dirtysock
New Member
Registered to post this. Looking to discuss properly with my HVAC installer. I have a 3 year old home, 2800 sq ft. single story in south Texas. 3.5 ton single stage heat pump (trane xr) services large open floor plan living room, kitchen, etc (probably 2/3 or more of home), and 2 ton 2 stage heat pump that controls bedrooms/bathrooms on other side of the house. The bedrooms are significantly more humid than the rest of the house, sometimes 10% more. This is measured with 3 different hygrometers, all are within 3-5% of each other. I recently had a trane 90 pint whole house dehumidifier installed above the air handler of the bedroom 2 ton unit. It is set to 40% humidity and has been running non-stop for a week, as the humidity in the bedrooms has not gone below 48%.
The humidity outside at night and early morning has been 80%, and during the day gets to 50%. The corresponding humidity in the bedrooms is about 63% in the morning when outside humidity is 80%, and HVAC has been running most of the night to keep the room at 65 degrees. As the HVAC cuts off in the morning and settles to 75 degrees and outside humidity decreases to 50%, the indoor humidity does the same. In the evening when the HVAC comes on to cool the room, the indoor humidity begins to increase.
If the outdoor humidity is 50% and the indoor humidity only lowers a few percentage points with the dehumidifier running non-stop, what could be causing this? Condensation not draining from air handler? Low freon? Moisture is coming from somewhere. House seems to be well built and sealed, and both HVAC systems cool adequately, and the bedroom one runs a lot during the night, not short cycling.
Also, there is occasionally a stagnant, almost septic smell at certain times when HVAC runs. Especially when really humid, like during a rainstorm. I haven't noticed since the dehumidifier was installed.
The humidity outside at night and early morning has been 80%, and during the day gets to 50%. The corresponding humidity in the bedrooms is about 63% in the morning when outside humidity is 80%, and HVAC has been running most of the night to keep the room at 65 degrees. As the HVAC cuts off in the morning and settles to 75 degrees and outside humidity decreases to 50%, the indoor humidity does the same. In the evening when the HVAC comes on to cool the room, the indoor humidity begins to increase.
If the outdoor humidity is 50% and the indoor humidity only lowers a few percentage points with the dehumidifier running non-stop, what could be causing this? Condensation not draining from air handler? Low freon? Moisture is coming from somewhere. House seems to be well built and sealed, and both HVAC systems cool adequately, and the bedroom one runs a lot during the night, not short cycling.
Also, there is occasionally a stagnant, almost septic smell at certain times when HVAC runs. Especially when really humid, like during a rainstorm. I haven't noticed since the dehumidifier was installed.
