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Don’t you just hate it when all your envelopes are stuck shut? Or worse, your normally manageable hair takes on a life of its own?
 It’s the humidity—Mother Nature’s way of telling you she’s put a lot of moisture into the air. So what’s the big deal? Aside from the temporary discomfort, mites love it and your precious antiques don’t.
Meteorologists use dew point temperature as a measure of the amount of water vapor in the air around us; it’s the temperature at which the atmosphere becomes saturated and dew starts to form. This is illustrated by a glass of cool iced tea on a warm muggy day. The air around the glass cools and water condenses and runs down on the outside of the glass creating a perfect swimming pool for bioaerosols on Grandma’s antique table.
Bioaerosols are pesky dust mites, musty molds, smelly fungi, spores, and certain pollens. All of these are health concerns in every home. Some, like viruses and bacteria, cause infections (like a cold or pneumonia). Others cause allergies.
Both allergic responses and infections, sometimes referred to as “sick house syndrome,” may be serious or even fatal to infants, the elderly, and those at risk. Removing the moisture from the surrounding atmosphere, dehumidifying your surroundings, goes a long way to a healthier environment. Most of these critters begin to die once a home’s relative humidity (expressed as a percent) falls below 50% and the house begins to dry.
If the discomfort and health issues aren’t enough, consider what excess moisture is doing to America’s homes. Humidity soaks into wood where it swells the pores and deforms furniture and the very studs in the walls which causes expansion and contraction, and that leads to cracking and crumbling of drywall and plaster. Moisture also causes floors to cup and warp, paint to blister, and wallpaper to peel. Visible moisture on windows (remember the iced tea) collects around the glass edges and rots the glazing. All of these are expensive repairs.
 The optimum relative humidity for the home is between 30% and 60%. Without humidity control you will feel like you are in the desert in the dead of winter and in a swamp in the middle of the summer. Most of us are more aware of the importance of adding humidity to the house during winter as opposed to removing humidity in the summer. A home where the humidity is under control is healthier for its occupants and will last years longer. That’s why in commercial applications such as computer rooms, antique stores, museums, fine furniture stores, restaurants etc., you will find significant humidification and dehumidification systems designed to protect the equipment, furniture or antique and keep customer  comfortable.
How can you tell if your home has high humidity conditions?
• Do you find the air in your home stuffy?
• Have you reduced the temperature setting because you are uncomfortable?
• Do you use a portable dehumidifier?
• Have you ever found your floors and surfaces to be sticky and clammy?
• Are you concerned with mold and mildew growing in your home?
• Do you have musty odors in your home?
• Do you have condensation on water pipes or windows?
If you answer yes to any of these situations you may be a candidate for whole house dehumidification. Why whole house? Because the alternative is to use a portable dehumidifier which is limited in the amount of moisture it can remove. The portable unit tends to be for specific areas such as a basement, not addressing the whole house. Portable units are limited in reducing humidity when the temperature is below about 65 degrees. Most of these units are limited in design criteria and they tend to be noisy and somebody has to remember to empty the bucket!
Today’s homes need whole-house dehumidification. There have been significant changes in construction techniques resulting in tighter homes with more energy efficient windows and doors, better insulation and the use of air-tight vapor barriers. While this improvement results in less air infiltration it also makes it more difficult to remove moisture from normal household activities such as clothes washing, cooking, dish washing, showering, and leaving the back door open.
When humidity levels are maintained at the proper level you are more comfortable at temperature settings four to five degrees higher than you otherwise would set. In the spring and fall you are likely to deal with high humidity situations at a lower temperature when the air conditioning system would not be in operation. When humidity levels are maintained properly, everyone is more comfortable and there is a drop in the level of contaminants such as bacteria, viruses, and mites as well as a reduction in respiratory infections.
So the next time you hear someone say, “It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity,” you’ll know that’s more than frizzy hair and stuck envelopes. It’s a serious situation!
United Air Temp fully endorses a whole house dehumidifier, with a high degree of efficiency and reliability manufactured by Aprilaire. When installed by the professionals at United Air Temp, it is the best solution to solve the problems high humidity creates. If you are interested in more information please contact us, visit UnitedAirTemp.com. or Aprilaire.com.
Links:
The Inside Story - A Guide to Indoor Air Quality
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