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Comment by thunkle | Hacker News Reader

Being mold sensitive and living in the pacific nw we have two dehumidifiers just to keep our house from mold growth. This would save us a lot of money if it works out.

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Check out mini-splits and ducted mini-splits. The latter can be setup to look like traditional forced air systems. These include heat pump system (cooling/heating) and ability to dehumidify. Zoning the home is also very easy, you do need to ensure you have a competent contractor to properly set these up if you go with the more complex/feature rich systems.

Dehumidify is a nice feature of splits but my understanding is that it's not as efficient as a dedicated dehumidifier.

Depends on what you are comparing to - if a dedicated whole house system, then possibly (depends on ducting and such). Any portable systems are likely to be less efficient when compared on throughput.

The major win for me is that it all just works. The units already have drains and they balance everything as they cool. No separate system to worry about or maintain.

If you are west of the Cascade mountains, that sounds like an air flow or drainage issue. The humidity is already pretty low, so moisture evaporates pretty quickly, in my experience.

Humidity is low in Seattle?

Nope https://weather-and-climate.com/average-monthly-Humidity-per...

Yes, I guess I was wrong to describe it as low humidity. It is a combination of humidity changing during the day and lower dew points:

https://komonews.com/weather/faq/why-doesnt-our-humid-air-fe...

But I notice surfaces get dry very quickly, even though it is cloudy. It can rain and drizzle for hours between 4am and 10AM, and then by noon everything is dry.

That’s because it doesn’t actually rain that much in Seattle. A quarter inch of rain dries quickly no matter where you are.

Everyone thinks it rains tons in Seattle. It rains constantly, but it doesn’t rain tons.

The north end of Vancouver Island gets 3.5x as much rain per year as Seattle. The temperate rainforest plants do fine in Seattle because it only dries out in the summer. The rest of the year it’s just damp all the time.

Indoor humidity, especially in winter, can still be low. Even when dealing with saturated outdoor air, by the time you heat it up indoors it can be borderline to a bit too dry for comfort.

Of course, anything outside your heat envelope/moisture barrier is pretty damp.

You’re aware that in the Pacific Northwest it’s so humid/ most people have to paint their roofs with zinc every few years to prevent mold growth, yes?

Yes, but I also know it feels much less humid than the Midwest and eastern US.

I was probably mistaken about it not being humid. This article clarified that it is a combination of dew point and humidity that affects how we feel.

https://komonews.com/weather/faq/why-doesnt-our-humid-air-fe...

And their bathrooms. Major party foul to take a shower in Seattle and not turn on the bathroom fan. If you’re lucky you will get lectured by your host. If not they will just silently judge you.

Where I am near the Puget Sound, I generally get around 50-60% relative humidity at outside temperatures. Which isn't really very humid. But my basement sits at 5-10 degrees cooler than outside temperature, and the same water content in the air, but 5-10 degrees cooler is a recipie for puddles in the basement. Running the ground floor A/C makes it worse, as the air handler is in the basement and cools the utility room through convection of the vents (better design of HVAC would help, but it'd hard to retrofit without tearing up a lot of stuff). Running a dehumidifier helps, but a more efficient dehumidifier might be nice.

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