It’s not only air temperature that impacts your level of comfort – humidity levels play an important role, too. However, the natural relative humidity level of your home’s air is not always where it needs to be to help family members and guests remain comfortable. Humidity highs and lows can affect the health of a home’s occupants as well as the home itself and items inside it.
It’s important to keep indoor relative humidity levels in a balanced range for optimal comfort, energy efficiency, and protection – between 34 and 50% it is typically a comfortable range. Many Indianapolis area homeowners turn to indoor air quality solutions including dehumidifiers when natural humidity is high. When the home’s relative humidity level climbs over around 50%, use a whole-home dehumidifier to help remove excess moisture in the air to bring humidity levels back down into the balanced range.
If you are looking into buying indoor air quality products for your Central Indiana home, turn to Williams Comfort Air to find the best dehumidifier available for your living space. A whole-house dehumidifier removes multiple gallons of water vapor per day, so the moisture level throughout your entire home is always in the right range. With balanced humidity in every room, big or small, everyone will feel more comfortable indoors without increasing heating and cooling energy use.
Let our Comfort Consultants help you take control over moisture in the air and ensure comfort indoors even when outdoor humidity is high. Contact us today to request an appointment with our indoor air quality professionals.
A dehumidifier is a type of appliance that removes water vapor from the air to reduce humidity levels inside a space. In Central Indiana, it’s common to use a dehumidifier during the muggy summer months, as the outdoor humidity affects moisture levels inside your home.
Whole home dehumidifiers are installed alongside the HVAC system’s furnace or air handler and connected to the ductwork, which gives the dehumidifier the capability to remove moisture from the home’s entire air volume, rather than just in one small space.
As circulating air travels through the return duct to the HVAC unit, it also passes through the dehumidifier. Inside the unit, air is cooled which causes water vapor to condense into droplets that fall out of suspension and exit the air supply. The moisture extracted from the air is collected in the dehumidifier pan, which is connected to its own drain for automatic emptying – there is no need to pour out the water yourself, as is required with portable dehumidifiers at Walmart and other products.
Whole home dehumidifiers are extremely efficient, in respect the job they do and the energy needed to do so. A whole-house dehumidifier removes several pints of water from the air per day – this capacity varies between products. House dehumidifiers are larger pieces of equipment and do require more energy to operate than a portable Home Depot dehumidifier. However, because they more efficiently remove water from the air, homeowners do not need to run them as frequently or for as long as small portable dehumidifiers. If energy savings is your goal, there are ENERGY STAR®-rated dehumidifiers on the market.
Because we can’t see water vapor in the air, it is sometimes difficult to tell if humidity is high inside your house. Instead, be mindful of the signs that indicate there is a possible humidity issue. If you notice obvious signs of high humidity throughout the home, buying a whole-house dehumidifier is a wise move.
Signs of high humidity indoors may include:
High humidity inside the home spells a number of issues for Indianapolis area homeowners. Too much moisture in the home’s air negatively affects the health and comfort of those indoors, as well as the condition of the home and what’s inside.
Buying a dehumidifier to balance humidity levels inside your home provides your family with many benefits. When you use a dehumidifier in the home to treat high moisture, here are some key improvements you will notice:
Damp air turns your home into an attractive location for mold to grow and spread. Exposure to mold in the home poses serious health risks to household members, especially those with asthma or allergies. By removing excess moisture, a whole home dehumidifier keeps the humidity of your space properly balanced to eliminate those conditions and prevent mold growth as well as mildew.
When you need help improving the air quality inside your home, a dehumidifier is an important tool. Air quality in your home is not only measured in the amount of toxins that you may or may not be breathing in, but also by the level of humidity of the air itself. While the function of a dehumidifier is to remove moisture, by doing so the system may help reduce the number of airborne contaminants within the space. Allergens such as dust mites fare extremely well in humid environments, which means your family members may suffer more allergy symptoms inside when the air is humid.
Dehumidifiers also help remove unpleasant musty odors. A musty-smelling home is a tell-tale sign of mold or mildew growth, and the odor continues as long as the growth is pleasant. Other unpleasant odors from cooking or the use of cleaning products may linger in high humidity. With a dehumidifier in use, the moisture is well-controlled, which helps reduce the presence of odors.
When using a dehumidifier, your home feels more comfortable. When moisture is present in the air, temperatures may feel warmer than they actually are – high moisture in the air traps heat near your body, so you feel warmer. By removing moisture from the air, you feel cooler without having to crank up your air conditioner. In fact, many homeowners notice no difference in comfort when turning up the temperature of the cooling system when a dehumidifier is installed. Doing so allows you to save even more energy when using your ENERGY STAR® or other whole-home dehumidifier.
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