4 Reasons You Should Measure Humidity

Posted on: 09/07/2025

We often don't think about the effects that relative humidity can have. It doesn't stand out the way that the temperature of a room does, where a person might have to turn on a fan or turn up a heater.

In fact, relative humidity is crucial to promoting good indoor air quality and is important to the health and safety of several different applications and areas.

1. Monitor Factory Production Conditions

High humidity can wreak havoc in various environments, leading to poor quality products. In pharmaceuticals, for example, excess moisture can degrade the effectiveness of medications and reduce the expected shelf life.

2. Keep Stored Products in Good Quality

Once items have gone through production, their storage conditions will also need to be monitored to ensure their quality is preserved. Too much humidity can be a big problem for products that are sensitive to moisture, such as food & beverage, pharmaceuticals, or electrical equipment.

Humidity/Temperature Transmitter, Series RHP and RHP-E/N

Humidity/Temperature Transmitter, Series RHP and RHP-E/N

3. Maintain a Comfortable Environment

Beyond production, human comfort is another reason to monitor humidity. Controlling the relative humidity not only helps to ensure the well-being of a building's occupants, but it can also increase the efficiency of HVAC systems.

4. Prevent Mold and Pathogens

When relative humidity is above 60%, there's a risk of mold growth, which can lead to expensive and time-consuming remediation. On the other hand, if the relative humidity falls below 40%, the chance of airborne virus transmission increases, so it's critical to monitor and control a space to keep conditions safe for occupants.

Solutions from DwyerOmega

DwyerOmega offers a wide selection of products to measure humidity levels for integration into your building management system or for regular testing:

Thermo-Hygrometer, Model 485B

Thermo-Hygrometer, Model 485B

🔹 Series RHP: The Series RHP Humidity/Temperature Transmitters combine the voltage or current humidity transmitter output with a passive temperature thermistor or RTD output. Models are available in 2%, 3%, or 5% accuracies, with options for outside air or duct mounting.

🔹 Series RHP-E/N: The Series RHP-E/N is a wall-mounted transmitter that combines humidity, temperature, and dew point into one unit. The stylish housing is well-vented to provide airflow across the sensor to improve measurement accuracy.

🔹 Model 485B Handheld Meter: For maintenance checks, the Model 485B Thermo-Hygrometer is an ideal solution for measuring percentage of relative humidity and temperature. The versatile handheld instrument also calculates dew point and wet bulb temperatures and displays them on the integral LCD.