high humidity in home and indoor air quality

Humidity is often felt in areas that experience damp weather or high temperatures. Unfortunately, anyone who lives in these areas knows the discomfort that this brings. When it is damp and muggy outside, you would want to find comfort inside your home. However, it can be very problematic when it is also humid inside your home. A good cooling unit can help you improve the situation. In this article, we have compiled a few tips to help you if you think your home has a high humidity level. This way, you can determine the issue and find the most effective ways on how to remove humidity.

How Does My AC Remove Humidity In My House?

Below, we discuss some useful tips when you feel hot and muggy in your home.

Indoor Air Quality Definition

feeling hot and humid in house

As the name suggests, indoor air quality, or IAQ, is the quality of air in and around structures. It also often refers to how air quality affects an individual’s health. Having poor IAQ can trigger health issues like allergies, breathing difficulties, and flu-like symptoms. The worst-case scenario is you risk developing respiratory illnesses when you breathe in indoor air pollutants for a long time. Therefore, high indoor air quality must be maintained inside your home.

How High Humidity Levels Impact Your Indoor Air Quality

The Environmental Protection Agency states that high humidity is one of the primary contributors to low indoor air quality. Humidity encourages the growth of mold, bacteria, and mildew. These can then invade your walls, carpets, and other absorbent surfaces in your house. The spores that they release can be dangerous when inhaled. Mold infestation can cause skin rashes, headaches, lung infections, and eye irritation. Not only that but if your house is experiencing excessive humidity, then you are more vulnerable to dust mites and other allergens.

Symptoms Of High Humidity In Your Home

woman experiencing allergies at home

Some of the signs that your home is experiencing high humidity levels include:

How High Humidity Affects Your Home

High levels of humidity not only cause health issues. It can also cause damages to your home. Excessive moisture in the air can result in wood rotting. As a result, your home will sustain structural damage, and small holes will be created. These will open your house to pests like cockroaches, rats, and termites. High humidity can also cause cracks to form on your door and window frames. Porous objects around your home like carpets, clothes, and books can also be damaged.

Removing Humidity From Your Home

Fortunately, there is a simple way you can alleviate the humidity inside your home. This is by using your air conditioning system.

How Can My Air Conditioner Remove Humidity From My Home?

outdoor condenser for air conditioner

An AC does not only provide your home with conditioned air. It also pulls out humid air. An HVAC unit is equipped with an evaporator coil that condenses moisture from the air. This water is then properly disposed of outside through the drain tube and into a drain pan. When you have an HVAC system that operates at peak condition, it can maintain the optimal humidity level in your home. According to the EPA, the ideal humidity level inside your home is from 30 to 50 percent. This is with an air conditioning switched on. Anything lower or higher than these percentages may mean you have an AC problem on your hands.

Which Works Best: A Portable Dehumidifier Or An Air Conditioner?

portable dehumidifier

You might be wondering whether a portable dehumidifier or an AC unit works best when it comes to removing humidity. A dehumidifier works by removing the moisture in the air. On the other hand, an air conditioner cools the air while removing the excess moisture as well. A portable dehumidifier is only capable of eliminating the moisture in one room in your house. Whereas, an HVAC unit can cool and remove moisture in large areas. It can also filter the air indoors, trapping the pollutants, so the air you breathe in is cleaner. You can also install a whole-house dehumidifier when you want to pull out hot air in tandem with your air conditioning system.

Your A/C & Humidity

An air conditioner system can pull out moisture from the air and release it outdoors. When used together with a whole-house dehumidifier, you can significantly lessen the humidity indoors and maintain the recommended level of 30 to 50 percent. If you think you have an AC humidity issue, call an expert HVAC technician to help you determine the problem. You should also make sure that your cooling unit receives regular AC maintenance checks so that all components are working at optimum efficiency at all times.

Call Tower Energy For Expert HVAC Services

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Tower Energy provides top-quality cooling and heating services in Plainville, Connecticut. Our NATE certified and licensed contractors offer excellent HVAC services, including air conditioner tune-ups, mini-split installations, A/C replacements, and more. We can also find effective ways to improve the indoor air quality of your home. All of our friendly and professional techs have the right tools, skills, knowledge, and experience to service your HVAC system correctly.

When you need affordable heating and cooling service costs in the area, do not hesitate to call Tower Energy. Our tune-up services will help increase your home comfort and energy-efficiency levels without the added cooling costs. If you are looking for a replacement system, we can help you find the HVAC unit that best fits your needs and budget. A warranty backs all of our work to guarantee your satisfaction. Book an AC maintenance check or service appointment with Tower Energy today. Call one of our representatives for a free, in-home estimate.

Contact us now or call us at (860) 677-7347 to find out more.