Dehumidified environments

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blackalex1952
Blackwood
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Joined: Tue Aug 27, 2013 6:36 pm
Location: North East Victoria

Dehumidified environments

Post by blackalex1952 » Mon Oct 28, 2019 7:02 pm

An interesting article about the potential health effects of dehumidification in buildings. I use a separate storage area which is dehumidified, ie an under bench storage area. I have often thought about draught proofing the whole workshop and dehumidifying the whole area. This is new research here in this article. https://www.forbes.com/sites/leahbinder ... 7d263f1824
Cheers Ross
"Everything I say on the topic is based solely upon inexperience and assumption!"

Dave M
Blackwood
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Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2014 6:44 am
Location: Somerset UK

Re: Dehumidified environments

Post by Dave M » Tue Oct 29, 2019 8:39 am

Ross that is interesting. A Little counter intuitive as one would think a drier atmosphere would be healthier.

Here in the UK with a pretty consistent high humidity I aim for around 50 % RH or just below so I guess I am in the range seen as sensible.

I have thought about other possible effects of a dry working atmosphere, possible nasal problems being exacerbated etc. But if the research is right that small infectious particles are more mobile In a a dry environment then presumably so are small dust particles...?

Dave M
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Dave

blackalex1952
Blackwood
Posts: 776
Joined: Tue Aug 27, 2013 6:36 pm
Location: North East Victoria

Re: Dehumidified environments

Post by blackalex1952 » Wed Oct 30, 2019 9:07 am

40%RH is the level below which the problem occurs according to the research article. So at 45% we could assume that luthiers are not so affected. However, depending on the end use environment's RH I sometimes build as low as 35%. I also assume that most builders on this forum are working alone and not in large factories with multiple personnel. The factory environment, however, has another factor involved, that is the absentee factor due to the spread of diseases like the flu which means workers have the potential to be off sick, that would mean loss of productivity. I don't know about the dust particles, but I will hazard the guess that dry dust would be more susceptible to static electricity than dust with high moisture content.
Cheers! Ross
"Everything I say on the topic is based solely upon inexperience and assumption!"

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