I just installed one of those smart thermostats. Quick question for anyone who owns one

That’s fine. Mine stays around 60%.

My previous home had a Nest thermostat and I found that the humidity reading on it was always off by at least a few % points.

51% is not bad at all, but I would verify that humidity reading before buying anything to remedy the situation.

51% humidity is fine - a properly sized and operating HVAC is designed to maintain near 50% relative humidity at peak heat loads, afternoon/summer, if the outside relative humidity is high. Of course during fall and spring, rainy days, or evenings when the heat load on the house is less and the HVAC is not operating expect relative humidity to increase somewhat if humidity outside is high.

Many home humidity meters only have an accuracy of plus or minus 3%. Usually constant humidity exceeding 60% is where concern creeps in regards to mold and health issues and you you need to start doing some investigating. LINK

Also not to rain on your parade, but be aware that according HVAC technicians Nest thermostats have a reputation of being problematic, some leading to expensive HVAC repairs LINK so if by chance you start having HVAC issues down the road don’t completely discount the thermostat as a potential source of the issue.

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My previous home had a Nest thermostat and I found that the humidity reading on it was always off by at least a few % points.

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Mine is pretty spot on. I’ve got a whole home DH set to 45% and the Nest is consistently right at 45%…unless someone takes a hot shower in the guest bath right next to the thermostat, then it reads >60% for a bit.

But yeah, OP, if your system is consistently maintaining 51% RH in south LA, that’s pretty good.

I've got an old leaky house and mine yells at me when it hit 70% humidity during the summer afternoons. But usually sits in the low 60%'s

Most of them will allow you to adjust it. Mine was way off when I installed it. Spent a couple days with a hygrometer and adjusted it down. It was consistently reading 7-8% higher than it actually was.

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Spent a couple days with a hygrometer and adjusted it down

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My Honeywell thermostat in my kitchen is about 5.5 years old and I was wondering why it was reading consistently 55-70% humidity a lot this summer. Bought a portable hygrometer and realized the thermostat was off by about 10%.

Don’t always trust the reading on a thermostat because humidity is not its main function. Get a portable meter and let it sit in one spot for a few days to see what the humidity really is.