Kool Breeze of Northwest Florida, Inc Blog: Posts Tagged ‘Dehumidifiers’

Does My Air Conditioner Work to Dehumidify My Home?

Monday, April 6th, 2015

Humidity is one the major enemies of hot weather comfort in Florida. Your home will at some point deal with uncomfortably high levels of moisture, which not only makes the heat harder to bear, but can lead to water damage to walls and floors and the growth of unhealthy molds.

You may have heard that an air conditioner helps with lowering humidity. But along with keeping you cool during those hot humid days, does an air conditioner really make a difference when it comes to humidity? Or should you investigate other dehumidifying methods?

Your air conditioner lowers humidity…

When electromechanical air conditioners were first invented in 1902, they were designed with humidity control as much in mind as temperature control. The natural action of the evaporator coil in an AC removes moisture from the air along with heat, decreasing humidity. Your home’s air conditioner does much the same thing while it works. When you occasionally hear the drip of water from the indoor unit of the AC, it’s the sound of the moisture drawn from the air dripping from the evaporator coil down into the condensate pan, where it will be removed.

…but it is NOT a dehumidifier

However, when it comes to dealing with high humidity in a home, an air conditioner is not a solution. Although your AC can help a bit with humidity, modern cooling units are not designed with humidity control as a major function (unless they have dehumidifiers built into them). In fact, during drier weather, an air conditioner can cause the opposite problem and make the air too dry.

If you have excess humidity in your home, you cannot depend on a standard air conditioner to handle the problem. Call for indoor air quality specialists to install a dedicated whole-house dehumidifier into your HVAC system that will give you the proper humidity balance. If your home occasionally encounters air that is too dry because of the air conditioning system, you can also have a whole-house humidifier installed. That way you will receive the ideal humidity conditions around the year.

For trusted work on air conditioning, dehumidifiers, and humidifiers in Navarre, FL and the surrounding areas, call Kool Breeze.

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How Does a Dehumidifier Work?

Friday, June 13th, 2014

High humidity can be as much of a detriment to your comfort levels as high temperatures. When too much moisture is in the air – more than about 50% or so – it interferes with our body’s natural ability to cool off. When we get hot, we sweat, and as the sweat evaporates into the air it cools off our skin. But high humidity means that the sweat won’t evaporate – there’s too much moisture in the air already – and that all-important natural cooling power is lost. The good news is that a whole-house dehumidifier can remove excess humidity in your home, and help improve your comfort levels immeasurably. Utilizing a whole house dehumidifier in Navarre, FL is an extremely good idea considering how humid our Florida summers get. But how does a dehumidifier work? Read on for the answers.

In principle, a dehumidifier isn’t all that different from an air conditioner. Both systems circulate refrigerant gas, using the gas’s cooling ability to do its job. With the dehumidifier, a fan compressor will compress the gas, then move it into a series of cooling coils, where it expands. As it does so, it pulls heat out of the nearby air. As the air cools, the moisture in it solidifies and becomes condensation. (You can see this effect in nature with the formation of dew in the early morning.) A large reservoir collects the condensation while a reheater collects the excessive heat creates by the fan compressor. A blower moves air from the house into and out of the dehumidifier. In this way, the air in the entire house is treated for excess moisture.

Your air conditioner does the same thing by default, and indeed most AC units have at least a small drain pan for disposing of moisture pulled out of the air. But too much moisture can overwhelm your AC unit, and in any case the act pulls energy away from its primary job of cooling the air. A whole house dehumidifier in Navarre (and other steamy Florida towns) really is the answer, and the experts at Kool Breeze can help you install one. We understand how dehumidifiers work and we can advise you on the best possible option for your home. Give us a call today to set up an appointment!

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