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Default crawlspace temperature, humidity

dblho39 wrote:

Does anybody know what a reasonable temperature for a crawlspace would be?


Close to the soil temp? I suppose most people don't care.

I recently put two dehumidifer units in my crawlspace (along with
a couple box fans to circulate air), as I've had major problems with
moisture down there.


Where does the moisture come from? Rainwater? A floor with no vapor barrier?

... the temperature in the crawlspace is now running about 8-10
degrees hotter than it had been. It was running around 68 degrees.
Now it is consistently up around 76-78 degrees. I guess this is
because the dehumidifers heat things up. The humidity level in the
crawlspace is now under control, the RH has been staying around 45-47%
(it had been running around 80-90%).


So the water vapor pressure in the crawlspace air used to be about
0.85e^(17.863-9621/(460+68)) = 0.594 "Hg, and now it's about
0.46e^(17.863-9621/(460+77)) = 0.436 "Hg. That's progress.

It used to contain 0.62198/(29.921/0.594-1) = 0.0126 pounds of water per
pound of dry air, and now it contains 0.62198/(29.921/0.436-1) = 0.00920.
This is called the absolute humidity or humidity ratio, and it does not
depend on temperature.

I'm concerned about the temperature running higher. Is this anything
I should worry about?


I guess not, but you might worry about your electric bill.

What would be the ideal temperature and RH for a crawlspace?


I'd say just keep the RH below 60% to avoid mold.

Nick