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<DIV><FONT face=Arial>I guess it can be easy to be unaware of good fortune
sometimes. I really do just about nothing to keep RH in the 45% to 50%
range. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>I'm located just outside Tampa, Florida and my shop is a
1,000 sq.-ft.concrete-block (we don't use cinder blocks in the
south!) structure with a concrete floor and a well-insulated roof
(eight-foot ceiling). I painted the outside of the block walls with a
moisture-proofing-type paint - that may help moderate things a
bit. </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>The summers are very hot with very high humidity (and
about nine months long!) - I run a wall-unit AC whenever I am in the
shop in the summer - I turn it off whenever I am not in the shop. The
AC unit does a real good job removing water vapor from the air. If I run it
for several hours, the shop RH will drop into the high 30%s (but never lower).
Even if that happens, I have so much wood (1,000 bd.-ft. of spruce, etc.) and
stuff in my shop that serves as a water vapor sink, that within an hour after
turning the AC off, shop RH pops right back to 45% or so.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Most of the winter is sunny and dry with nights in
the 50s and 60s and daytime highs in the 70s (I know, pretty darn rough).
Outside RH is typically 30% to 50% in the winter. Once in a while we will
get some funky winter weather front that skirts the area and we have drizzle for
several days and high RH. My AC unit also has a heating strip in it, but
only very rarely when Wichita Kansas is blasted with a sub-zero cold front and
the temp here dips into the 30s at night do I turn the heat on - some winters I
never turn the heat on. So for most of the winter, no heat or AC, but the
outside RH is such that my inside RH stays nice and stable. Sometimes in
the winter I will open windows after a cool night to warm the shop a
little. If we have a sustained high RH period in the winter, I will run my
little basement-type room dehumidifier and that will keep shop RH down. I don't
think I ever had to run it last winter.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>It seems I am fortunate and simply have a low-tech but
very well balanced system with local weather that ALWAYS provides
adequate minimum humidity and high enough temperatures to almost eliminate
the need for heating, a vapor-resistant building, an AC unit that removes
just the right amount of water vapor in the summer, a dehumidifier to remove
water vapor in the winter (if needed), and a very big pile of wood that serves
as a water vapor sink to moderate any occasional short duration
RH extremes.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Below is picture of my humble little shop after a little
dusting, vacuuming, and straightening up (wall AC unit is between the two
left-most windows).</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><IMG alt="" hspace=0 src="cid:008d01c7cd28$b790e220$0302a8c0@DESKTOP"
align=baseline border=0></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial>Terry Farrell</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>----- Original Message ----- <BR>> I'm
curious how you achieve a whole shop RH conditioned space. <BR>> <BR>>
Although my shop is very well insulated and so forth, in New England, sustaining
<BR>> year round RH conditioning in my 1300sf , 11 ft ceiling shop is just
not on option during the <BR>> non-heating months...way too pricey.
<BR>> <BR>> In Florida, I guess you must be running air conditioning 12
months... is that how you <BR>> achieve your whole shop RH conditioning.
<BR>> <BR>> Short of whole shop conditioning, a removable insulated
blanket tent, <BR>> thermostat and portable heat source(lamps) does the trick
for spot conditioning <BR>> except during the soggiest dog days of
July/august. <BR>> <BR>> It would be interesting to know what you and
others RH conidtion either the whole shop or<BR>> smaller sections of
it.<BR>> <BR>> Jim I </FONT></DIV></BODY></HTML>