Accu-Rite

Has anyone ever had trouble with their accurite recording humidity? I don't know if there is a problem with mine but it says the humidity is at 99% and there is no condensation in the tub. I am going to add more holes, currently there are only 9 on each side, but I just want to make sure the problem isn't with my hygrometer.

Did it get wet? Maybe there is water inside throwing off the sensor.

Mine did the same in my tubs for the first week.

How long have you had yours in there?
Is there a water bowl in the tub too?
Do you have any holes drilled in the tub currently?

I added a few more holes in my tub, made sure the unit wasn't wet in any way, and gave it a week. The percentage started dropping once the air flow (from the holes) improved. Now it sits nicely at about 70%. It does tend to rise to 80-90% when I refill the water bowls though, then drops by that evening back to 70%.

My guess is that you just need a few more air holes and to give it a chance to settle. It seems to take these units longer to adjust to humidity than it does to adjust to the temps. :gj:

Pull it out of the tub and see if it lowers while measuring your room's ambient temp. The change will not be instant. Accurites take a while to settle when you change the environment.

Yes they have a very fragile sensor (carbon disk) and it is susceptible to dust and other junk. I too would move it and see if it changes. Perhaps place it in a zip lock bag with some rice grains it should read very low RH and the rice will dry it out if it is wet. I have owned three and never found them to be very accurate. Was it ever correct? The error range when I checked about 5 years ago was quoted as +/- 20% so if yours is on the extreme end it could be as low as 80% but usually when they read 99% it is an error of some sort. You might also try removing the batteries for 20 min and replacing them and see if that helps.

I pulled them out while I went to the store and they dropped to 54 and 50 from 99 and 89 respectively. I think I just need more holes in the tub which I will be making soon. The thermometers where in there for about 8 hours when they had the 99% humidity reading.

I have the thermostat back in and it is about 62% and is not increasing as fast as It was before, I am hoping the new holes will keep the humidity stable around this point, but I was wondering because it was about 4% higher then the other thermometer should I say that it is at about 58% or assume that the other one is reading low?

Having two units read differently is not surprising I would either test them or split the difference.

That's crazy you posted this. Because just the last few days I've noticed my acu-rite has been reading 99%, and i keep drilling holes in the top of the tub to lower the humidity, but now that I think about it it, I wiped the bottom of it with wet disinfectant to clean it, and that must be effecting it. Maybe someone similar happened to you?