Controlling Window A/C Unit

You can turn your older Ac unit on off with a z-wave outlet- that should be no problem. In fact I installed a window AC unit for my work garage this past summer that does exactly this. Especially since I experience power outages too during storms. My plan is to put a zwave multisensor to monitor the temp in the garage and have hs kick on the Ac when it reaches a certain temp. Right now it is set up to come on and off only during certain time periods when I'm most likely to be in there.
There are also z wave multisensors that give temp and humidity( everspring ??).

Also when I see mold/moisture issues I've learned one needs to look for
1) sources of moisture near by( soaked ground, water intrusion, water splashing, lack of adequate sun light to dry up water after rains, etc).
2) ventilation- humid environment with a lack of adequate ventilation is a potential location for mold/moisture problems. Intake and outtake vents in a closed space, esp one that can warm up like a metal shed in sunlight) can prevent mold problems. I have high humidity too and in my sheds I've put soffit vents, thin 6x9 metal ones from homedepot $3, on the SIDES of my shed to allow for air flow. Its about 2 feet above the floor. Also the side vents help in the case of floods( water can flow in and out)- this is actually code in many counties near water.

This advice is just from my experience.

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Hey Guys,

This might be more of an electrical/appliance type question but thinking somebody here has probably done this so figured I'd ask

I have a 30x14 shed that I just got in May and I'm already having some mold/moisture problems inside the shed. It's a metal shed and I'm in Florida and have read this isn't uncommon. I installed an 8,000 BTU window air conditioning unit this week to reduce the humidity inside the shed and it seems is working OK. It is a newer unit and one thing I don't like about it is that if it loses power even during a glitch it turns off, and won't come back on until somebody hits the power button again (digital unit) and this is no good for a shed air conditioning that I may not even go into weekly. But, I do have another older 12,000 BTU window unit that has manual knobs! I'm thinking of installing that one instead and plugging it into a Z-Wave outlet that I can control with HomeSeer. My question is, do any of you see any harm in controlling an older window unit not using its own thermostat but cutting power and restoring power at the outlet. I don't think there would be any harm to it with an older unit like I have but figured I'd ask to see what you guys thought

Also, what would be another idea, is I have a gizmo that monitors temperature and humidity and has contacts that close on high/low temperature/humidity. I should be able to rig it up such that I control the Z-Wave outlet using humidity which is what I'm concerned about more than temperature. If any of you do this, do you have a good humidity number that you use to prevent mold/moisture build-up? I have a Kill-A-Watt hooked up now and based on a few days worth of monitoring, even set on a higher temperature, it is going to cost me around $20 a month so thinking if I control off humidity I might be able to reduce that cost a little.

Thanks much!

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