52 | February 2020
Nate Adams is the founder of En-
ergy Smart Home Performance in
Cleveland Ohio and of NateThe
HouseWhisperer.com. Rather than
focus on energy efficiency, Nate fo-
cuses on solving the root causes of
client problems like uncomfortable
rooms, mold, wet basements, and
icicles. As a fan of radical transpar-
ency, he has published the most de-
tailed case studies in the industry on
these projects.
Nate is currently writing The
Home Comfort Book, a guide show-
ing people how their homes really
work and how to truly solve prob-
lems, instead of putting band-aids on bullet wounds. It
is meant to create consumer demand for this work rather
than the traditional supply focus that has been taken for
forty years.
His writing has been published in numerous outlets
including GreenTech Media, CleanTechnica, the Journal
of Light Construction, Green Building Advisor, and more.
Learn more at: http://energysmartohio.com/
We highly recommend running a dehumidifier in
basements and crawlspaces set to between 50-60%
relative humidity.
Better still is to keep the windows closed and the indoors
below 55 dew point. That's a frustrating recommendation,
but it's been shown again and again to be true.
Every time you open the windows on a humid day, that
humidity pours back inside like The Blob, and you have to
pay to suck it back out when you close the windows again.
Now we understand the risk of not managing relative
humidity (or dew point).
What's the solution?
The good news is that there is a technology that already
exists inside many residential HVAC systems to be able
to handle dehumidification when there's no need for the
air conditioner to run.
Next time, we'll tackle the solutions to the dehumidifi-
cation challenge. If you're a contractor, be ready to send
this article and the next one to your HVAC manufacturer
tech reps. If you're a homeowner be ready to give them to
your HVAC contractor. Stay tuned!
Look ma! No risk!
i
