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Elovitz 1 PDF
Elovitz 1 PDF
GUIDE
The following article was published in ASHRAE Journal, April 1999. Copyright 1999 American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and AirConditioning Engineers, Inc. It is presented for educational purposes only. This article may not be copied and/or distributed electronically or in paper
form without permission of ASHRAE.
Measures of Humidity
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Practical Guide
Effects of Humidity
ASHRAE
Journal
Condensation
Museums &
Renovation
INDOOR TEMPERATURE
INDOOR MOISTURE
70F (21.1C)
22.4 GR/LB
OUTDOOR TEMPERATURE
OUTDOOR MOISTURE
R-VALUE
CUMULATIVE
R-VALUE
0.68
0.68
0.091
62.7 (17.1)
nil
nil
0.68
0.091
62.7 (17.1)
5.0
inch Wallboard
0.45
1.13
0.151
57.9 (14.4)
1.01
2.14
0.286
inch Polystyrene
3.75
5.89
0.786
inch Plywood
0.62
6.51
0.869
Clapboards
0.81
7.32
0.977
0.17
7.49
1.000
ITEM
Inside air film
Paint
Notes: (1) Perms are grains/hr per sq ft per in. Hg Pressure difference
(2) Reps are 1/perms
10F (23.3C)
1.3 GR/LB
CUMULATIVE
REPS
MOISTURE
DIFFERENCE
SURFACE
GR/LB
DEW POINT
F (C)
0.00
0.000
22.4
28 (2)
0.20
0.20
0.074
20.8
27 (3)
37.5
0.03
0.23
0.084
20.6
26 (3)
47.1 (8.4)
34.3
0.03
0.26
0.094
20.4
26 (3)
7.1 (13.8)
1.6
0.63
0.88
0.325
15.5
20 (6)
0.5 (17.5)
0.7
1.43
2.31
0.852
4.4
4 (20)
8.2 (22.3)
2.5
0.40
2.71
1.000
1.3
27 (33)
10.0 (23.3)
nil
2.71
1.000
1.3
27 (33)
PERMS
REPS
Area
ft2 (m2)
ft2 (m2)
Driving Force
F (C)
in. Hg (kPa)
In Figure 1a, with the insulation inside the exterior sheathing, the surface of the sheathing falls below the dewpoint and
damaging condensation can occur. The following calculation
shows the basis for that conclusion:
R-value of all components up to plywood: 5.89
Total R-value of assembly: 7.49
Temperature on inside surface of plywood:
Inside R-value
Temp. Ratio
Temperature
Difference
Rep
Ratio
Moisture
Difference
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Practical Guide
densation. Note that these conditions result in part from the fact
that plywood sheathing is a moderately effective vapor retarder.2
In hot, humid climates, the indoor temperature and dewpoint
are below the outdoor temperature and dewpoint much of the
year. In those situations, the vapor retarder is usually installed
outside the insulation.3
If a wall is not designed for the anticipated indoor/outdoor
moisture gradient, or if the indoor humidity is higher than the
building design contemplated, moisture can condense inside the
wall. That moisture can eventually cause structural damage. New
construction can include vapor retarders to accommodate indoor
humidification. Depending on their construction, it might not
be feasible to humidify existing buildings without risk of condensation and damage to the building structure.
Mold and fungus spores are difficult to eliminate from a building. The spores themselves are not much of a problem until they
grow. To grow, mold spores need moisture and a food source.4
Neither moisture nor food necessarily comes from the air. Rather,
they both more often come from the substrate where the spores
land and germinate.5
Mold can grow inside air-handling units. In cooling systems,
cooling coil condensate may be available as a moisture source.
Although the relative humidity can be 95% or higher for months
at a time, mold does not always grow in air-handling units. Mold
will not grow even in high humidity environments unless it has
food. When mold grows in air-handling units, the food source is
accumulated dust and dirt. Keeping systems clean is the key to
avoiding mold growth in air-handling units and ducts.
Maintaining relative humidity below the oft-cited 60% level
does not guarantee against mold growth. Mold can not only
obtain food from a substrate, it can also obtain moisture from a
substrate. Some substrates allow mold to germinate with fairly
low moisture levels. Dirty surfaces and accumulated salts tend to
deliquesce moisture out of the air. That moisture in the material
promotes mold growth. Where moisture is unavoidable, as in a
cooling system, the key to avoiding mold growth is to eliminate
food sources.
Materials that hold moisture can be sites for mold growth
even in a room where the relative humidity is low. Like desiccants, some materials absorb moisture from the air even at low
humidity. Other materials are slow to release moisture once they
get wet. The literature suggests materials absorb moisture faster
than they release it.6 If these materials are organic, they are ideal
substrates for mold growth.
Maintaining relative humidity below 60% at temperatures in
the normal human comfort range may reduce mold growth.
However, low relative humidity is no guarantee. Selecting materials and treating surfaces so they do not absorb or hold moisture
appears to be a more effective strategy against mold growth.
Desiccants
ASHRAE
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Static Electricity
Museums &
Renovation
not accumulate on conductive materials. The electrical conductivity of most common materials increases in proportion to their
moisture content. Materials such as plastics, rubber, and machine drive belts that do not readily absorb moisture can accumulate static charges at 100% relative humidity.10
Previous editions of the ASHRAE Handbook implicitly recognize that increasing relative humidity does not necessarily eliminate static electricity. The 1983 and 1988 Handbooks state that
under some conditions, and with certain materials, maximum
electrostatic charging occurs at relative humidities of 25% to 35%
or higher.11 That statement disappeared from the same chapters in the 1992 and 1996 editions of the Handbook.
Adding moisture to the air affects static electricity only indirectly. If the materials in the room absorb moisture from the air
and increase their conductivity, the risk of static electricity discharge decreases. However, simply adding moisture is not reliable. NFPA 99-1996, Health Care Facilities, calls for hospital
operating rooms that utilize flammable anesthetics to be humidified to 50% relative humidity. Even with 50% relative humidity,
the same standard calls for additional precautions against electrostatic discharge.12 The need for additional precautions demonstrates that room air relative humidity does not necessarily
have a cause and effect relationship with static electricity discharges. Controlling static electricity discharges seems to depend
on surface conductivity, static dissipating clothing, conductive
flooring, and grounding as opposed to humidifying the air.13
Rust
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Practical Guide
Dimensional Changes
Cellulosic materials like paper and
wood readily take on and give up moisture from the air. Wood holds water in cell
cavities and within its cell walls. Green
wood can start out holding more moisture
than the weight of the wood itself (more
than 100% moisture content). When
dried, wood first gives up water from cell
cavities until the moisture content reaches
about 30%. Further drying removes moisture from the cell walls. As the cell walls
lose water, they shrink. The resulting
stresses cause warping and checking.17
After the water in the cell cavities is
gone, the cell walls give up moisture only
until the wood reaches an equilibrium
moisture content. The equilibrium moisture content depends on species, tempera- Figure 4: Influence of moisture content on dimensions of lithographic papers.
ture, and relative humidity. Relative humidity is the strongest of those three influences. Figure 2 shows how the equilibrium
moisture content for wood varies with temperature and relative humidity. Changing
moisture content makes the wood expand
or shrink. Figure 3 shows the magnitude
of these changes.
Like wood, paper also shrinks and grows
with changes in moisture content. A 1933
study by Weber and Snyder for the National
Bureau of Standards showed the effects of
changing moisture content on the physical
properties of printing papers.19 Figure 4
shows one of the findings from that study.
Although the dimensional changes are small,
they are enough to cause misalignment in
multi-color printing processes.
While the Weber and Snyder study
confirms that relative humidity affects dimensions of wood and paper products, it Figure 5: Moisture isotherm of 194-year-old paper.
is important to put these findings into perspective. First, the analysis relates to equilibrium moisture conFigure 5 shows the results of recent testing by the
tent. Depending on size, thickness and how it is stored, the ar- Smithsonian Center for Materials Research and Education
ticle may take hours or days to reach a new equilibrium moisture on a page from an 1804 law book. The paper was allowed to
content when the ambient temperature and humidity change. reach equilibrium moisture content at various relative humidiFor these materials, temperature and humidity at any one mo- ties at constant room temperature. The dimensional changes
ment or even over short periods are much less important than the were then measured. Figure 4 and Figure 5 taken together
long-term average over time.
relate room relative humidity to equilibrium moisture content
Second, unless a process requires extreme precision, fairly broad for paper. In Figure 4, a 2 percentage point change in moischanges in temperature and relative humidity are required before ture content from 0.5% to 2.5% causes a dimensional change
the dimensional changes become significant. Figure 2 shows that a of 0.18% or a strain of 0.0018. Figure 5 shows that a rather
rather broad room temperature and humidity window of 59F to extreme relative humidity change of 40 percentage points
87F (15C to 30C) and 25% to 50% relative humidity results in (20% to 60%) to achieve that dimensional change. As a rea 4 percentage point change in equilibrium moisture content of wood. sult, unless extreme precision and dimensional stability are
Figure 3 shows that a 4 percentage point change in moisture required, paper and wood can tolerate fairly broad changes
results in less than 1% change in dimension.
in environmental conditions with minimal impact.
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April 1999
Museums &
Renovation
Summary and Conclusions
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81