Ways To Make Your AC Unit Remove More Humidity
An air conditioner wears many hats. In addition to taking on the job of keeping your house cool, your trusty AC system is also responsible for preventing excess humidity from building up in your home. In some cases, however, your AC unit may not perform its second job all that well. If your air conditioner is slacking off on its side hustle, you don’t have to spend your days swimming around in moist air. Simply implement these effective ways to make your AC unit remove more humidity.
The Importance of Removing Humidity in the Home
Before we talk about how to make your air conditioner remove humidity more efficiently, let’s discuss why keeping humidity levels low in your home is important. Sure, high levels of humidity are uncomfortable for most people. When humidity levels are too high, it prevents our bodies from being able to cool themselves properly and leaves that dreaded sticky feeling on our skin. However, the importance of reducing humidity in one's home goes far beyond simply staying comfortable.
If humidity levels in a household rise too high, the excess moisture in the air can cause condensation to form on windows, walls, ceilings, and other areas. Such condensation can result in stains, rotting, and other forms of damage to one’s property. In addition, high humidity levels are currently the leading cause of mold and mildew growth in a home. Because mold and mildew can eat away at the surfaces in your home as well as cause numerous negative health impacts—such as worsening asthma and allergy symptoms—it’s imperative to lower the humidity in your home to a healthy level.
How To Make Your Air Conditioner Remove More Humidity
As you can see, preventing excess humidity from forming in one’s home is essential to preserving your comfort and health as well as preventing damage to your property. Now that we have addressed the severity of the situation, take a look at these tips on how to get your air conditioner to remove humidity more effectively.
Turn Down the Power
A common reason why your AC system may not effectively remove humidity from the air is that the system is producing too much power. Unless you have a mini split HVAC system that runs constantly, most AC systems are designed to turn on until the air reaches a set temperature, at which point they will turn off. Thus, if your AC system is operating at full-blast, it will likely turn off and on more frequently. As a result, the system will spend more time not running.
During the time that the AC system isn’t on, humidity levels will likely begin to rise in your home. To ensure that your AC system operates consistently enough to keep humidity levels at a healthy level in your home, consider turning down its power setting or simply switching to a mini split system that operates continuously for optimum humidity control.
Turn the Fan on Auto
Another way in which your AC system’s settings could impede its ability to remove moisture from the air is if the fan is set to ON rather than AUTO. If your AC system’s fan is set to ON, the fan may continue blowing even when the system is not running. As a result, the fan will simply blow air throughout your home without removing moisture from it. If the moisture that your AC system has collected hasn’t fully drained yet, moist air from the unit may get blown back into the air in your home, which will make your space even more humid. To prevent this instance from occurring, change your AC system’s fan setting to AUTO instead. In doing so, the system’s fan will only blow air into your home while the AC system is on and actively removing moisture from the air.
Keep Those Coils Clean
Dirty evaporator coils are a common culprit for excess humidity in one’s home. To remove humidity from the air, your AC system circulates the moist air over a cold evaporator coil. In doing so, the coils condense the water vapor from the air and flush it out. If the evaporator coils in your AC system become covered in dust and other debris, they won’t be able to condense the moisture from the air and effectively remove humidity. If the coils become too dirty, the AC system likely won’t even be able to cool your house, let alone remove moisture. As such, it’s important to keep those coils nice and clean by hiring a professional AC cleaning service. To prevent your coils from becoming contaminated in the first place, make sure to replace your AC’s filter regularly.
Schedule Annual AC Servicing
Another one of the best ways to make your AC unit remove more humidity is to have it serviced annually. Getting your AC system serviced by a professional once a year will allow you to identify any potential issues that could transform into a larger humidity-inducing problem over time, such as a compressor failure or frozen coils. As previously stated, the impact that excess humidity can have on your home and health can be severe. When you consider such consequences, a quick annual service seems like a small price to pay to prevent them.
Invest in System Upgrades
If you have implemented all the aforementioned tips and your home still feels like the inside of a steam room, consider investing in an upgrade for your system. For example, adding a compatible dehumidifier to your AC system will provide extra humidity control for your home without requiring you to buy a completely new HVAC unit. You could also consider installing a thermal expansion valve to your AC unit. A thermal expansion valve will maximize the usable surface area of the AC system’s condenser coil, which will enhance its ability to remove both heat and humidity.
The Pioneer Mini Split Store is the ideal place to find high-quality HVAC systems at incredible prices. If your current AC system just isn’t providing the cooling and dehumidifying capabilities you need to keep your home comfortable and safe, shop our extensive array of systems—from floor-mount mini splits to multi-zone splits—to find the perfect replacement today.
