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/fo...t=dehumidistat

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.

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

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.

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.....

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:

humid/dehumid
 

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.

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

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.

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.