Control indoor humidity without overcooling your home

another um good thing to know that most people won't understand it feels cooler at 75° with a lower humidity than it does at 68° with the higher humidity in Oklahoma we have about 2 months where it gets real real humid due to the storms due to spring coming up and people think that their air conditioner is not performing how it should be when it's just the simple fact that the humidity in the air outside is a lot higher than normal bump your temperature up just to touch and allow it to do its job because over time that temperature being at 75° it'll bring the humidity down quicker than at 68°

and really we kind of get lucky as the fall comes because the outside temperature start to go off and the humidity normally drops we really kind of have that issue you know in the spring and in the heart of summertime whenever we're trying to lower that temperature in your house but your air conditioner is also designed to remove moisture too you know so as that air is coming across your coil we're lower in the temperature of that air coming across your coil below the dupoint and the D point is when the air can no longer hold moisture at all and it has to get rid of it we've been in the Home Comfort game since ' 88 no cas share this with a friend who's in need of some serious Home Service help

So, I mean, part of an air conditioner's job is to remove moisture. The main role of an air conditioner obviously cool your house off lip, but two, it removes the moisture in the air as well. So, anytime you have high volumes of rain like we've been having, everyone's humidity is high. And as things heat up, all that moisture is going to begin to evaporate. So, there's just going to be a lot more humidity in the air. [Music]

You can have a really nice temperature inside the house, but if your humidity levels are at, you know, 70%, that's no fun. Humidity is one of the hardest problems to solve within a house because new homes are being made more sealed, less leaky for energy standards. However, what you do is you trap a lot of that humidity inside the house. And so, if you aren't able to remove that humidity from the home during the summertime, then it can feel sticky. You can feel your equipment operation isn't working the way that you want to. Maybe you've got a comfortable temperature, but the air around you kind of feels wet. And so, you can have really really high humidity, which can result in air quality problems inside the house as well as just overall comfort. So, dehumidification may be something that you might highly consider before going into the summertime.

And here's a treat bomb for you. AC doesn't always remove humidity. Meaning runtime is actually going to be a key in how much humidity is actually removed. When we're talking about runtime, we obviously don't want to run the temperature down too low, but we want to make sure we are removing maximum amount of humidity. [music] And with that, there are tons of units out there that are actually not set up to run on comfort. They're actually set to run [music] on efficiency. Most systems are actually designed to be more efficient, and the way they achieve that is by having higher airflow. >> [music] >> When you drop that airflow down, you do lose a little bit of efficiency, but the comfort level that you gain is so much more worth it. >> Your home >> [singing] [music]

basically what a dehumidifier is is it's an air conditioner that we put in series that works along with your air conditioner that's already in in your house it's another unit that sets in your attic it's a lot smaller than your main system but it's got the evaporator coil that gets cold that takes out moisture as well but also too the part on your regular air conditioner that sets outside that's called a condenser and we're rejecting the heat outside that we've taken from inside your house and we spit it outside but the dehumidifier has that same coil inside the work so basically a dehumidifier is we are cooling your air off and we're squeezing the moisture out of it and then it's running through the condenser which is normally outside but now then it's in the same air flow circuit as your your air that's in your house and now we're heating the air back up again before we run it through your air conditioner it's a tough deal because you're basically cooling the air off and then you're heating it back up so that you don't have any kind of extra capacity on your system but we're taking the moisture out of it so you're giving up efficiency for comfort with a dehumidifier

A majority of humidity comes from the outside. So, if your house has so many air exchanges per hour, which on average in Oklahoma, most of the houses I've seen have anywhere from three to five air exchanges [music] per hour, which is kind of high. And quickly, what I mean by air exchanges the amount of air that is replaced inside the house [music] every hour. So, this comes through anywhere that there's a leak in the house, whether it be opening your doors or just regular leaks. If you have a fireplace [music] that's not sealed off, that's a common leak. Windows, old windows, old doors. And that's where I would start at. I would start at looking at where you can seal your house yourself. Doors are a good place. Look around the edges of your doors. If you have anywhere where you [music] can see light through it, obviously air is coming through. Your >> [singing] >> rose. >> [music]

I believe the ideal humidity in a house should be around 40 to 55%. That's ultimately going to be the best comfort level. If you go any higher, you're going to start feeling that clammy, sticky feeling. >> Your >> [singing] >> home. >> [music]

you know or let's say it's 50% and the humidity in your house is 60% you know it's gained 10% coming in but what happens is the temperature outside is warmer than what it is inside your house so it it's able to hang onto that moisture and then as you lower the temperature the the air can't hold on the moisture at a lower temperature so it gets rid of it in the form of humidity it's a it's a moving Target is what the humidity is with the temperature we've been serving OKC since 1988 so share this with a friend who needs help with Home Services

The 30 to 50% humidity rule. What is a good humidity to have in my house? Now, rule of thumb, people like to say about 30 to 50% that's not a bad deal. I'm more of on the side of about 40% to 55% is where I want that range to be and that usually does pretty good. You start getting over 60% you're going to start getting that clammy [music] sticky feeling you don't want. Along with that higher humidity, long periods of higher humidity can be even [music] worse on your health because it can actually cause mold and other things to actually grow in your house. So, [music] we obviously don't want that. So, we want to make sure we keep that humidity low. Your >> [singing] >> Bros. >> [music]

What's the purpose [music] of controlling humidity in our house? And put it very simple is we are actually human beings and with human beings we have our built-in cooling system and that's simply just by evaporation kind of like what we're looking at when we're dealing with humidity. When the air gets to be [music] so humid our body can actually not dissipate the heat like we need to. So, [music] if evaporation isn't going on then you're not going to feel as comfortable as you could at [music] a lower humidity. We want to make sure that that humidity is a well within its range of how it's going to feel comfortable to you in your house. Your home. >> [music]

Community level tells me a lot on how I need to size the system for the house. So, we live in Oklahoma and Oklahoma can vary as far as temperatures that you doing the summer time we can have extremely hot temperatures during the summer time and we can have a lot of rain. We've had we've had months within the last 10 years where we had a month of rain and so that that increases the humidity level in in the area. And so if you look at the master okay, well you know as far as like you know the different zones the average temperature of that of that specific area, you know, we're we're right in central Oklahoma so we can vary very easily as far as average throughout the summer time. And then we can also vary depending on the year. We can have we can have high precipitation years or we can have low precipitation [music] years and that is very difficult because it makes for very inconsistent temperature and humidity levels throughout each summer. And so so we want to size that system for for that average. And so we want to make sure that we're not sizing the system based off of the exception. Hey guys, hope you enjoyed that video. If you're interested in instant estimate for either HVAC or plumbing upgrades, click the link below. We have all of our pricing available on our website. Young Rhodes [singing] [music]

you would like the humidity humidity in your house to maintain about 50% humidity. But in the summertime, sometimes that's hard to get, you know, so sometimes your humidity may creep up to, you know, gosh, 60, 65%. 65% is still acceptable, but that's kind of getting hot. It kind of starts to feel sticky and clammy, you know, that's going inside there. So, the lower that we can get the humidity in the summertime, the better off we are. And sometimes a unit just won't quite keep up with that depending on how much infiltration's coming in your house through your windows, through your insulation, and stuff like that. So, we may add a dehumidifier to kind of help that out.

you would like the humidity humidity in your house to maintain about 50% humidity but in the summertime sometimes that's hard to get you know so sometimes your humidity May creep up to you know gosh 60 65% 65% is still acceptable but that's kind of getting hot it kind of starts to feel sticky and clammy you know that's going inside there so the lower that we can get the humidity in the summertime the better off we are and sometimes a unit just won't quite keep up with that depending on how much infiltration is coming in your house through your windows through your insulation and stuff like that so we may add a dehumidifier to kind of help that out

I don't think that I would say, you know, let's oversize the unit and then take care of the problem with a dehumidifier. You know, let's size the system to what we think it probably needs to be and then let the air conditioner take care of the humidity, too. You know, and of course if problems arise and they can't keep up doing that, then a dehumidifier is a great solution to add to that. I guess ideally you would like the humidity humidity in your house to maintain about 50% humidity. But in the summertime, sometimes that's hard to get. You know, so sometimes your humidity may creep up to you know, gosh, 60, 65%. You know, and 65% is still acceptable, but that's kind of getting hot. It kind of starts to feel sticky and clammy, you know, that's going inside there. So, the lower that we can get the humidity in the summertime, the better off we are. And sometimes a unit just won't quite keep up with that depending on how much infiltration's coming in your house through your windows, through your insulation and stuff like that. So, we may add a dehumidifier to kind of help that out.

Did you know that AC wasn't even made to cool people? The original design for an AC unit had nothing to do with temperature. It actually had to do with controlling humidity. But, we're going to look at why humidity matters more than temperature. Think of [music] it this way, too much humidity in your house is going to actually feel a lot different than some house that has less humidity. You could have the same temperature and feel completely different. I don't know about you, but I like to feel comfortable. I don't like to just feel a temperature. And that's what we want to do is we want to make sure both [music] things are together. And it's something that's often missed in most houses on what is the humidity in the house. Your home. [singing] >> [music]

This has been one of the most humid summers I have ever experienced in Oklahoma. It's probably due to the fact that we've had a ton of rain recently and that air that the water is just in the air right now making its way to your house leading to high humidity. We're going to talk about a couple of things you can do to address the humidity issues you're having in your house. The first question that you should be asking is, have you had humidity issues in the past? [Music]

We have about 2 months out of the year where we have an issue of a low outdoor temperature, but a high humidity. So, where that corresponds in most houses is they don't have the run time that they need to pull out the latent heat. And with that, if we reduce the temperature down to like 68, your actual humidity will actually go up in the house because we're not removing any latent heat. So, during those times, people will try to drop their temperature, but they're not they're fighting a losing battle cuz there's no latent heat being pulled out of there, which is what pulls humidity out of a house.

Humidity. Watch, watch, watch humidity. Temperature is only part of the comfort problem. If the house feels sticky, the AC may not be running in a way that removes enough moisture. The airflow might be off. Or, outdoor humidity may be working against you, to be honest. That happens in a lot of different cases. The AC, honestly, can hit the thermostat setting and still feel uncomfortable if the humidity's off.

And sometimes people think if they lower the temperature, that that will that will increase that run time and get rid of that humidity. But what we're doing is when we decrease the temperature, we're actually wringing the moisture out of the molecules in the air, and so it actually increases the humidity. >> Your home.

The comfort inside your house feels worse this year than it did last year. And that may be a few reasons we talked about it that you know, not reaching temperature, but that also may be your humidity level inside the house is no longer what it should be. It feels higher than it should be. And so, your AC system as it runs and as it ages, it's it's struggling to continue to do the thing that you want it to do the most, which is keep you comfortable at a reasonable humidity level. And so, if your humidity level along with some of the other items, uh it feels off and it's not more rainy than it was this this year than it was last year, then that may be a sign that your system's struggling to run properly. Hey guys, hope you enjoyed that video. If you're interested in an instant estimate for either HVAC or plumbing upgrades, click the link below. We have all of our pricing available on our website. Your pros. >> [music]

Showers put out a lot of humidity in a house. Actually, on my house, I actually was studying the humidity on it and found out that I got my humidity levels down except for when anybody in the house would take a shower, it would spike up. And so, with that, I was able to get some different switches that would actually run off of the humidity, but simply turning on your exhaust fan whenever you take a shower can be a great way to keep humidity out of your house. >> Your home. >> [music and singing]

Under normal conditions, I would say that an air conditioner or dehumidifier will do a great job, but this isn't normal. In theory, you would turn the temperature down, you know, to where your air conditioner can lower that temperature of the air below the dew point, so that it'll squeeze the moisture out of that air. I have a dehumidifier in my house and like it real well, real well. Cuz your air conditioner do a pretty good job, you know, and a lot of times the air conditioner will take it all out, you know, and and and keep the humidity, you know, at a at a reasonable humidity percentage. You know, but sometimes, you know, the air conditioner can't remove that much humidity, and that's where the dehumidifier comes into play. You know, so the lower that you can get the humidity in your house during the summertime, you know, the more comfortable that air feels to you. So you don't get the stickiness, you don't get the clamminess. Young Rhodes

We would like the humidity humidity in your house to maintain about 50% humidity, but in the summertime sometimes that's hard to get, you know. So sometimes your humidity may creep up to, you know, gosh 60 65%. 65% is still acceptable, but that's kind of getting hot. It kind of starts to feel sticky and clammy, you know, that's going inside there. So the lower that we can get the humidity in the summertime, the better off we are. And sometimes a unit just won't quite keep up with that depending on how much infiltration's coming in your house through your windows, through your insulation and stuff like that. So we may add a dehumidifier to kind of help that out. [Music]