of year. While the temperature in the house may go above 76 degrees, there is not enough humidity in the air to turn the system on.

[Pturner]

Thanks Larry, pretty much the same. Like I wrote in another post, the puzzle for me is not that the bill is $45-$55, it is that installing a dehumidistat did not save any appreciable money for me.....

Could it just be because this summer was exceptionally hot? Maybe your electric bill would have been higher this summer without it?

[rhsgypsylady]

I've been reviewing this thread and noticed some really low ($45) electric bills, especially with a dehumistat. My question is how old or new are these houses? I would think that would make a difference as well. Also, amount of insulation, double/single pane windows, caulked windows and doors, etc.

My 2 bedroom villa was built in 1994. I bought it in June and it is not occupied. I do have a pool which I know accounts for a higher bill. However, I think $120 per month is excessive. Is there anyone who has a a similar sized villa who could elaborate on their electric bills - occupied and not?

Would a dehumistat help? I need to figure out how to lower my electric bill. If it's this high now, I can only imagine how high it will be once I move in.

Any help or advice would be appreciated.

[ajbrown]

Could it just be because this summer was exceptionally hot? Maybe your electric bill would have been higher this summer without it?

I missed this post somehow. PT, That assessment seems reasonable to me.

It seems obvious that a dehumidistat would save money, but it seems hard to quantify. To date I have seen no evidence that a dehumidistat pays for itself in a winter or two or whatever. Please do not misinterpret that I am saying it will NOT, but rather mine did not. I take why mine did not as a little challenge/puzzle to look into during my leisure to exercise the brain.

A dehumidistat is also one more thing that can fail while you are away. When it does, it may not be so obvious to folks looking after your house. If you leave your thermostat at 82 and the house is 87, the home watcher calls and says we have an issue.

If on the other hand, you have a dehumidistat wired in series with your thermostat that same situation is not an obvious problem to anyone unless a hygrometer is provided.