What You Need to Know About These Important Air Quality Systems
While it’s true that your heating and cooling system goes a long way to provide comfortable indoor air, you simply can’t stop there if you want a safe, healthy, valuable home.
Once you’ve worked with a trustworthy, caring HVAC team to ensure your family stays warm in the winter and cool in the summer, high and low humidity levels are your next biggest concern.
High humidity can cause problems like these:
- Mold and mildew in your home, attic, basement, and air ducts.
- Damage to paint, walls, and flooring.
- Respiratory infections.
- Symptoms of asthma in asthmatic family members.
- Increased inhalation of chemicals.
Low humidity can cause just as many challenges for homeowners, including:
- Dry skin and scalp.
- Eczema and acne.
- Increase of colds and flu viruses.
- Increase in static electricity.
- Damage to hardwood flooring.
Humidity-related issues are just as important to address as any trouble with your furnace or AC. Fortunately, there’s a solution: consider a whole-home dehumidifier or a bypass humidifier to ensure you don’t experience the negative effects of low and high humidity levels.
How Do Dehumidifiers and Humidifiers Work?
In certain climates like the Midwest, hot air in the summer holds a great deal of moisture. In the winter, the cold air is extremely dry. There’s not much about this that we can control. However, you can use a home humidifier or home dehumidifier to combat the damage to home and health these conditions cause.
- A bypass humidifier for the home is a system that is typically installed in the return duct. In this space, the humidifier is connected to your HVAC system’s electricity and water supply. This humidifier is controlled by a humidistat, which is a sensor that measures the humidity level in your home. When your humidity level drops, water mist is pumped from your HVAC system’s water supply into the bypass duct. This process adds moisture to the air, which is delivered throughout your home.
- A whole-home dehumidifier essentially does the opposite of a bypass humidifier. A whole-home dehumidifier is usually connected to a return duct. The system drains moisture out of the air before it is returned to the main supply. Much like air conditioning, the moisture that a dehumidifier collects is drained out using a condensate line leading to a basement floor drain.
- Portable home humidifiers and dehumidifiers are also available, though they likely won’t provide coverage for the entire square footage of your home. Typically, these products are less energy efficient than whole-home systems and make a great deal of mechanical noise while running. These products may also be less effective because they aren’t directly affecting the air that is recycled through your home.
How Can Dehumidifiers and Humidifiers Benefit My House and Family?
When you decide to purchase a whole-home dehumidifier or a bypass humidifier, you not only get to avoid the downsides of either humid and dry conditions, but you also get to benefit from their disappearance.
The benefits of using a home humidifier in the winter include:
- More comfortable sleep.
- Healthier skin.
- Virus and bacteria protection.
- Fewer allergy symptoms.
The benefits of using a home dehumidifier in the summer include:
- Cooler, fresher air.
- Fewer air odors.
- Virus and bacteria protection.
- Reduced chances of mold or mildew.
- Lower risk of home damage.
These systems are exceptionally useful for any home. However, you will likely require an expert HVAC installation team to ensure your systems are installed correctly and optimized. Experienced technicians offer the assistance you need, so your home’s value doesn’t decline and your health is not harmed by the problems that humidity and dryness can cause.
Where Do I Find the Right Team to Install My Home Humidifier or Dehumidifier?
When you decide you want a bypass humidifier or dehumidifier for your home, you need look no further than an excellent HVAC business near you. If you already have an HVAC company you rely on, check to see if they perform dehumidifier or humidifier installation.
If not, look for a company with strong testimonials and family-oriented, trustworthy business values. Find their information on humidifiers and other indoor air quality services to see if they provide the benefits we’ve outlined here. You want to ensure that the company you’ve chosen is committed to providing the highest-quality humidification and dehumidification technology available today.
Find out more about the latest, high-performing HVAC technology, beginning with this article from a thorough heating and cooling team.
