Control your humidity, control your comfort.
Don’t believe me? Read on, and I bet you’ll be more convinced by the end.
A lot of what HVAC does is manage the humidity levels in your home. It’s not a stretch to say that many home upgrades to HVAC equipment are more about humidity than anything else.
We’re going to explain why that is, and also what you can be doing about it. The solutions will range from the simple and cheap, to the more complicated and expensive, but each one can be the right decision for a home.
Humidity and Comfort
Three degrees of relative humidity are roughly the equivalent of one degree of temperature to our bodies. If the relative humidity in your home is 30% and it increases to 60%, that’s the equivalent of a 10-degree increase!
To put that in perspective, humidity levels routinely go below 30% and above 60% in homes throughout the year. On the driest days, you can expect humidity as low as about 20%, and as high as 80% on the most humid days…
Unless you’re doing something about it.
Those extremes will bring other problems to your comfort and health. Let’s explore why that is.
Problems With High Home Humidity
Anything above 60% relative humidity is problematic. Several issues occur either in the short-term or long-term when the humidity remains this high.
- High humidity generally happens when it’s hottest, and it makes the effects of heat worse.
- Dust mites thrive in high humidity. Pests such as spiders and centipedes feed on dust mites, so you’re likely to have an increase in bug infestations.
- Allergens tend to be higher in the air when humidity is high.
- Mold and mildew can occur in areas of the home such as corner rooms, second floors, or basements where humidity tends to accumulate.
- Your air conditioner will have to work longer and harder to keep you cool.
Even worse, your humidity might be fine on the main level. But what about upstairs? Or the basement?
If you have a two-level home or basement, the highest and lowest floors will be more difficult to regulate, and it’s where you’ll have the most problems.
Problems With Low Home Humidity
Anything below 30% relative humidity is what we’d refer to as problematic here. Combined with the section just above, this also gives you an acceptable range to aim for in your home (30% to 60%).
Let look at what you can expect as the humidity approaches 30% and dips below it:
- Viruses and bacteria live in the air and on surfaces longer in low humidity.
- The increase in virus particles means you and your family are at greater risk during flu season and from viruses such as COVID.
- Creaky floorboards, which might not be a problem at first, but will start to be a problem when they start to warp from excessive dryness.
- Throat irritation. Ever have a persistent cough in the winter that won’t go away? Low humidity is likely the cause.
Whole-Home Humidifiers
What’s the solution here? The easiest solution for low humidity is a whole-house humidifier (we’ll talk dehumidification in just a moment).
Single-room humidifiers can help occasionally, but they’re not going to cover even a small home. That needs a better solution.
Whole-home humidifiers come in a few different types that we discuss below. Each can be attached to your ductwork so that the moisture is sent throughout your home.
Additionally, humidity from them can generally be controlled by your thermostat, provided the installation includes this integration and your thermostat is sophisticated enough to monitor humidity levels.
The cost of these humidifiers (plus installation) generally ranges from $500 up to $2,500. If the latter seems expensive, that’s because it’s the cost to cover the largest homes, those that are 5,000+ square feet. Typical homes will not need that kind of power.
Bypass Humidifier
Bypass humidifiers don’t proactively push moisture into your ductwork. Rather, they’re installed in the ductwork in such a way that warm air from the furnace or heat pump passes through it and takes evaporated water through your home.
Bypass humidifiers can work for a range of home sizes, but generally aren’t adequate for the largest homes.
Power Humidifier
Power humidifiers work similarly to bypass humidifiers, but they also have a built-in blower motor that can circulate moisture into your ductwork. Thus they have a bit more humidification power, but this comes with extra parts and maintenance.
Steam Humidifier
Steam humidifiers don’t rely on the heat from a furnace system to evaporate water, but produce steam on their own. This can be an excellent way to adjust humidity via the humidifier alone, but the installation requires more electrical wiring than the other two types.
Each type can be useful and each will work for many homes. The brands, models and types available to you will depend on the HVAC installer, but each should be installed by a licensed professional since they all have several subsystems that require correct installation to function properly.
Whole-Home Dehumidifiers
The inverse is a whole-home dehumidifier.
Want to help out your air conditioner in the summer? Get a dehumidifier. Want to help it more? Get a larger dehumidifier.
We’re used to seeing basement humidifiers, but many of these store-bought ones have severe limits to the amount of humidity they can collect. This often doesn’t make much of a dent in the humidity levels of an entire home.
Whole-house dehumidifiers are the professional-grade versions of the smaller, store-bought units. They can meaningfully adjust humidity across several thousands of square feet, depending on the size of the model.
Whole-home dehumidifiers can also be attached directly to your ductwork to work more effectively throughout your home, but many can simply sit in a basement as a standalone unit.
These are more expensive than humidifiers, but as we’ll see in a moment, the long-term cost savings can make this investment a more attractive option.
Variable-Speed HVAC Equipment
One of the main tasks of your air conditioner is to collect humidity and expel it outside. Remember that stat we mentioned above about humidity equalling temperature? That’s what an air conditioner controls.
If your air conditioner is better, the humidity control is better. Therefore, you’ll stay cool more easily, and also more efficiently.
Single-stage air conditioners are your “typical” AC units. These remove humidity, but not as much as more sophisticated variable-speed AC equipment. These units will save you hundreds in cooling costs every year, and over the lifespan of the equipment, can save you thousands.
This is also why an air conditioner + dehumidifier can be even more powerful. By doing part of the air conditioner’s job, the dehumidifier is saving you money on cooling costs.
Neither a variable-speed air conditioner nor a whole-home dehumidifier will pay for themselves in a year or two. But if you struggle with high humidity and its problems (bugs, mildew, mugginess), you will be more comfortable throughout the hotter months and can save hundreds per year compared to traditional equipment with humidity-controlling add-ons.
Ductless Mini-Splits
Ductless AC units are miniature air conditioners, and they’re extremely efficient. They can help control humidity where your HVAC system can’t.
This is often in livable attics, guest bedrooms, master bedrooms, finished basements, and other rooms without ductwork connecting to them.
Smart Thermostats and Humidistats
Humidity-controlling products are only as good as the system that controls them. Manually determining when to turn your humidifier or dehumidifier on or off can be exhausting.
Fortunately, there are ways to set up rules for controlling humidity without having to actively monitor it every day.
Many modern thermostats are capable of detecting humidity levels as well, or they can be connected to a humidistat, which is basically a thermostat specifically for humidity.
These controls can then let you set levels in your home that will automatically turn your humidifier or dehumidifier on or off.
Most dehumidifiers also come with standalone controls so that they don’t continue to remove moisture from the air after the humidity reaches a certain threshold.
A combination of these can help you keep your humidity within safe, comfortable levels.
Cost Considerations for Humidity Control
We talked a bit about the cost of the products mentioned above, but they should be weighed against the cost of NOT having them as well.
If you suffer from the problems mentioned, humidity-controlling products will be working for you for years to come any time you’re in your home.
So whether it’s $1,000 for a whole-home humidifier, or $2,500 for a dehumidifier, what you’re paying for is 5-10 years of cost savings on cooling and being able to breathe easier in your own home 365 days a year.
CABS Heating and Air Conditioning – Indoor Air Quality Experts
Here at CABS, this is what we do. Not just air conditioning, not just heating, not just humidity. All of it and more.
Comfort in your home means more than a single product. It means understanding your pain points, your budget, and understanding the needs of your home to keep you comfortable 12 months out of the year.
Want an assessment that’s free, with no-obligation? We’ll take a look at your entire home and make recommendations, then give you options to improve the quality of your home services, whether it’s HVAC, indoor air quality, electrical, plumbing, via a water heater and more.
Our goal is your trust and comfort, and we’d welcome your call today!
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