I see. The Canadian equivalent of the quintessential Brit Andy Capp ?

Bob and Doug were the Disney version of McLean and McLean.

Danny LaRue had more class I think.

We don't have aircon, nor do the houses in either side of us. We had a through the wall unit in one room in our previous house but only really needed it a couple of times. This house has is usually colder inside than outside until the evening. I don't open the windows until the temp inside is higher than outside. We have ceiling fans which work very well especially for sleeping. We have a dehumidifier whiich in the other house was in the basement, in this one we will probably use it in the bedroom in the evening. We haven't yet.

Not a climate engineer, but are you quite sure thats not a humidifier, rather than de-humidifier...that would be far more normal to counter the drying effect of heating already bone dry winter air. If there is a feed from the cold water system, then its a humidifier.


Forget dehumidifiers, A/C is the way to go for whole house comfort. Lots of fans will help make it feel more comfortable too, and is the cheaper option, but its not the same as A/C. We caved in and turned ours on yesterday, it was pretty stinky in Ontario and is only going to get worse in the next few days.

We have a lot of south facing windows, so have blinds on the outside to minimise the cooling load that results from that, and have it set at 25°C when its on. We try to not just run it for a few hours or a day at a time as it works hardest getting the humidity in the whole house down. Once its down its a lot more efficient to just keep it there, so running one day, then not the next, then runing it again actually uses more energy then cooling the house once and maintaining that level. Its a newer unit with a relatively good SEER 14 efficiency rating, and to be honest unless you are outside next to it, its quiet enough that you wouldnt know its on. Certainly not a problem noisewise, and not a major burden on the hydro bill. Couldnt say that about the old one. Its clear to me that not all A/C is created equal.

In a typical year in ontario we probably only run it for a total of about 6 weeks, if that. I would think out East there is even less demand.

I agree with that if you live in Ontario. However, in the Maritimes A/C is not necessary except for a very few days. When I built this house I made it central A/C ready. I've been here nearly eight years and still don't have it installed because I don't need it. A dehumidifier works just fine.

You missed one of my posts.... I have controls for both a humidifier and a dehumidifier!

I'm supposed to put the dehumidifier on in the winter... when the air is dry (really!!)

I haven't found instructions for the humidifier yet.... and I don't even know where it is in the basement!! But there must be something there because I light comes on when you turn the switch!

from living in a tiny flat in london (the UK one) and having no garden / balconoy on which to hang laundry etc.... we had to get a dehumidifier.

best gadget out there! not only is it amazing the amount of water it collects during the course of day (even when there isn't laundry hanging off everything), but also the room is so much warmer during the winter and cooler in the summer.

air con etc are nice, but the need for such is deminished if a dehumidy is used
(but perhaps vice versa is equally as true?)

defo get a dehumidy tho... especially if the black death mould is creeping up your walls!

Yup, thats bizarre to say the least...


Just cos the light comes on when you turn on the humidifier doesnt necessarily mean its doing anything any more...the plates could be all furred up or something else could be on the fritz...out humidifier gives us more reliability headaches than anything else in the HVAC system.

That's because it's too complicated; our kettle boiling on the woodstove gives us no trouble at all.

The humidity basically makes it harder to keep cool as sweating is less effective...

A dehumidifier is basically an air conditioner that doesnt bother to pump the heat out of the window....you have a cold side that the water vapour condenses on, and a hot side that pumps the heat extracted to make the condensing side cold out into the room.

Obviously if its unpleasantly hot (Like Ontario) you dont want the extra heat, so AC pumps that heat outside one way or another.


If you have year round moisture problems (damp basement) then a dehumidifier makes sense, or if its not too hot (like the East coast), otherwise the cost of running a dehumidifier is going to be similar to running a window A/C unit anyway... Both remove humidity through condensation on the cold air side of the heat exchanger.

Either way reducing the humidity makes you more comfortable as your body can lose heat more effectively, the only difference is AC will reduce the local temperature as well...

Other than the condensation on the windows no doubt

It's 33oC here already today, I don't think I could work from home if we didn't have AC, it would be unbearable....

If you have year round moisture problems (damp basement) then a humidifier makes sense,

isn't that a de-humidifier?

My take is

Winter = Dry = gaps in hardwood floor - need Humidifier
HRV - exchange air in house with outside whilst keeping the heat in - heep air fresh when all windows are shut


Summer - Damp basement - mold problems - De humidifier
AC on - never seen this make a change in internal Humidity (monitored on main and basement level)

HRV - exchange air in house with outside whilst keeping the heat


Using the weather station to measure the humidity of the basement was quite funny, looked at it one day recently and the little man was showing an umbrella! Time to buy a dehumidifier!

Doh...brain going faster than fingers for once...

Our AC is definitely dropping the airborne humidity....in the form of a puddle that goes down the basement drain hole...