Advice please windows open or closed ... or both?

[mei]

Humidity is a factor that no puna resident can escape. Windows opened or closed- doesn't matter there will be moisture followed by mold.Dehumidifiers, frequent cleaning, bleach..

[gtill]

How well does your dry room AC keep out vog. We are planning on an AC bedroom for survival during vog attacks, also a bail out mobile home. My wifes asthmatic, is AC effective for this? We're going to Royal hawaiian, when it hits us it's often bad. I once installed 2 small all 100% solar fans on a 50'x16'x 8'high 70 year old, concrete quanset shaped cement bunker we got for storage( The thing was terrible even after cleaning). I put 2 small solar vents on top, and in a week it would have been livable. Those are not enough for a house and kinda costly. The lights are very effective even on a cloudy day. I understand your inverter idea, but up here solar is too limited to rely on. And the fan works by the same sun that requires it. I like passive, install and forget. Keeping a woodstove in order will be enough. Do the small heat rods do much good? Thanks!

[dmbwest]

Double thanks ...

Yep, no problem 'till last couple weeks ... windows never get closed unless leaving unoccupied. Only closing now because its getting cooler up here and experimenting.

Rental house, so no mods allowed.

Grandma always turned on the DH + got out her spray bottle but thats all I remember since I was young when we moved away .. I already have my own 'supermix' ... no worries.

[gtill]

Pog, is that a yep AC keeps out heavy vog? I'm kinda dense! Thanks again!

[Guest]

The more mauka you go the more your problems will be with mold. When I lived mauka of Honokaa we needed to fire up the franklin stove every night of the year except one day in July and it was an El nino year. Was like living in Oregon. One reason for moving to the middle of HPP the weather is perfect.

The micro climates here changes from mile to mile, elevation to elevation.
Before moving into HPP I talked to people I know who were already living in the H Acres and FF FA Volcano, Aniloa, Nanawali, Black Sands and Leilani.
Each subdivision has it pluses and minuses.

Here it's 50/50 rain and sun so it really never is one or the other too much. Lots of rain recently but not as bad as some other years I remember.

Yes the one room with a window unit stuck in the wall, up high, cold air drops, 5000 BTU's filter's the air quite fine. But it's rarely voggy down here either. 20 years ago when Kona had clear sunsets and this was vog city on this side, it was a whole different jungle.

My ex has been living in Puna since she got out of HS 30 years ago and between all her friends and mine I picked my spot after years of investigating what each and every subdivision had or didn't have. So here I am and I gotta work with what is here.

Oh and I have torn out many walls for doors and windows to allow more sunlight in, mold's natural enemy. The Ac I would only set for 3 hours on it's timer. For the afternoon and not everyday. Go with the flow.

[AlohaSteven]

During the years I lived in Indonesia and Ecuador I noticed many local folks kept small light bulb--placed low near the floor--inside bookcases and closets and turned on 24/7 (at least, when there was electricity to run them). They said it worked well to keep mold out of the books inside the glass-fronted bookcases and out of fabrics inside the closets so treated, but that the lights were insufficient to prevent leather items from molding.

Indeed, the books and fabics I saw stored in bookcases and closets with small light bulbs on all the time were fine, but once when I foolishly left a leather archery quiver full of arrows hanging in such a closet for a several months it began to turn into a mold farm.

Do folks in Hawaii have experiences with this approach of using small incandescent light bulbs inside bookcases and closets, lit all the time, to share?

[Guest]

PLEASE don't anyone do this, it's can cause a fire if the bulb breaks.
Two friends of mine do have a bulb in old refrigerators as "hot boxes" to keep welding rods and steel pieces from rusting. It works well, but among papers and material I would highly recommend against it. In the refers they're in a metal box and nothing flammable inside, so go with the dehumidifiers, they give used distilled water too.

I was a Fire marshal once upon a time,so Please don't.[:0]

[gtill]

Yep HPP is thre ideal weather, resulting in faster growth.(different strokes). The sunlight mold correlation is what i think the tube lights can help. It's a true light! The heavy vog is what is hitting our side. We're downwind and mabe 4 miles from Puu'o. Hence the AC question? I've seen those little bars (piano heaters)work for books in closets, they'r UL approved.

[Les C]

Instead of a light bulb, there are closet rods available at the hardware stores that you plug in and mount or place on the floor of your closets. They come in different lengths with different wattages. I don't know the sizes and relative wattage. I'm told they work well. They supposedly don't get hot enough to be a fire danger, you can wrap your hand and fingers around them without getting burned. There's always the potential for an electrical fire with any electrical appliance, however.

[Guest]

Used the closet rods for a couple years, leathers still got mold. For small places, gun cabinet, glass book case, a shelf, but they don't put out enough for a medium size closet and you DO NOT want to run 3 of them of a regular house extension cord.

Damprid works but messy and expensive changing it all the time.

A good dehumidifier is the best way to go. My dressing room/walkin is a small 3rd bedroom and it is like Arid/zona in there.

Best thing before you build get a real designer (like me) who can lay out you house so you maximize the sun. As it is now lighting up my keyboard through the french doors on the southeast side.

Depending where you are sun light panning in is free and the BEST.
If you cut a hole in fern forest and get sun late in the morning you might want to consider trimming trees for light in your windows.
IMHO and experience