Humidity with builds

[artibea]

Humidity
is anyone having bother with rainy day/dry day/rainy day /dry day weather at the mo?

its really soul destroying after having three years of plain sailing I'm tackling stormy seas just now to get a control on a set room RH for gluing up.
Using lamps and open/closure of vents done the trick until this bout of "summer weather" hit us. I'm gonna have to bring in a de-humidifier, but i found that to be a bit hit or miss.

Any thoughts/recommendations or make/models to use(only ever used "Oasis" industrial model before and that lifts about 4ltr out the room in a 6-8 hour period)? something with a bit more control? silent runner(as the oasis sounds like an old refrigerator!)?

HELP!!!

[yorkie]

Hi Artibea

Glad it's not just me!

I really am struggling at the moment, I've just checked and its about 60% in my workshop now.

I have a Mitsubishi MJ 101MW dehumidifier on full power and still can't get it below 50% for the last few weeks. Never had a problem like this before and short of hermetically sealing the workshop I'm out of ideas.

Any suggestions greatly appreciated!

Yorkie

[SamPrice]

Yup.

I was brought up in a very damp house.

Therefore I am a walking hygrometer and cannot tolerate high humidity, it drives me nuts.

I keep some fresh paper in my workshop as reference. If it feels damp, on the dehumidifier goes.

The only time when it runs for hours is when I am preparing to glue cross grain; such as bracing, etc.

Yorkie, have you considered opening up your workshop to fresh air for a couple hours, then run the dehumidifer again? Sometimes a closed up room can exacerbate the problem, especially as extra humidity is created by humans/moisture releasing heating fuels.

I don't think temperature is an issue, but some dehumidifiers won't operate properly below a certain temperature. Read the manual, and if heat is needed, go for it.

Dehumidifiers also need a regular clean with mild bleach; the coils and filter needs a good clean too. Sometimes a blast of air will do the trick.

I serviced mine the other day and when I opened the case up, it was a horror story in there....especially with all the wooddust flying about!

[andy3sheds]

How does heat help humidity?
Warm air holds more water than cold air therefore %RH is higher in summertime,surely the biggest problem with humidity is the low %RH that exists in continental climates (ie that is to say climates in the middle of a land mass which are subject to extremes)

[DaveWhite]

Get a heater and get the temperature up - that will have the biggest impact on getting the humidity down this time of year and then run your de-humidifier if/as you need to - 40-45% relative humidity for key operations like bracing and closing the box is a good place to be. Most electrical retailers sell good quiet running de-humidifiers for around £120 or so and you get a free supply of distilled water!! Mind you given the current "energy crunch" (aka let's help the energy companies make huge profits ) it doesn't come cheap.