Humidistat, is it needed?
 

We just purchased a new home in TV. Our house manager has suggested that we have a humidistat install. It will reduce the cost of maintaining the house in the summer. We are wondering if other Villagers have them, how they work, do they save you money, where did you get it, and who installed it?

I'm no expert, but because I have my home usually empty during the summer, I was told to have a humidistat installed.

It was installed by an A/C company, and it cost me just over $100.00

I'm told that it overides the thermostat, and keeps your home from getting moldy. As long as the home is unoccupied, I keep it set at 65% and the thermostat set at 80-85 degrees......and that insures that my home should stay mold free.

I recommend M+S Air conditioning.

Frank D.

Congratulations on your new home.

There has been a lot of previous information posted on humidistats, you might want to check out previous threads.

We used one for the past 6 months when we were absent. Our electric bills were in the $15 to $30 range. Very effective.

Dehumidistat
 

We had one installed and it works fine. No mold , no mildew. We had both prior to installing. Munns Airconditioning installed it. I would reccomend them. :)

Our family has owned in southern Florida for 35 years and wouldn't want a home without a humidistat. It is very necessary to not only keep your summer/ unoccupied time, cooling cost low, but to assure the air is sufficiently dry so as not to get mold.

GNU - How would it be used other than when the home is unoccupied? I'm assuming that when you are home you set the temp low enough that the humidity would stay low anyway thereby not kicking the unit on based on the humidistat. Is it possible that even though the temp is set to an occupied level (let's just say 76 degrees) that the humidity level would still be too high?

Just wondering.

Our humidistat has saved us a ton of money over the summer while we aren't there. I have mold allergies and have had no problems when we come back.

Given the heavy humidity in the summer, a humidistat is an absolute necessity to help prevent mold. We migrate to RI in the summer so our home is unattended and we have never had a problem a mold problem when we return in the fall.

A dehumidistat is for use ONLY when the house is unoccupied. We were told to set ours at 60% humidity when we're not there and that it's conceivable that the inside temp could go even to 90° and higher but the a/c won't come on unless the dehumidistat senses the humidity going higher than 60% (which is the point at which you run the risk of mold). That is how the savings are effected: less use of a/c which runs ONLY to keep the humidity down. When the house IS occupied, you set the temp to your comfort level and turn the dehumidistat off.

Thanks SL - That is what i assumed.