Crazy Humidity

The weather seems to have gone straight from winter to summer here. It has been beautiful, comfortable shorts weather, not too hot, but surprisingly humid.  I was warned by my neighbor to borrow 2 dehumidifiers from the housing office now because last year their couch got moldy during a week's vacation, and they had to throw it away.  They had dehumidifiers, but they fill up fast, and automatically shut off when full.  So, vacationers require more units or assistance emptying.

Here is one of ours at its shut-off point the second day.  Quite a shock to me when I could hardly detect moisture in the air...

After about a week of constantly filling and dumping water from both dehumidifiers, 2 humidity meters I ordered showed up in the mail.  Here's where they were both at.  Note mold can form at 50% humidity.  At this temperature it would be considered "vapor pressure dominated mold growth" according to the EPA.


The EPA gives three strategies to avoid mold...
1.  Use source control (redirect sources of moist air to outside: showers, dryers, etc.)
2.  Dilute humid air with less humid air (open windows if less humid out)
3.  Dehumidify (working on it!)

We do plan on buying a larger dehumidifier right away.  HOPEFULLY we won't be having any mold issues while we are living here.