Should I Follow my Hygrometer or Humidifier?

I just upgraded my Humidifier.

The new one has a thermostat which displays the current RH, and then I can choose a RH% to set it at (between like 30 and 90%).

I set the unit to 45%RH and it stops misting, and the thermostat on the humidifier states the room is at 55%RH.

However, at the very same time, my Thermometer/Hygrometer is saying the RH is 10%.

(Humidifier is on the floor, thermometer is canopy level. When I had the thermometer closer to the floor is was still showing 10% RH reading.)

....So, do I follower the humidifier's thermostat or my thermometer/hygrometer's reading?

Quite the spread there. I have 3 in my grow room and they are all fairly close.

Maybe pick up a cheap electronic one to compare to the others and if it's real close to one and way out of whack to the other trust the pair that are closest. Have you got lots of air circulation around the humidifier so it's not just reading it's own output? If it's cooler where it is it will read higher too as the humidity is relative to the temperature.

I never trusted the humidifier I had and went by the electronic temp/rh one.

At 10% if that's real your plants will really go thru a lot more water and be more susceptible to nute burn and toxic salts buildup.

There's no way that 10% reading is accurate.

Yup, that 10% is a bogus reading.

Come visit my grow room mid winter. 10% can be high.

Thanks guys!

I was actually at 40-45% range.. perfect! I got another hygrometer to compare and my humidifier and the new meter both read around 40%.

..That meters humidity sensor went bad, I contacted the company and they sent me a new one right away no questions asked... darn good company! <3 Thermapro I-Tronics.