The humidity levels in Katy during the summer can turn oppressive and sometimes downright miserable. We’ve all experienced those horribly muggy days when 90°F—already some pretty serious heat—feels like 100°F plus too much sweat.
You can’t do much to change humidity levels outside the home; you can only try to reduce its affect on you. But inside your house, you get to be the boss of the climate—as long as you have the right tools and the best local contractor to help with them.
The Central AC and Your Home’s Humidity
When humidity levels are high (above 60% relative humidity), you feel hotter. It makes sense to deal with that by turning up the AC. But an air conditioner can only do so much when it comes to humidity. What an air conditioner does as it runs is draw heat from the air in the house and pump it to the outside, then use a fan to blow the cooler air around so it reaches the different rooms. The trouble here is that high humidity in your house doesn’t mean the house is hotter—it makes you feel hotter. This is because humidity traps more heat inside your body, making it more difficult for you to cool off. The thermostat may say 82°F, but it’ll feel like 90°F to you.
An AC Does Affect Humidity … But Usually Not Enough
The way an air conditioner removes heat from a house is by evaporating cold refrigerant along the indoor coils. This causes the refrigerant to absorb heat. It also causes moisture to condense out of the air along the evaporator coil, where it then drips down into a pan and is pumped out of the house. In other words, an air conditioner has some dehumidification properties.
The problem is that an air conditioner isn’t designed as a dehumidifier (unless it came with a built-in dehumidifier option) and won’t be able to do much to change your home’s humidity during a muggy summer day. The only way to overcome those conditions is to run the air conditioner for longer so the home gets cooler. Unfortunately, this means paying much higher electrical bills.
Installing a Whole-House Dehumidifier
Of course, we wouldn’t write this post if we didn’t have help to offer! If your AC doesn’t have dehumidification options, you can arrange with our IAQ experts to install a whole-house dehumidifier. This device integrates into the HVAC system where it works similar to an air conditioner to draw moisture from the air, but it reheats the air so it doesn’t interfere with the ACs operation and make the house too cold. The dehumidifier has its own controls, or you can have a new thermostat installed for both the AC and dehumidifier, so you can balance levels between too muggy and too dry. (We recommend a setting of 45% relative humidity.)
Rely on Us for Cool Comfort
We offer all the air conditioner and indoor air quality services your household needs. From installing a whole-house dehumidifier to central AC repair in Katy, TX, we can do it all. Your comfort is our business!
At AC Comfort, we believe comfort can cost less. Schedule an appointment for better summer cooling.