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How to Maintain Optimal Humidity Levels in Summer

How Does Humidity Affect the Temperature?
When it comes to discussing humidity, there’s a big misconception that humidity increases air temperature. That’s not actually true. Humidity doesn’t alter the temperature. However, it does affect how the body’s natural sweating process works. As your body gets hot, you start to sweat to cool down.

Under normal air conditions, that sweat is wicked away into the air and you feel cooler. However, when humidity levels are high in the air, it’s much harder for the air to absorb your sweat. Instead, a lot of your sweat stays on your body and your body temperature will remain high. So, humidity is ultimately responsible for making you feel warmer, not increasing the temperature.

How Does Humidity Affect Your Home?
Hot, humid climates create the perfect breeding ground for mold and mildew growth. Both of these will greatly reduce your indoor air quality and can lead to respiratory illnesses, among other symptoms. If you have allergies, high indoor humidity levels can cause unpleasant flare-ups.

Different materials in your home can be susceptible to damage from excess humidity. Wood is well-known to warp in environments with high humidity. Both wallpaper and paint can end up peeling when there’s too much moisture. Your plants can wilt, and dust mites can amplify. There’s no denying the fact that having high humidity levels inside your home is a bad thing for your family, belongings, and overall home.

Relative Humidity Level
When it comes to describing the humidity level inside your home, the term “relative humidity” is used. In general, you want a relative humidity level between 35 and 50%. This is the optimal level where you can feel comfortable and your body’s natural sweating process works.

When humidity levels reach above the 50% threshold, you’ll start to feel the effects of stuffiness and overheating. When humidity levels drop below 35%, the air will be extremely dry. This can lead to unwanted static electricity, dry skin, an increased risk of developing colds, and so much more. You want to aim to keep your home at an optimal humidity level for your family’s overall comfort.

Using a Whole-Home Dehumidifier
While it’s true that your air conditioning system will naturally remove some excess humidity from the air, it typically can’t keep up in climates that are naturally humid. Fortunately, a whole-home dehumidifier is a great investment for homeowners in these areas. This type of dehumidifier will monitor your home’s relative humidity level and turn on when it gets above your set threshold.

A dehumidifier will do just as its name implies. It will remove humidity from the air. This system works similarly to an air conditioning system. It pulls in humid air through your ducting and passes it over a coil that is filled with cold refrigerant. This drop in air temperature will cause excess moisture droplets from the air to form on the coil. These will drop off into the drain pan, which is usually diverted to the outside of your home to fully drain.

Seal up Your Home
Air leaks can develop around your door and windows over time. During the summer months, humid air from the outside can seep into your home through these leaks and cause your relative humidity level to rise. To avoid this issue, you’ll want to seal up any air leaks you find with caulking or weatherstripping. Additionally, you’ll want to check around your light switches and outlets on your exterior walls to see if air is coming in. If so, they make foam inserts that sit behind the cover plate to block that excess air leakage.

Invest in Quality Insulation
Insulation is a specialized material that prevents air from the outdoors from penetrating your home. All insulation is given a specific R-value, which signifies its resistance to temperature changes. The higher the number, the more resistant the insulation will be to higher temperatures. You should invest in insulation that exceeds or meets the recommended R-value for your area of the country to help keep that warm, humid air outdoors.

Keep Doors and Windows Shut
One of the biggest mistakes homeowners make regarding indoor humidity is opening their windows and doors at night. Once the sun goes down, the temperature drops and it’s easy to think that you can save yourself money by opening doors and windows instead of running your air conditioning unit overnight. However, that’s not the best idea.

As the air starts to heat back up in the early morning hours, that humid air will seep right into your home. When you close up all your doors and windows to turn your air conditioning system back on, you’ll trap that humidity inside. While you’ll save yourself money by not having to run your AC system overnight, you’ll likely end up overrunning it the next day to compensate for the rise in relative humidity. Your best bet is to avoid opening up your doors and windows and simply stick to using your air conditioning system.

Use Exhaust Fans
Whenever you cook on the stove or take a hot shower, you’re letting excess humidity into your indoor air. One of the best ways to avoid doing this is to use exhaust fans. In the kitchen, you should have a rangehood over the stove that you can turn on when cooking to vent the steam outdoors. You should also have a bathroom exhaust fan in every bathroom throughout your home to ensure the excess moisture from your hot shower is vented outdoors.

Get Your AC System Serviced
One of the most underrated tips for helping to maintain optimal humidity levels inside during the summertime is to get your air conditioning system serviced by a licensed HVAC professional. During this service, they will clean your coils to ensure there is no obstruction when it comes to removing that unwanted excess humidity from the air. They’ll also work to get your cooling system operating at peak efficiency so it can do its vital part in helping to reduce indoor humidity while running.

Be Mindful of Air Circulation
One of the best things you can focus on to allow your air conditioning system and whole-home dehumidification system to work is air circulation. The more air circulation you have, the more effective these systems are going to be. Using ceiling fans to help circulate air in the various rooms of your home is ideal. Ensure you’re keeping up with regular air filter changes on your cooling system so that it can be as effective as possible.

Reliable Dehumidifier Service
Revival Heating & Cooling provides reliable dehumidifier services for the entire Vancouver, WA community. Our expert technicians can assist with all of your heating, cooling, heat pump, oil-to-gas conversions, ductless heat pump, air sealing, ductwork, insulation, window, and indoor air quality needs. Give our friendly staff a call today to schedule your next service appointment.