With Atlanta’s mild temperatures and rainy days, many of us are combating elevated levels of humidity inside our homes. When levels get above 50% relative humidity inside our homes, we begin to feel uncomfortable. Often, the first response is to turn the thermostat down to run the AC. But then… the house gets colder than we prefer!
So, what’s going on here?
1. The interior temperature of our home is too close to the outside temperature, to trigger the thermostat. So, the Indoor Air Quality suffers. Our houses are tighter than in previous generations, when the air inside our homes freely exchanged with the air outside our homes. I grew up with the windows open, and screen doors were common!
2. Recently we sealed the ducts under a 1980’s, 1,600 ft2 ranch house. He had also replaced his windows with double pane replacement units. He sent the picture you are seeing with this article and is now struggling with elevated levels of relative humidity in the home. And, when extended family comes over, they add more moisture to the indoor environment, reaching 70% and higher RH on his indoor weather station. He has to run the AC more and more, simply to lower the RH to acceptable levels.
3. Our remedy: Install a Whole House Dehumidifier, (WHD). A WHD is wonderful technology! Simply stated, a WHD is a dehumidifier that is spliced into the duct system of your home. It is totally automatic, maintaining your Indoor Air Quality at a predetermined RH % level (ie, 50%). It operates independently of your furnace/AC, and uses the duct system to monitor and dry the air from every room that contains a Return Vent in that duct system!
A WHD is superior to a stand-alone dehumidifier in many ways:
- Quiet… hardly noticeable for most folks.
- You don’t have any buckets to drain!
- Uses far less energy to operate (ENERGY STAR certified).
- Dehumidifies the entire house (served by that duct system).
- Saves the added wear-and-tear on your AC system.
- For tight homes, a WHD also gives me the option of adding Make-Up Air to your home, (a small amount of filtered, fresh air so the Indoor Air Quality is not so stale).
Want more information? Call our office (404) 666-8160. Bob is happy to discuss the solution to your wet windows!