While I was in the building industry I was told a general rule when managing houses during temperature changes. When heating a house with a gas furnace turn the humidifier on. (The builder i was working with always installed humidifiers for the HVAC system). And when running the AC I was told turn the humidifiers off because the condenser added humidity. For reference I live and work in Colorado.
I wanted to see if this rule was correct or what sort of exceptions you all know of
The duct mounted humidistat and outdoor temperature bulb will determine if the humidifier operates or not.
1 Like
That’s not how a properly installed and functional HVAC system operates. The system will remove humidity (and drain the condensate away) in Cool mode.
7 Likes
You are going to find all sorts of differing practices and recommendations depending on geographic locations and weather conditions. You need to know your area. Here are guidelines I used. These are based on research of NASA, US Navy and USAF, plus various other “civilian” organizations researching “conditions optimum for the human body”. Think NASA for our astronauts, USAF for “long term flights” and USN for shipboard conditions, in particular, submarines. Results - optimum 68 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit temperature and 35 to 45 percent humidity.
That is correct.
Houses leak air.
When you heat the outdoor air leaking into the house, there is little humidity in the OD Air. The Relative Humidity will go way down and cause problems. Also, your fill feel cold at higher temperatures due to constant perspiration of your body. .
That would not be correct.
The condenser does not produce humidity. It discharges Indoor Air to the exterior.
The evaporator coil removes humidity and dumps it down the drain.
If you run a humidifier in A/C, you are adding latent and sensible heat into the house which overloads capacity of the HVAC.
In summer the humidifier should be serviced and shut down for the season.