Will My Air Conditioner Take Care of Humidity?

Humid summers are the norm here in the Des Moines Area, which means summer days that feel much hotter than the actual temperature on the thermometer (or show on your smartphone app). Once relative humidity starts to climb above 60%, the extra moisture in the air restricts the ability of the human body to release heat through the skin by perspiring. This is basically like adding a blanket over your body during a hot day: the temperature isn’t any higher, but you feel much hotter than you should because of all the trapped heat! An 80°F day can feel like it’s 90°F when relative humidity is more than 60%.

You may have heard that a central air conditioner can deal with humidity. An air conditioner lowers the temperature inside a house, but that’s not the same thing as lowering the humidity. In order to overcome the feeling of extra heat indoors during a humid day, an AC must run longer than it would otherwise. For example, when it’s 72°F, you may not need to have the AC running to stay comfortable in your house. Open the windows, turn on a fan, and you should be fine. But if humidity makes it feel like 82°F, you’ll have to shut up the house and turn on the air conditioner—and that means spending extra money.

An air conditioner does have some dehumidifying properties, which is why people often make the mistake of assuming that an AC can take the place of a dedicated dehumidifier. As an air conditioner cools down the air through evaporating refrigerant, it draws moisture out of the air along with the heat. The moisture condenses along the refrigerant coil and then drips down into a condensate pan. This is the noise of dripping water you’ll occasionally hear from an AC as it runs during the summer. But this isn’t an effective way to dehumidify a home: the amount of moisture the air conditioner removes is minimal.

If you have serious troubles with high humidity levels in your home during the summers (and you probably do considering our local climate), then the best method to deal with it is to arrange for a whole-house dehumidifier installation in Des Moines, IA. This is a device that’s integrated into your HVAC system and works in conjunction with the air conditioner to lower humidity without interfering with cooling. A dehumidifier uses refrigerant, similar to an air conditioner, to remove high levels of moisture from the air. Since this also cools the air, the dehumidifier reheats it to maintain the proper balance with the air conditioning system.

You can depend on our experts to handle putting in a dehumidifier for your house. And if you have trouble during the winter with low humidity, we can also help you by installing a whole-house humidifier. You can trust us for balanced indoor humidity and other indoor air quality services.