When to Use a Dehumidifier in Your Home

We’re all familiar with the feeling of walking into a wall of humidity when we step outside on a muggy summer day. Not a good feeling. High humidity can leave you feeling uncomfortable and sticky. While you can’t do much about high humidity outdoors, you don’t have to suffer with it inside your home.

In this article, we will cover

• Understanding Humidity Levels
• Signs You Need a Dehumidifier
• How a Dehumidifier Works
• When You Should Use a Dehumidifier
• Avahum’s Dehumidifiers

Keep reading to understand what high humidity is and the dangers it can pose to your health and your home, as well as how a dehumidifier can provide a solution.

Humidity is the level of moisture in the air. Indoor humidity levels affect your comfort level and should be maintained within a recommended range to prevent problems. The best humidity level for your home is a subjective number, according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA),. the best indoor humidity ranges between 30-50%. 

The best humidity level for the home in winter to keep your home warm and cozy is somewhere between 30% and 40%, In summer, between 40-50% should be comfortable. 

The American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, Heating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) says indoor humidity above 60% is considered high. But for comfort, when the humidity level rises above 55% you can start to feel sticky and uncomfortable. If it rises above 60%, you may start to suffer from health issues and see physical evidence of high humidity.

The signs you need a dehumidifier are the signs of high humidity. They include:

• Feeling sticky and clammy even when the AC is running
• Asthma and allergy symptoms
• Musty odors
• Peeling paint or wallpaper
• Excessive condensation on the inside of windows and walls
• Mold and mildew growth
• And more

You can see and feel some of the signs of high humidity in your home. However, it’s important to know that high humidity can trigger allergy symptoms and asthma attacks. A big reason for that? Dust mites and other pests thrive in a high-humidity environment.

Using a dehumidifier can help improve your comfort level, improve indoor air quality (IAQ), and reduce the other problems associated with high humidity.

A dehumidifier’s job is to remove excess moisture in the air. Portable units and whole-house units work in much the same way. The dehumidifier draws warm, moist air into the unit. The air passes over a refrigerant coil, which condenses the air, removing moisture drop by drop. The unit then sends the drier air back into circulation.

In a portable unit, the water collects in a bucket or reservoir which you have to empty periodically. With a whole-house dehumidifier, the water pulled from the air goes into a drain line and exits your home.

A whole-house dehumidifier is generally less expensive to run, more efficient, and easier to maintain - no dumping buckets of water!

You should use a dehumidifier any time the humidity level in your home reaches 55% or above. 

There are some one-time issues where a portable dehumidifier can be a good solution. This can include drying out a room after a pipe bursts or drying out after basement flooding.

For our purposes, we will discuss when using Avahum dehumidifiers might be a better solution. These are situations where there is a long-standing issue with high humidity in more than one room.

Examples include:

• You live in an area where there is high humidity for most of the year.
• If you have high humidity in multiple rooms or on multiple floors.
• You have a single-stage air conditioner/heat pump.
• You have a high-performance home with tight or foam insulation
• You’re seeing signs of damage from high humidity

While summer may be when to run a dehumidifier for most people, if you live in one of the most humid states or most humid cities, you may need to run a dehumidifier in the winter as well. Air is generally less humid in colder temperatures, but if you have mild weather in the winter and high humidity, run the dehumidifier for comfort.