38
votes
Accepted
Does A/C encourage mold growth?
Yeah, that advice was super wrong. Moisture encourages mold growth.
After a water leak you need to go to extremes to dry the air to get wet things to evaporate into the air, which you then ...
29
votes
Accepted
What kind of unvented tumble dryer will reduce indoor humidity?
A more compact alternative worth a mention is a dehumidifer. I dry my washing indoors in UK winters, without a tumble drier. For efficient drying, shutting the damp washing and dehumidifer in a room ...
- 7,926
28
votes
Any problem to build a house that covers a same-sized hole in the ground?
Look at it as a start on a foundation hole - but don't get hung up on "making the house the same size/shape as the existing hole" because you can alter the size/shape of the hole when ...
- 226k
25
votes
Does a portable fan work for drying the bathroom?
You need a dehumidifier.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dehumidifier
If there is no way to blow the humid air out, run it thru a dehumidifier. You can keep it in the bathroom running on a timer or ...
- 6,623
22
votes
Does a portable fan work for drying the bathroom?
When the things in a bathroom dry the water is not simply disappearing, rather it is converting from liquid you can see and feel on the surfaces and towels into vapor in the air. In other words, ...
- 33.5k
20
votes
Accepted
Any problem to build a house that covers a same-sized hole in the ground?
You asked:
Would there be any problem to build the wood house over the hole, so as to cover it?
So I am going to make the following assumptions:
You would like to personally build the house
There ...
- 16.9k
19
votes
Does A/C encourage mold growth?
You are being sold.
The evaporator coil in the AC condenses water vapor in the air. It does this by blowing the warm air from your home over the cool evaporator coil. The cool coil pulls the moisture ...
- 896
16
votes
What kind of unvented tumble dryer will reduce indoor humidity?
Heat Pump or Condensing Dryers will not add meaningful moisture to your apartment.
Both Heat Pump and Condensing Dryers are closed loop systems, recirculating air inside the unit. Both use a ...
- 1,457
15
votes
Why doesn't AC equipment come with dehumidifier only option?
The coil on a good dehumidifier is SIGNIFICANTLY colder than the coil on a typical air conditioner.
A typical central AC unit is configured so the air coming off the coil is approximately 20 degrees (...
- 674
13
votes
Does A/C encourage mold growth?
It is possible for A/C to cause mold issues but it depends on a few factors. The problem is this: when choosing a A/C unit for a home, often people (even 'professionals') will assume that bigger is ...
- 2,239
13
votes
Is it normal for relative humidity to increase when the attic fan turns on?
This is a function of what relative humidity means.
The hotter air in the attic can hold more water than the cooler air outside, so for the same absolute amount of water-in-air, the warmer/hotter ...
- 226k
9
votes
Accepted
When trying to keep moisture in the house down, at what point would it be best to close the doors and windows, is there a calculation?
The calculations are not very straightforward. You want to look for a Hygrometric chart, that shows the relationship between absolute humidity (amount of moisture in the air), relative humidity, and ...
- 7,022
7
votes
Accepted
Fastest way to dry a vented dirt crawl space (no vapor barrier) in California (Bay Area)
Fastest, without tearing the house apart:
4 fans sized to your 4 vents - two blow in, two blow out. Less fans will probably work fast enough, but 4 would fit "fastest" as requested. If you ...
- 226k
6
votes
Is it normal for relative humidity to increase when the attic fan turns on?
Logic would say it is normal.
When the fans turn on they are drawing in the outside air.
Outside air is higher in humidity than attic air.
Low humidity air is being replaced with higher humidity air.
...
- 42.8k
5
votes
Accepted
How to construct a time capsule bottle?
It's really hard to assure that they won't be under load anytime in the next 50 years. Obviously, the bottles only need to break once to be ruined. Also, depending on the type of bottle, it might be ...
- 830
5
votes
Any problem to build a house that covers a same-sized hole in the ground?
You don't say where you live but you will get things living down there. Rats, foxes, badgers for example. They will leave faeces and dead stuff.
Make sure you have access steps and built-in lighting.
5
votes
Confused about humidity levels in basement - a math problem
Your basement is not nearly as sealed as you think. Which is actually a good thing.
You need to constantly have make up air. That is air to replace the air you breathe. Otherwise, while your H2O is ...
4
votes
What is a reasonable air-conditioning schedule to prevent humidity issues?
This question has received a lot of answers and comments, but I suspect not from people familiar with Florida who have encountered the underlying issue. It is a frequent one in Florida because:
...
- 6,198
4
votes
Accepted
draining sauna into crawlspace
Yes, it could lead to wood rot and a severe mold problem. Don't do it.
- 830
4
votes
Accepted
To reduce damp: heat or dehumidifier?
With "damp", your enemy is humidity, or water which is dissolved in the air. Warm air can disolve a lot more water than cool air. When warm, water-saturated air moves to a cooler place, it cools the ...
4
votes
Accepted
Electric front load dryer making room extremely humid and wet
Most "traditional" electric dryers basically have a heating element, a fan, a motor and a control panel. The motor turns the drum, usually via a belt. The fan blows air past the heating ...
4
votes
Accepted
Does the steam function on a dryer produce more humidity than a normal dry cycle?
This is one possibility from my history.
Some vent systems don’t handle the extra moisture.
yes at the start of a dry cycle the humidity is off the charts, however as the cloths dry and the same ...
- 103k
4
votes
Fan Coil connected to Heat Pump raises humidity in cooling mode
Temperature and humidity are related.
Humidity is more fully "relative humidity" - how much water is in the air now .vs. the maximum amount of water that air at this temperature could hold.
...
- 226k
4
votes
Should my humidifier be able to maintain 38% humidity in the winter?
Depends how badly the house leaks air, more than the square footage of the house, really.
If the house is leaky, cold dry air comes in and warm moist air goes out and your humidifier has limits on how ...
- 226k
4
votes
Should my humidifier be able to maintain 38% humidity in the winter?
Yes one would expect that humidifier to do a pretty good job. "Time for a new pad" was the first thing that came to mind but you did mention having already replaced that.
The 700 is a fan-...
- 33.5k
4
votes
Fastest way to dry a vented dirt crawl space (no vapor barrier) in California (Bay Area)
For standing/very wet surfaces fans will be the best(besides mopping/sponging/pumping).
You want a good breeze blowing in from one end and out the other.
Amount of fans will depend on area.
- 30.3k
4
votes
Accepted
What would cause drywall moisture to raise during the day and drop at night?
Wet drywall would be a concern, but your wall is not wet. You are getting an instrument reading that does not comport with your own observation that the wall is actually dry.
Gypsum, the main ...
- 12.8k
4
votes
Simultaneously cooling and humidifying in winter?
You need a separate humidifier - or perhaps a "swamp (evaporative) cooler".
The nature of AC, or bringing in cold outside air and heating it, is that it results in low humidity, because the ...
- 226k
3
votes
If it is important to humidify the air in winter for one's health, how then do you prevent condensation from forming on the inside of windows?
First, it's worth noting that "wind chill temperature" isn't an actual temperature. It's a way of describing the rate of heat loss as compared to a no-wind scenario. For purposes of this discussion, ...
- 149k
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