Humidity is one the major enemies of hot weather comfort in Florida. Your home will at some point deal with uncomfortably high levels of moisture, which not only makes the heat harder to bear, but can lead to water damage to walls and floors and the growth of unhealthy molds.
You may have heard that an air conditioner helps with lowering humidity. But along with keeping you cool during those hot humid days, does an air conditioner really make a difference when it comes to humidity? Or should you investigate other dehumidifying methods?
Your air conditioner lowers humidity…
When electromechanical air conditioners were first invented in 1902, they were designed with humidity control as much in mind as temperature control. The natural action of the evaporator coil in an AC removes moisture from the air along with heat, decreasing humidity. Your home’s air conditioner does much the same thing while it works. When you occasionally hear the drip of water from the indoor unit of the AC, it’s the sound of the moisture drawn from the air dripping from the evaporator coil down into the condensate pan, where it will be removed.
…but it is NOT a dehumidifier
However, when it comes to dealing with high humidity in a home, an air conditioner is not a solution. Although your AC can help a bit with humidity, modern cooling units are not designed with humidity control as a major function (unless they have dehumidifiers built into them). In fact, during drier weather, an air conditioner can cause the opposite problem and make the air too dry.
If you have excess humidity in your home, you cannot depend on a standard air conditioner to handle the problem. Call for indoor air quality specialists to install a dedicated whole-house dehumidifier into your HVAC system that will give you the proper humidity balance. If your home occasionally encounters air that is too dry because of the air conditioning system, you can also have a whole-house humidifier installed. That way you will receive the ideal humidity conditions around the year.
For trusted work on air conditioning, dehumidifiers, and humidifiers in Navarre, FL and the surrounding areas, call Kool Breeze.