Addressing the humidity for mold

[MichaelTampa]

I had read in places addressing the humidity can be important to limit mold growth, as mold is everywhere. Somewhere around 50% humidity is what the "experts" are recommending to target. In Florida here, we run air conditioning many months of the year which reduces humidity, but not so much in the winter, where temperature is good that time of year. But, the humidity still is not. In the winter I have come to run the air conditioning until it is too cold, then give the machine a little break, then run the heater until it is too hot, and back and forth. This keeps the humidity down. Perhaps the fact that I need that just to be comfortable is a sign of my illness, or that there is mold in the house, or both, who knows.

 

If you look at average data, generally, in the morning, the humidity in Tampa is 85-90% year-round, way higher than 50%. I asked an A/C company I trusted fairly well, they work on businesses and residences, and they replaced our A/C ducts with metal ones where most places around here could not, so not just some rinky-dink operation ... I asked to get a whole-home dehumidifier, that could run instead of the A/C during winter months, and they measured the A/C closet for space and so on, finally when they got back to me, turns out they say they just don't make whole home dehumidifiers for residences, only for businesses. The ones for businesses are gigantic and heavy and normally go on the roof, which our residential roof couldn't even support, so, basically, out of the question. Need to go to use those portable room dehumidifiers it seems is the only option. What a nuisance.

 

But they really tried to talk me out of needing a dehumidifier anyway, giving some talk that the numbers quoted are relative numbers, not a real sign of the moisture in the air. Here is a quote from a weather website, pretty standard.

 

 

The relative humidity is expressed as a percentage measure of the amount of moisture in the air compared to the maximum amount of moisture the air can hold at the same temperature and pressure. Average humidity values are given for selected morning and afternoon observations. Maximum relative humidity values usually occur during morning hours. Here, the Local Standard Time (LST) of morning(M morning 7 A.M.) and afternoon(A afternoon 1 P.M.) humidity values are shown below.

 

 

So, they are right, the 85-90% I was quoting aren't the "real" humidity. But still, what do the experts mean, if the experts mean target 50% RELATIVE humidity, then we still need a dehumidifier to meet that goal. Or could the experts mean "real" humidity, even though data on what those numbers generally are seems not to be available? Anyone know?

 

Or anyone run into a whole-home dehumidifier, or any other approaches to dehumidify without the nuisance of managing those portable ones?