Re: GBlist: Relative Humidity: A lower boundary?
MHillLEDA@aol.com
Sun, 2 Mar 1997 07:14:50 -0500 (EST)
Hal
I was interested to see that the ASHRAE lower boundary for relative humidity
tends towards a 30% figure, which is significantly lower than in the UK.
What I'm wondering is: perhaps people adapt to a particular climate and react
badly when this is artificially altered by too great an amount. Thus here I
am on a sunny, windy day in my natural ventilated office, happy with the
18deg C and 60% r.h. in here. Would I react badly if suddenly placed in an
air conditioned environment at 30% r.h. ?
The question then becomes: are there fixed limits that can be laid down,
where we can be confident (say) that occupants will get eye irritation & dry
throats below x% r.h. , or do we need to look at it in a more relative way?
Do you get problems with static electricity in offices with low r.h.(shocks
off door handles, desks, etc.) or are we Europeans just better insulated???
Matthew Hill
Leeds Environmental Design Associates
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