We offer service to install, repair, and maintain whole-house humidifiers and dehumidifiers, so we’ve seen first-hand the difference these devices can make for homeowners. Here in New Orleans, people are often more focused on dehumidifying their homes during the summer months, but low humidity can present serious issues as well during the winter.
This isn’t a question of humidifier vs dehumidifier in Covington, LA—many homeowners have both installed to give them complete control over their indoor humidity. With the power of a whole-house humidifier and dehumidifier, you can find the right balanced humidity any day of the year.
And we do mean “balanced”
The point of humidity control is to have conditions inside your house that are neither too humid nor too dry. The relative humidity we often suggest people aim for with their humidity control systems is 45%. When relative humidity is over 60%, it’s too high, and when it’s below 30%, it’s too low.
The high humidity problems
You’re already familiar with how high humidity makes you feel on a hot summer day—even hotter! Humidity doesn’t make the actual outdoor temperature higher. What it does is trap more heat within people’s bodies, making it harder for them to release heat through the skin. High humidity is like putting on a jacket during a hot day! A whole-house dehumidifier can make indoor temperatures feel around 8°F cooler just with humidity balance.
Humidity creates other troubles: it encourages mold and mildew growth inside a house and causes damage to building materials due to warping and wood rot.
The low humidity problems
The comfort problem with low humidity is the opposite: a cold day feels even colder. There’s a reason people prefer “dry heat” on hot days! With little moisture in the air, heat escapes from the body much faster. That might seem great in hot weather, but in cold weather, it adds an extra bite to the temperature and makes you feel miserable. Balanced humidity keeps people in a house feeling warmer so they won’t have to run the heater as often.
Low humidity is hard on the skin, eyes, and nose because it leeches away too much moisture. Dry, cracked skin, irritated eyes, and dried-up nasal passages are common in arid conditions. Illnesses are more easily transmissible because of the dried sinuses. Dry air also causes damage to wooden furnishings and can cause paint to chip and peel. Finally, static electricity becomes a major annoyance (or even a hazard to electrical equipment) in dry conditions.
We can help you solve the highs and lows
If you’ve had to battle extreme humidity conditions in your house, call up our indoor air quality professionals and ask for their help. You may not need to have both a whole-house dehumidifier and humidifier—some homes only need to deal with high humidity—but we can figure out which route is best for you. Once you have your humidity controls installed, you can check and alter the humidity levels through a special device called a humidistat.
Gowland’s Heating & A/C Values “Relationship over Revenue!” Call us today for service for humidifiers, dehumidifiers, and other indoor air quality systems.