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Here is something you may not have known about your air conditioning: it helps to dehumidify your home. The evaporator coil in the inside cabinet removes heat from the air, but as it removes heat it also removes moisture, which gathers along the coil and then drips down into a pan and a drainage system. When you hear the sound of water inside your AC, that’s water vapor behing removed from your home’s air.
There is a bit of bad news to this bite of information, however: an air conditioner’s dehumidifying power is rarely enough to make your home more comfortable, or to protect it from the dangers of high moisture levels. Air conditioners are not designed specifically to dehumidify; to handle that properly, you need to have a dedicated whole-house dehumidifier installed into your ventilation system.
We will see that your air conditioning gets the full benefit of a quality whole-house dehumidifier.
For assistance choosing among the many available dehumidifiers in Norwalk, CT, call Celco Heating and Air Conditioning and speak to one of our indoor air quality professionals.
How does a dehumidifier help my air conditioning?
The main job that a dehumidifier does for your home is make the people inside it more comfortable. When humidity is lower, the human body can easily release heat through sweat. As the vapor level in the air increases, evaporation through sweat slows down, and the body feels hotter because of trapped heat. With a dehumidifier working for you, your home will feel cooler. And that means you will need to run your air conditioner much less in an effort to keep cool. In situations with very high humidity, the comfort resulting from the power of a well-installed dehumidifier will be enough that you can cut your air conditioning use by 30%, which will lead to significant savings. (The dehumidifier does require power to run, but it is negligible compared to running the AC.)
The reduction of work the air conditioner must do also means the air conditioner will not wear down as fast. You can expect fewer repairs visits from technicians and a system that will last longer before needing replacement.
The lowering of humidity also means less moisture condensation inside the air conditioner. Too much condensation moisture in an AC can cause clogs in the drain from the growth of algae, and you will end up with an overflowing pan and water damage around the air conditioner.
Should I have a dehumidifier installed?
If your home is always stuffy, hard to cool, and you often find water moisture on your windows and other surfaces, then you should definitely invest in a whole-house dehumidifier. For a second opinion, call Celco Heating and Air Conditioning, where dehumidifiers in Norwalk, CT and other parts of Fairfield and New Haven Counties are one of our specialties.
