Here's the layout of my house in Puerto Rico:



The blue lines are windows. The brown lines/boxes are wooden beds/furniture. The top bedroom will house most of my tote storage (stainless steel cookware/utensils, paperwork, cables, tools, misc stuff) that are sealed with plastic wrap so bugs and moisture can't get in. The middle bedroom will store most of my disassembled wooden furniture that are still plastic wrapped from shipping it down here. All of my electronics and leather furniture will be in the living room while I'm away and herein lies the challenge: how do I manage the mold while I'm away for 1-6 months at a time?


The first time I left for an extended period I shut all the windows and when I returned there was a significant dusting of mold in the living room/kitchen, top and middle bedrooms. For the most part it needed a good wipe down as most things were tile, ceramic, plastic, etc. The leather furniture in the living room got it the worst and the mold was present enough to stain the leather lightly even after a deep clean. The only places that didn't have mold was the bottom bedroom (the only door that was shut) and the bathroom.


The second time I left for an extended period I kept the windows open but 2 weeks after I departed the water company turned the water on with too much pressure and blew the water line in the toilet. The water flooded my entire house and if it wasn't for my neighbor (who lost his water heater to the high pressure) calling to tell me about the "waterfall" coming off my balcony it could have been a lot worse (I told him how to shut off the water to the house). When I returned several months later the water had evaporated but not before developing black mold on pretty much everything that was on the floor in all 3 bedrooms. I actually moved my computer to the bottom bedroom (as it had no mold the last go around) and lost my processor to the flood/humidity. I also got a LOT of dirt/dust/crud on pretty much everything because with the windows open the Sahara dust, grass clippings from the landscapers, etc. just soiled my place. It was not an easy cleanup AT ALL which is why I'm hoping the 3rd time's the charm.


According to the locals I've consulted the best options are dehumidifiers, AC and/or fans with slightly cracked windows. I am not going the dehumidifier route. The cost is too high, I already have dehumidifiers back in the states that will be shipped out when I finalize my move down here and I don't need a bunch of them especially when they would have limited use. Then there's the high energy consumption with no easy drainage. It's just not happening so that's off the table.


I thought I could get away with using a standing AC unit in place of a dehumidifier but that doesn't seem viable either. It uses 1200-1400 watts per hour and because the control panel is digital there is no way to run it on a timer/schedule. When the power cuts off the unit needs to be manually turned on every time. I lose power here at least once every 1-3 weeks so once that happens the unit won't do the job. Even if the power was constant it would cost me over $300 a month to run that single AC unit alone and that's not acceptable either. Lastly, it won't even cool/dehumidify the house properly. It does most of the living room. The rest of the house has too much humidity seeping in from the windows (even closed) so it's a never ending proposition. Also, there's the drainage issue I mentioned earlier. That said, it is pulling about 1 liter of water out of the air per hour when the AC unit is running.


I've been splitting time between NH and Puerto Rico the last 3 years and this year has been the worst humidity I've ever experienced thus far. I get a nice ocean breeze and year round I am comfortable with the windows open running a fan or two in the house. This year I am sweating my ass off and I can't sit anywhere without putting a towel over me because water just sticks to me.


I identified locations I can put fans around the house. I tried using commercial grade air blowers like this. At around 190 watts per hour it did a fine job moving the air but I also don't want to spend $400-700 on fans when I can get these 20" box fans for $25 and have more control over what's getting the air flow for 70 watts per hour. I put both the commercial blower and 20" box fan at the "Fan2" position and standing outside the bedroom door the air made its way out (obviously the commercial blower was stronger but the box fan did the job too).


I'm not sure what is the "proper" placement or direction of the fans. I was advised to run fans on a timer for several hours during the day and again at night. The hotter air coming from the sunny windows supposedly has less humidity vs. the shaded windows so it was recommended that the air flow reflects that for intake/exhaust. For the wooden and leather furniture it was recommended that there be some direct air flow on it. At this point I'm ready to hear what someone who has already figured it out has to say so if that's you I'm all ears!


ETA: I could put two ceiling fans in the Kitchen/Living Room area but they would have to run 24/7. Just another option to consider.

What is the average outdoor humidity level?

quote:

Originally posted by ryan81986:
What is the average outdoor humidity level?

According to the internet the mean monthly average is 77% this month. November is the rainiest month and hopefully I won't still be here.

I did not read your entire post. Do you have power on? If so you can get a couple three dehumidifiers?
that pump the water out? That would be my first thought.
Other than that the drizee air bags or Arm and hammer ones.
They make some neat items like puck units that pull moisture out of the air and puts the water in a container.

What prevents mold when you are there? Do that when you aren’t there.

Raise the dehumidifier high enough and gravity will let it drain into the kitchen sink. The ones we have have connections for drain hoses.

We don’t have mold issues when leaving our properties for months at a time. We run dehumidifiers and ACs. Same as we do when we are there. It does cost money and I don’t enjoy spending that money when we aren’t using the property, but we really enjoy the properties when we are there.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: trapper189,

The dehumidifier running and the temperature set is no higher than 84 degrees.

We have a dehumidifier built into our A/C we paid extra when it was installed.

We can monitor the temp and humidity over the internet. We can also control the thermostat remotely,

At a RH 65% or below and a temp 85 degrees mold should not grow.

If the humidity gets too high we lower the temp and increase the A/C fan.

There are no other options, the only viable options you're not willing to pay for. 2 dehumidifiers set to 60% humidity will not use that much electricity and run a garden hose to drain in the shower. That's your best option. Your other option is to pay someone to stop by the house once a week and air it out by opening the windows.

I don't understand people that want to own a second home, but don't want to pay to properly maintain and protect their investment. The mold isn't gone, just because you wiped the surfaces you see off. It's going to be inside of walls and everywhere else.

quote:

Originally posted by Hildur:
I identified locations I can put fans around the house.

All that will do is move the humid air around.

quote:

Originally posted by Hildur:
The hotter air coming from the sunny windows supposedly has less humidity vs. the shaded windows ...

Less relative humidity, same absolute humidity.

When that warmer air with lower RH moves into a cooler area its RH will increase. If the RH increases to 100% (the dew point) it will condense into water vapor, which, being heavier than air, will settle upon surfaces.

Fans can sometimes help mitigate this by helping maintain more equal temperatures throughout the enclosure, but, if warmer air from the outside, containing more absolute humidity, is entering the enclosure, eventually the RH in the enclosure will rise to the point where the dew point will be so high condensation will be inevitable.

Fans can also help mitigate the problem by increasing evaporation rates when moisture settles onto surfaces, but, only if the dew point is low enough for the surrounding air to support the higher RH resulting from the evaporative process.

E.g.: We have A/C in the ensigmatic household now, but, years ago it was open the windows and run lots of fans 24x7 during the summertime. The RH in the basement would get so high as a result of the moisture-laden warm air cooling in the basement the cold water pipes would literally drip water. The solution was to put a dehumidifier in the basement and keep the basement door closed. We did put a fan down there, at the far end of the basement, but, that was merely to keep the air moving so the humidifier would be more effective. (Contrary to common belief: Higher RH air rises.) The fan, on its own, would have accomplished nothing useful.

quote:

Originally posted by sig2392:
We have a dehumidifier built into our A/C we paid extra when it was installed.

An air conditioner is a dehumidifier. Put another way: A dehumidifier is an A/C w/o the condenser being outside the structure.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
... the only viable options you're not willing to pay for. 2 dehumidifiers set to 60% humidity ...

This ^^^^^ and ...

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
The mold isn't gone, just because you wiped the surfaces you see off. It's going to be inside of walls and everywhere else.

this ^^^^^ is very likely true.

jimmy123x knows whereof he speaks, working with boats, which are in naturally high-humidity environments pretty much all the time. When they're not on the water and directly exposed they're usually wrapped-up, in one way or another, to protect them from the elements--which creates its own problems. Moisture and the damage it causes is a constant battle on boats. Speaking as an ex-boat-owner of two of them, I can testify to this.

Dehumidifier/AC is probably the best solution, why not ship one of the ones you own now or get a Ukoke Portable AC/Dehumidifier. You did mention the option of a window shaker but the problem being it isn't remotely accessible, this unit is.

Just bought one for my office, the old one gave up. This Ukoke unit I got at Lowes on sale but it's 4 in 1, AC, Dehumidifier, Heat, Fan, and in addition to the main control panel you can run it via an app on your smart phone.

This would allow you to have a dehumidifier running, ac if you wish and be out of PR as long as you have internet at the house.

It exhausts through the window, easily rolled room to room as needed.

https://ukoke.com/collections/...able-air-conditioner