Air Conditioning and Humidity Control

High levels of humidity can do more than prompt people to utter that timeless truth, “It’s not the heat; it’s the humidity!”

A highly humid house can also give rise to an even more oppressive problem – the appearance of mold. In fact, when the humidity levels in your house or apartment get too high, the conditions are ripe for exponential mold growth. That’s particularly true when certain building materials known as preferred mold breeding grounds – like wood window frames, gypsum-based drywall and certain wall coverings – take on even more moisture than usual.

By making some adjustments to your home’s air conditioner settings, humidity levels can be brought under reasonable control. Here are a few tried-and-true techniques:

• Installing and then running a whole-house dehumidifying system will reduce indoor humidity levels, especially when run at the same time as operating your air conditioner.
• Rather than running the blower fan at all times (a trick some use to keep temperature levels as even as possible in various areas of the house), try setting your thermostat to operate at the “Auto” setting. This way, moisture will tend to settle into the system in-between cycles and then drain, instead of being continuously blown into the house’s atmosphere.
• Consider upgrading your heating and cooling systems at the same time as other major renovations, such as when adding on to your house or popping and/or scraping an existing one. Systems need to be properly sized to the house’s square footage and ductwork arrangements in order to operate at peak efficiency, thereby reducing the amount of excess humidity in the air.
• Yearly inspections and necessary servicing of your heating and cooling systems are a must, especially if mold has begun to infest the machinery or its parts. And the regular changing of filters also ensures that the system is operating free of dirt, mold or other debris.

Still have questions? Feel free to give us a call. Here at A/C World, our interest is in taking the best care of you, our customer, whether that be for mechanical needs or in addressing concerns about HVAC health and safety. Remember: A clean, minimally moist system is an efficient and healthy system!