How Can Humidity Be Added to The Home Air?
In a dry and hot climate, humidity helps maintain a comfortable temperature. Although humidity often receives a bad rap for frizzing hair and making hot temperatures feel hotter, humidity has its place. The best HVAC systems help to regulate the humidity inside the home during every season in Arizona.
While too high of humidity results in discomfort, the right level of humidity offers a number of benefits. Humidity protects skin from drying out, cracking, and peeling. The right level of humidity hinders nose bleeds caused by dry nasal passages and generally improves air quality in homes. Humidity also helps to reduce asthma attacks and other respiratory problems.
What is Relative Humidity?
Relative Humidity is the percentage of moisture in the air in comparison to the maximum amount of moisture that the air can hold at any given temperature. As a rule of thumb, cold air can’t hold nearly as much moisture as warm air.
For example, at 72 F, air holds almost 12 times the amount of moisture as air at the temperature of 11 F. That’s why summer, in some climates, can feel unbearably hot due to humidity, and cold carries the reputation of chapped lips and cracked knuckles.
What is a Comfortable Humidity Level?
In the home, a comfortable humidity level rests between 35% – 50% relative humidity. The higher the humidity coupled with a high temperature can be pretty uncomfortable. Not to mention that high humidity levels encourage mold growth. To keep mold growth reigned in, humidity levels need to remain below 40% relative humidity.
What Happens if Humidity is too low?
The balance of just the right amount of humidity is important for the respiratory system and the home. When humidity is too low, people are more likely to suffer from respiratory infections and severe asthma attacks. Another side effect of low humidity is that furniture can dry out and become brittle and easy to damage over time.
How can Humidity be added to the Home Air?
In some situations, installing a humidifier to the HVAC system fixes an ongoing low humidity problem. A humidifier adds moisture to the temperature-controlled air before distributing it throughout the home. Depending on the desired level of humidity, the humidifier can be adjusted to a certain relative humidity that will best serve the household.
The HVAC system pulls air from the outside and adjusts the temperature of that air to manage the temperature of the air in the home. During the winter, this means that the air remains the same humidity levels as the outside, which could further dry out the home. In the summer, depending on the climate, the HVAC system might not be able to keep up with the humidity. Since much of Arizona is dry, it’s very likely that a humidifier might be a necessary addition to the HVAC system.
Finding the right HVAC system is important since a lot of time is spent at home. When the air in the home feels uncomfortable, either clammy or too dry, speaking with an HVAC contractor helps diagnose the problem. An HVAC contractor recognizes the problem and provides the solution to at-home comfort.
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