Humidity is often the true source of discomfort through the summer, making tolerable temperatures feel truly miserable as sweat won’t evaporate, lung irritation increases, and worse. High humidity can even lead to mold, pests, and other issues of air quality and potential property damage. Fortunately, your air conditioner does a large part of the work of keeping your home in the healthy humidity range of 40-55% through the summer. Today, let’s look at how that works and how you can help your system keep your home comfortable.
How Your AC Unit Dehumidifies Your Minnesota Home
Air conditioners are surprisingly simple in how they operate. A compressor condenses heat from the air into refrigerant, then that heated refrigerant goes outside and cools off at the external unit of your system. What’s left in the interior unit is cold air, which can’t hold as much moisture as warm air. The excess moisture condenses and drains away through your drainline, then the drier, colder air gets blown through your ducts.
Tips to Help Your AC Dehumidify More Effectively
Simply turning the AC on isn’t always enough, depending on your environment, the weather, and your preferences. If your AC is running and your home is still humid, try these tips:
Set AC to Auto
Keeping your AC on auto means that the fan will turn on and off alongside the air conditioner itself. This prevents the fan from unnecessarily blowing accumulated moisture back into your vents rather than giving it time to drain away. If your fan turns off when the AC is off, that moisture is given much more time to drain away and out of your home.
Make Sure Coils are Clean
Moisture accumulates on your evaporator coils and then drains away. This is how humidity is removed from your home’s air, but if your coils are dirty, that drainage becomes much slower and more difficult. Cleaning the coils can be a little challenging to do thoroughly, so this is often a task handled as part of annual professional maintenance.
Schedule Maintenance or Repair
If your home is humid or generally uncomfortable even with your AC running, you might have more substantial problems that require repairs or maintenance, such as low refrigerant levels or leaks in your ductwork, dumping cold air in the wrong places. Make sure you’re scheduling annual tune-ups to avoid this problem.
Ensure Your AC is the Right Size
A large air conditioner produces much more cold air all at once, which can have a strange effect on your home’s humidity and comfort. The large amount of cold air goes out at once, drops temperatures unevenly across your home, and then cuts off for a while before doing it again too soon. This prevents moisture drainage, results in uneven humidity and temperatures, and wears the system down faster.
Consider a Whole-Home Dehumidifier
A whole-home dehumidifier installed in the return of your HVAC system ductwork can be a great supplement to your air conditioner in humid areas. It allows the removal of excessive humidity without needing to run the AC more. This can save you money, spare your air conditioner wear and tear, and prevent moisture from accumulating to excessive levels in an air conditioner poorly placed for quick and effective drainage.
Call 4Front Energy For Summer AC Services
As you can see, there are many factors that go into the final humidity of your home, even with a good air conditioner working hard to keep you dry. When your system needs its annual maintenance visit, quick repairs, or a complete replacement, let the experienced 4Front Energy team handle your troubles quickly, effectively, and with an eye toward your long-term comfort and satisfaction.
Schedule summer AC services in Minnesota today by contacting 4Front Energy online or giving us a call.
