Question for those in hot and humid climates: do you use dehumidifiers? Bama is humid as shit right now and the humidity is turning out to be more of a problem than the heat itself.
We went for about three months in spring with no heat, no AC (closer to 4 if you exclude a few outlier days), just opening and closing windows as needed, using box fans to move air. At the end of that time, right before we turned on the AC, we noticed that some of our things in less-used areas had grown substantial mold.
We're pretty good at pushing our heat tolerance near 80 and even higher sometimes, but we need our house to not grow mold. I'm talking shoes, leather garments, and a few other things of that nature, just covered in it. We're temporarily using the AC more than comfort alone would require, while we figure out the best solution. I worry a dehumidifier wouldn't be efficient or effective during passive heating/cooling periods since I'm just washing the house in humid outside air at the same time.
Any ideas appreciated.
We try to dehumidify with the AC because the dehumidifier just puts off so much heat, but every now and again things start smelling musty in a closet or the man cave and it's time to pull out the dehumidifier again. You need to stay on top of that in the spring; it's harder to rehab items with mold than too keep it away. You can't save the leather if the mold is deeper than the surface, I'm sorry to say.
Get a thermometer with humidity gauge and try to keep the indoor humidity at 70% or lower, definitely not more than 75%.
Neither the AC nor the dehumidifier will do any good if you open windows at night once the outdoor humidity rises to the point it stays around 80 or higher. You need to close it up around the first of May and stay that way most of the summer. Welcome to the South.
On rare low-humidity days, the sky turns a brilliant blue you will have forgotten it can get. Open then. In October, the sky stays that color all month.