Maintaining proper humidity in your Eastman, Georgia, home makes it comfortable and efficient. It can seem like a delicate balancing act between being muggy or so dry that your skin cracks. Somewhere in between these two areas is a humidity level that’s so comfortable you don’t even notice it. Read on to learn how to balance humidity in your home between 40 and 60 percent throughout the year.
Understand the Limits of Your Air Conditioner
Many people think their air conditioner acts as a dehumidifier in addition to cooling. However, this comes with a caveat. The AC only achieves dehumidification as a byproduct of the cooling process.
An air conditioner’s dehumidification capabilities are generally far below what’s ideal. If you address this by purchasing a much larger unit, you’ll run into more problems than you can solve. The compressor will turn off and on more frequently and, in turn, it’ll remove less humidity.
Lowering the Humidity
One of the best and most effective ways of lowering the humidity in your home is to add a dehumidifier. While they take a small chunk of square footage, you can’t match the benefits they provide. The unit measures humidity and adjusts how it operates to reach a desired humidity level. Here are some other things that will help lower the humidity in your home:
- Replace your air filters to better filter out moisture.
- Buy an energy recovery ventilator to help push humid air outside. This is especially useful if your home has a tight envelope.
- Replace your carpet. While carpets add cushioning, they also retain moisture.
Increasing the Humidity
Adding a small, portable humidifier when the air gets dry is the easiest way to increase your home’s humidity. While it seems counterproductive, there are a lot of issues that go hand-in-hand with air that’s too dry. You can increase your home’s humidity in other ways, too:
- Get an indoor vent kit for your clothes dryer.
- Try natural-evaporation techniques like putting a bowl of water on your heating register in the colder months.
- If your home is always a bit dry inside, you could invest in a whole-home humidifier to have more consistency.
Once you’ve achieved the ideal humidity level in your home, you’ll wonder how you lived any other way. Call Pruett Air Conditioning at 478-374-1481 to see how we can help you control the humidity in your home.
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