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Old 05-27-2010, 08:37 PM
 
307 posts, read 721,421 times
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Hello,
We have a two story home with one air condition for each floor. I am tempted to keep the upstairs air conditioner off (as the upstairs is not occupied) but my wife feels that the heat will damage the books/papers/photos etc that are kept up there.

What do others do if they are in this situation? does keeping the temp at say 85 seem reasonable? To me, it just seems silly to cool an unoccupied part of the home.
thanks!
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Old 05-27-2010, 10:51 PM
 
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You only need to cool the upstairs enough to control the humidity. You definitely don't want it to get above 60% for long periods of time unless you love mold. You can buy a hygrometer to see how humid it is up there.
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Old 05-27-2010, 11:23 PM
 
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I'd say about 82-84. 85 seems somewhat high to me, for the reasons LittlecityATX mentioned. While 85 doesn't sound that high temperature wise, and in a storage unit or garage wouldn't be all that bad... inside today's homes, the insulation is so good, there just wouldn't be enough airflow to naturally vent the humidity.

So, IMO you want to have the A/C run up there at least a few times per day. But it's only a few months, when it is really humid. Plus some of that cool air is going to descend to the lower level anyway.
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Old 05-27-2010, 11:25 PM
 
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I am just wondering if it would cost less (and use less energy) to just buy a dehumidifier. Does anyone have an opinion on that?
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Old 05-27-2010, 11:30 PM
 
10,130 posts, read 19,874,683 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by G Grasshopper View Post
I am just wondering if it would cost less (and use less energy) to just buy a dehumidifier. Does anyone have an opinion on that?
I have a dehumidifier that I use for an enclosed crawlspace/storage area. It is cheaper to run than A/C. But I'm not sure how good they would be in a multi-room situation.
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Old 05-28-2010, 06:13 AM
 
172 posts, read 516,007 times
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Dehumidifier would work if you can get one with enough capacity and if you get the air moving through all of the upstairs area. So perhaps placing the dehumidifier near the HVAC return and running just the HVAC fan to circulate the air.
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Old 05-30-2010, 07:12 AM
 
477 posts, read 1,580,805 times
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My House is pretty open from the top to bottom, and I was told that I shouldn't keep it too high upstairs because hot air rises and that would make it run continuously, but every time, I try to think about it, my mind goes in circular logic...
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