Humidity in Home Too High
 

We like to keep the humidity in our (new) home in TV under 60%, preferably closer to 50%. We have a heat pump, and an ecobee 3 lite thermostat.

We found that in the summer, the humidity was fairly easy to control, most likely because the A/C had to run a lot to keep the house cool (and of course the A/C also serves a dehumidifying function).

However, now that winter is coming and the temperatures are dropping, the A/C does not run as often, sometimes not running all night (and I see next week low temps will be near 50, so I would expect the A/C may not run all day).

When the A/C does not run, the humidity sneaks back up, like to the low or mid-60% range.

My questions are:
-- Does anyone else out there have this problem?, and
-- What do you (can I) do about it?

Thanks!

I’m not sure what the problem is , but I’ve been in Florida a long time , I open up the doors and widows in the cooler weather and I don’t sleep with AC on even in summer months, I don’t expect everyone does that but if you are worried about mold or something like that I have never had any, I also have a cleaning person every week to take care of any dust from windows open lol

Unless you want to install a dehumidifier, the only thing I can suggest is to run the air conditioner periodically. The humidity in my house occasionally goes above 60 percent when the outside temperature is in the mid 70's.

I had same issue with weather station indoor humidity monitor 65% But my humidistat (analog) was around 50 when dialed bought a small digital unit at Lowes says 52%. The weather station is now gone.

It depends on what method the weather station vs the Lowes unit is measuring relative humidity. All those devices are notoriously inaccurate. How could you determine which one is correct other than liking the Lowe's results better? Relative humidity is very difficult to measure.

Try this method: https://musicsorbonline.com/faqs/hyg...accuracy-test/

We found a dehumidifier on Amazon that does the trick....if you are into the white noise effect, run in the bedroom...otherwise, somewhere else for sure.

My humidity was running too high when I had the fan set to 'on' all the time-its counterintuitive until I googled it and was reminded that the fan blowing on the condensate in the bottom of the air intake was rehumidifying my house. So now my ecobee is set to run the A/C if the humidity is above 61%-it sometimes gets kinda cool in here but I don't want too much humidity, for sure. Biggest electric bill this summer was $120 and I find that great. Now people will comment their electric bill runs $0.50/month.....

I'd sell asap and buy in Arizona. The problem won't exist there.

I have a new house with a heat pump and an ecobee 3 when we moved in. The ecobee 3 thermostat had an issue with high readings of humidity and during our walkthru, I think it was Munn’s that checked the humidity and determined the thermostat was faulty or it might have been ecobee corporate that determined this thru the web, but anyway, they came back out to replace our ecobee 3 lite with an ecobee 5 free of charge under warranty. The tech that came out to replace the ecobee then verified that the ecobee was displaying the same humidity reading of his own device and it was.

A few years back, we had a new thermostat installed - a little pricey, but worth it for us. It turns the a/c on based on temp or humidity level.

The Ecobee is a good thermostat. I have one. Dependent on the model heat pump you have, you can "tell" the thermostat to dehumidify. This is a setting in the thermostat. The problem is most folks do not take the time to learn the fancy settings your thermostat does. It is way smarter than you think.

I suggest that you read your Ecobee manual. If you do not have it, it is also online. There are also good Ecobee forums, you tube videos showing how it works, etc. Munns can also come over to show you these features.

We are to a point now that almost everything in our homes are smarter than we are. It is difficult to keep up with them.

Frank D.

We installed a whole home dehumidifier. Runs when needed, have ours set on 40% relative humidity. Don’t want the AC to run just to dehumidify.

You should have a humidistat on your ac. I was told to keep it set at 60% humidity. If the humidity rises above that it will trigger the ac no matter how cold it is outside and what the heat is set to. If yours doesn’t do that perhaps you need your HVAC checked. Hope this helps.

On most thermostats, there is a humidity setting that you can turn on or off and set a humidity percentage. If you turn it on, the AC will come on when the humidity is higher than the setting. The problem with this feature is that the AC will overcool your house to about 3 degrees below the thermostat setting. If your thermostat is set at 75, the AC will cool the house down to 72 to reduce the humidity. So, you are compromising by making your house colder than you want to reduce the humidity. Personally, I don't like the humidity option and never use it.

Carrier makes a heat pump that uses a two staged compressor that does a great job of controlling humidity, independent of temperature control. I have no problem keeping the humidity in my house at 50%, summer or winter

Next time you have it serviced ask the tech to compare your measuring device to theirs. If you manually trigger your a/c to dehumidify remember the longer it runs the better it will dehumidify.

Had somewhat similar issues
 

I think your first step should be to have Munn's (or whoever did the initial HVAC install) come check the Thermostat. We bought a new Iris last winter while we were here and then went back home for the summer. I too have the Ecobee thermostat and was getting all sorts of really high humidity readings (>75) in the summer, and had a hard time controlling it even with the AC running. When we got here full time in October I had Munn's come out again and they changed out the thermostat. Since that the readings have been more reasonable. I'd certainly have the thermostat checked before investing in a dehumidifier.

Humidity in Home Too High
 

Surprised no one has mention this. I did this with the heat and ac set to off on the thermostat. Then go to System. Than go to fan setting. this way you can set the unit to run the fan once every hour for a certain length of time. I have mine set for 5mins. this will work whether the unit is on or off. That way you at least have the air in the house circulating which should help with the humidity. You can also note what time of day the fan will run. Good Luck and Happy Holidays, Mike

I’m sorry, I can’t resist. What the definition of “Relitive” humidity?🤣

Arizona
 

Last time I was in “The Valley of the Sun” it was 113 degrees and it was May 30. You could be trading one small problem for a bigger one. Op, would be better off to buy a dehumidifier for their house IMHO.

Did you read the link in the post your quoted? First of all, there is no such thing as "Relitive humidity". It is R E L A T I V E humidity. :D :D I first learned about it in 6th grade science class. That being said GOOGLE is your friend. Here are a few explanations to get you started which you could have easily looked up on Google if you REALLY wanted to know:

• Relative Humidity - Tree House Weather Kids - University of Illinois Extension
• Difference Between Humidity and Relative Humidity | Difference Between
• Relative humidity - Simple English Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
• Relative Humidity - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics
• What is Relative Humidity?

In case you are too lazy to click on the links here is one explanation copied from the FIRST link explained for children and so even children can understand:

Relative Humidity (credit to: Relative Humidity - Tree House Weather Kids - University of Illinois Extension
We describe how much water vapor is in the air by using the term relative humidity. Relative humidity tells us how much water vapor is in the air, compared to how much it could hold at that temperature. It is shown as a percent. For example, a relative humidity of 50 percent means the air is holding one half of the water vapor it can hold. Again, this is all dependent on the temperature.

What is an "Ecobee 5" ? I'm curious as I have the 3 w/voice control which they now call "Smart Thermostat with Voice Control." There is no "5" (or 4) on their website. I always like to upgrade. :)

By the way, if you have the Voice Control model check out the small remote smart sensors you put in various rooms. Really work great to keep temps balanced when running A/C.

I have the same problem as you do - but different equipment. Agree keep your fan on auto to minimize its running. Did not know the windows opened so we keep them closed all year. In the last week or so our humidity has been going over 60% as it has done in prior years in the winter months. Do not want to run the A/C to lower the humidity so we purchased portable dehumidifiers. One I let drain in the laundry room and the other in the guest rooms' tub. I think if you do not keep the humidity at 60 or below you could get a mold problem. Depending on the design of your home one dehumidifier may do the trick. I would try to avoid having to empty the dehumidifiers manually.

Portable dehumidifier
 

As we are often not there for some months on end, humidity control is a big issue.

We have a portable floor dehumidifier in our central living room with a built in evacuation pump that works perfectly.

In addition, I have the fan setting on the Ecobee set for the fan to run each hour, for 5 or 10 minutes each hour, circulating the air through out the house. The A/C system has no reason to run otherwise and I maintain a 50% humidity level in the house easily without needing to running any heat or A/C. I have my heat and A/C setting very wide JIC we get extreme temperatures, but I barely recall that ever happening.

Prior to this set up, I was using the A/C system to control humidity while away. I had to keep the home much cooler than I desired. This is so much less taxing on the system.

BTW: I do this at two properties and both environments are perfect.

Garage. I also have a split system in my garage. There my humidity is the same challenge I had in the house. Presently I am cooling my garage instead of the house and still, humidity trends higher than I like. On my return, I intend to get another dehumidifier with pump...(Costco) and will expect an energy cost savings, less system wear, and most importantly, great humidity results.

2-stage heat pump
 

I also have the Carrier 2-stage system. The best solution to controlling humidity is a 2-stage heat pump. When the weather is not too hot, the system will run the AC compressor at a slow speed. Since the slow speed can't cool as quickly, it runs longer. This is more energy efficient but has the added benefit of removing more humidity during the longer run times.

2-stage systems are more expensive, but something you might consider when your current system dies.

I couldn't agree more!

I just replaced two aging systems with new Carrier Infinity Systems with variable speeds like you were describing. Multi stage and speed systems are unfortunately extremity expensive and I don't think most would go for such a solution, particularly if their existing system was otherwise still good.

With a degree of frugality in mind for others, the stand alone portable dehumidifiers, turned out to be a really good solution with a bonus of only costing for each home around $200. I keep them on a smart switch but I never have to cycle that as they dehumidify down to the specified humidity level I select, and go on and off automatically.

Individual stand-alone dehumidifiers are the best for reducing humidity in your home year round as needed. And the great thing is that you don't need to run your air conditioner to accomplish that. They do put out a small amount of heat, but it's a very small amount. They work extremely well and last for years.

To monitor your indoor and outdoor temperature and humidity, I recommend one of these Acurite Temperature/Humidity meters. They work great and are very accurate. Amazon.com