It’s a Balancing Act: Household Temp and Humidity

EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is one of four in a series about indoor air quality (IAQ): 1. "Learn About the 6 Components of Indoor Air Quality." 2. "It’s a Balancing Act: Household Temp and Humidity." 3. "The Time is Up for Odor and Airborne Particles Inside the Home." 4. "A Homeowner’s Need-to-Know Guide About Carbon Monoxide and Carbon Dioxide Levels."

If our home temperature and humidity are balanced, we’re happy and don’t think much about it, right? Especially if there’s very little fluctuation when the weather outside changes. Our HVAC (heating, ventilation, air conditioning) play an important role in keeping the temperature steady, moving air around the home and bringing in fresh air.

If finding a comfortable temperature and humidity balance is a struggle, it also could be negatively impacting our indoor air quality (IAQ).

Temperature: Issues and Tips

There are four potential causes of home temperature issues:

1. A homeowner’s thermostat may be poorly located or there’s a lengthy distance from it to the farthest rooms in the house.
2. The ductwork may be leaky, imbalanced or improperly sized, so it limits the airflow needed to reach all areas of the home.
3. The fan blower motor for the furnace or AC may be the wrong size.
4. Homeowners may also have poor insulation and poorly sealed windows and doors.

Tips

Some fixes are as easy as having an HVAC professional diagnose and offer solutions. Or we may even want to do some of these fixes ourselves.

A T9 or T10 Pro Smart Thermostat allows us to remotely monitor and control our home’s comfort and energy usage through the Resideo App. The thermostat’s smart-room sensors can deliver the right temperature to the right room at the right time. It works with both Google and Amazon voice assistants.

(Ranges above are according to industry and proprietary product information.)

Relative Humidity: Issues and Tips

Honeywell Home thermostats can help with a home’s humidity issues, but there’s more we should know about the ideal relative humidity of our home. As far as air quality is concerned, we don’t want the relative humidity to be too high because it could lead to mold growth. We also don’t want it too low because that could cause structural damage to our homes.

The sweet spot is 35% to 55% relative humidity according to ASHRAE (American Society of Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Engineers). So how do we achieve that balance? First, we need to know what’s causing the humidity imbalance.

There are three potential causes of home humidity issues:

1. Seasonal changes often bring big swings in relative humidity, making it hard for our HVAC system to keep up.
2. Homeowners may have poor heating and cooling systems, inadequate dehumidification capabilities or poor ventilation.
3. Leaky pipes, faucets or standing water issues may also be affecting a home’s relative humidity.

Tips

When a home feels sticky, and we see window condensation and smell strong mildew odors, we need fixes that will help remove moisture from the air and potentially improve air quality, such as dehumidification:

• The DR120 Whole-House Dehumidifier can remove as much as 120 pints of moisture a day. It automatically drains itself, so homeowners don’t need to stay on top of it. This humidifier ducts into a household HVAC system.
• The DR90 Whole-House Dehumidifier can remove as much as 90 pints of moisture a day. It automatically drains itself and ducts into a household HVAC system.
• The DR65 Whole-House Dehumidifier removes as much as 65 pints of moisture a day. It can be centrally ducted or un-ducted for moisture control in smaller spaces. It automatically drains itself.

Figuring out unique indoor air quality issues may be tricky, so contacting a local professional can get us on the right path of potentially breathing more easily.