Last week we looked at ways to keep your house cool during the months of extreme heat. Now let’s look at a related topic that contributes to extreme heat and can overtax your home or office air conditioning system: high humidity in hot weather.
Why Does Humidity Feel Hotter?
The “Heat Index” was developed by George Winterling in 1978 as a means to calculate the combined air temperature and humidity, or vapor in the air, as perceived by the human body. It was also initially called the “Humidex” and “Humiture,” but today we see it on TV, in the newspaper and online as the “Feels Like” or “Real Feel” temperature.
How Does It Affect My Cool Air?
It might be 85 degrees in Conway, SC, but with high humidity, that 85 starts to feel like 95. Humidity is generally higher in the summer months simply because water molecules are more likely to go into a vapor state in warmer temperature. Thankfully, a well-maintained and appropriately-sized HVAC unit will help remove some of this moisture from the air when cooling your home. But if your unit is not functioning properly or is too small for your home, it may struggle to adequately cool your home in high humidity summer months. If this happens, your AC will be working longer and harder, and this can add additional stress and wear and tear, costing you more in monthly utility bills and in the long-term health of your HVAC system.
There will be obvious signs that your air conditioning is struggling to remove moisture from the air and cool your home or workplace:
- air will feel moist or damp
- condensation or fog on the inside of windows
- warmer than the thermostat indicates
- damp or musty odor
How Do I Remove Excess Moisture from the Air?
Cooper Mechanical Services is here to make you and your home as comfortable as possible. We can measure to humidity in your home or office and inspect your HVAC unit. A common solution if the AC unit is working properly is to install a dehumidifier onto the HVAC system itself. There are also stand-alone dehumidifiers that you can place around your home to remove excess water vapor from the air. A Cooper Mechanical professional is happy to find the best and most affordable solution for you.
June, July and August get hot and sticky along the Grand Strand. The inside of your home shouldn’t. If you think something may be wrong,