If you monitor your indoor humidity - what is it?

[Cornishbeetlejuice]

I’m just trying to work out what is normal and healthy…

Mine is 61% with the dehumidifier running all day at the moment.

69-75% if it’s raining outside (If we see it’s high like this we will turn the dehumidifier on!)

75% when we wake up but takes 20 mins to reduce down to mid 60s % again. We open the windows every morning. Then close them up and rely on trickle vents.

If it’s sunny the indoor humidity drops to 55%

I just keep reading articles stating 40% - 50% humidity is ideal but to be honest - if it’s as low as this it makes my throat scratchy!

Heating on 19.5c

I live in a bungalow 3 miles from the sea. In a humid part of the SW! We’ve had weeks of fine drizzle & low cloud.

All guttering is clear and we’ve had no leaks. No condensation on windows. And render looks in good condition. No mouldy clothes.

But I do feel a slight obsession with keeping humidity in the low 60s 😂 Anyone else??

Current room it is 52.

Normally goes up to 70 if no dehumdifiers are running.

I actually run the dehumidfiers in Spring and Autumn to dry the air out. (I have an old cheap one and a newer one that are different types.) In Autumn I do it when the outside temperature is below 18 but it is still to warm inside to put on the central heating like now.

91%, old, poorly insulated, single glazed draughty windows with inadequate heating. We are moving at the end of the month to a new, well insulated, double glazed bungalow and I am really hoping the situation improves dramatically.

Mine is exactly the same as yours OP!

Same here. In my case I think its the layout of our house. Kitchen and bathroom are north facing the same. But the south facing first bedroom off the landing gets a small amount of mould in one corner of the room on the ceiling nearest the outside wall. warm air rises and I think that I have a "cold spot" where maybe there is a lack of insulation in in the furthest corner of the loft. warm air hold moisture and when it hits that spot causes a small amount of condensation. I always have the window open in that room but if anything it probably makes the room cooler and the warm air is channeled into the room constantly.

Which meaco does everyone have and how expensive was it?

we have the meaco fan and it’s great!

I don't have a meaco anymore. The meaco I had lasted 3 years and broke. There as I the crappy dehumidifier I have from Homebase is 12 years old. Don't know what make the meaco replacement is but I've had it as long as the meaco.

Current readings

48 - I've just checked

Ours is the same as yours OP, I have to empty mine at least every other day as they fill up so fast

@beepin should I google “book lice”? I’m a bit scared to 😂

thanks everyone for replying! I feel a bit better about my humidity levels. And a little bit more obsessed than I was before! I have used twice my usual electricity today keeping the dehumidifier going.

I just can’t balance it all!

Mr Meaco needs the tank emptied again!

We have this one but it was much cheaper when we bought it a few years ago

https://www.appliancesdirect.co.uk/p/meaco20le/meaco-meaco20le-dehumidifier

I’ve got 2 dehumidifiers running, one up and one downstairs and still can’t get my humidity below 40%

Anyone who has had really really high readings, has it gone down and how long did it take? Our garage has now gone up to 87 and the thing has been on all night and all day and I've emptied it twice.

Our garage is 97 every morning and about 60 by the days end. OH sealed the roof and ceiling yesterday so we are hoping for better progress in the next few days,

Oh don't! They are actually quite cute but can be a sign of damp.
Our bedroom is north facing too which prob doesn't help.

Our bedroom takes about an hour or two to go from 75 ish to under 50.
Is it possibly because a garage isn't a sealed unit as such?

Our garage is damp as well. I think it’s the floor. And unless we dig it up - I’m not sure how to dry it out / stop it from happening.

My bedroom is north facing too and last year we had condensation dripping down the wall! 😱 DH tidied up the insulation in the loft which helped a lot and it hasn’t happened since. Thankfully! This is how my obsession began

Interesting thread. I've no idea but never high enough for comfort in my house.
I wonder if people just don't heat their homes enough?
I have never had condensation, mould or damp, dry washing all over the place and have been known to put bowls of water on radiator to moisten the air as dry air plays havoc with my asthma and allergies, not to mention dry winter skin.

I've got ours set at 60.

For the first couple of weeks we had it, it never got down that low, but now it just comes on for a few hours a day and for drying washing.

We don't have the heating on yet (it's 21 degrees tonight) and apparently the warmer it is, the lower the relative humidity.

I reckon it'll cost us about £20 if it's on 24/7 for a month. Bargain if it stops the heating being on for a bit, and it'll be less because it's not coming on nearly that much.

Now you mention it, we can see a lot of daylight through ours between the roof and the top of the garage wall. Maybe we need to do something about that.

Comparing relative humidity isn't super helpful cos it's relative to temperature. For comparison purposes you need to convert to absolute humidity.

Mine is about the same as yours, bits a very old house with solid walls and no damp course so it's to be expected and I don't worry about it!

@Scampuss - how do you convert to absolute humidity and what does the absolute humidity result mean?

Absolute humidity measures how much actual water vapour is in the air.

Relative humidity measures the percentage of saturation at a given temperature.

Because warm air can hold more water vapour 60% RH represents different amounts of actual water vapour depending on the temperature. 60% RH at 22° is more humid, i.e., it holds more water vapour, than 60% RH at 18°.

You can play around with the numbers here:

https://www.omnicalculator.com/physics/absolute-humidity

That all sounds rather dull! I'll keep using my humildy measures in each room