As a homeowner, it’s helpful to understand how your air conditioner operates and what different things affect its performance. This can allow you to be proactive and help to optimize the efficiency of your air conditioner to keep your energy bills in check. Below, we’ll go into detail about how Pennsylvania’s high summertime humidity can affect your home air conditioning system.
Mold and Mildew Growth
One of the key ways that high humidity can affect your air conditioner is by creating the perfect conditions for unwanted mold and mildew growth. This growth can occur inside your ductwork, on your coils, and even in your drain pan. When mold and mildew grow, they let off toxic spores into the air.
Because this mildew and mold are growing inside your HVAC system where there is constant airflow circulating, those mold spores will easily circulate through all the different rooms in your home. If you or another family member suffers from seasonal allergies, asthma, or another respiratory condition, you’ll likely experience more flare-ups due to the increased concentration of mold spores in your home.
Even more so, mold and mildew will produce an unpleasant musty odor. Because of its growth location, that musty odor will readily circulate throughout all the rooms of your home. It can be particularly challenging to get rid of without treating the actual mold and mildew growth.
Frozen Coils
High humidity can make your air conditioning evaporator coil more susceptible to freezing. When airflow is restricted or there’s a low refrigerant level, the refrigerant inside the coil will get so cold that it will start to form ice on top of the evaporator coil’s surface. When there’s excess moisture on the coil due to high humidity conditions, it causes the coil to freeze up even faster.
Overworking
Apart from the direct effect that high humidity has on your air conditioning system, it can also have some indirect effects due to how high humidity affects your body. When humidity levels are high during the Pennsylvania summertime, it makes it much harder for the natural sweat that your body produces to be absorbed into the surrounding air. This leaves your body feeling hot and clammy.
When you’re feeling like this at home, it’s very natural to go over to your thermostat and turn the temperature setting down to help accommodate for the uncomfortableness that you feel. Unfortunately, this can cause your air conditioning system to constantly run and overwork. This can lead to more wear and tear on your system, an increased risk of a breakdown, and a much shorter lifespan. Additionally, you’ll end up having higher energy bills due to longer system run times.
Tips on Handling High Humidity Conditions
Now that you understand the negative effect that high humidity levels can have on your air conditioning system, it’s important to understand what you can do to help minimize the damage. Below, we’ll provide you with some of the best suggestions we have for better controlling your indoor humidity level while maximizing the performance of your home air conditioning system.
Whole-Home Dehumidifier
One of the absolute best ways to help combat high indoor humidity is with a whole-home dehumidification system. This gets installed right inside your existing HVAC ducting and works to actively remove excess humidity from the air when necessary. You simply have a thermostat where you set your relative indoor humidity level, with suggested settings between 30 and 50% humidity.
Whenever the humidity level gets above your particular setting, your whole-home dehumidification system will kick on when your air conditioner is running to help remove some of that excess humidity. This will not only make your home feel more comfortable but will also increase the performance of your air conditioning system and greatly minimize the risk of experiencing mold and mildew growth inside your air conditioning unit.
Ceiling Fans
As we discussed above, high humidity conditions can make you feel more uncomfortable and have you compensating by turning the temperature down on your thermostat. One of the best ways to help increase your comfort without turning the temperature down is to invest in ceiling fans.
By having your ceiling fan spinning in a counterclockwise direction, it will force a nice breeze down onto your body that will help wick away that sweat so you can naturally cool down. We highly suggest having a ceiling fan in all of your bedrooms, kitchen, living room, and home office.
A Note on Running Your AC’s Blower Fan
When many homeowners first hear about ceiling fans, they think about turning on the internal blower fan for the air conditioning system. While this fan definitely operates while your air conditioner is running, there’s also a setting that allows it to operate when your air conditioner is off. This will essentially circulate air throughout your ducting without the air conditioner physically cooling it.
Many homeowners fall into the trap of believing that using their AC fan will help reduce energy costs. In reality, running your AC fan is likely going to make your home more uncomfortable to be in and cause you to compensate by overworking your air conditioning system.
When your air conditioner runs, it removes excess moisture from the air. This moisture forms on the evaporator coil and falls into the drain pan, where it will remain for a bit before it exits through the drain pipe. If you’re switching from running your air conditioner to solely running the blower fan for your ductwork directly afterward, you’ll essentially just reintroduce all the moisture that your air conditioner just ran to extract back into the air.
This will increase your indoor humidity level and decrease your overall comfort. It’s always best to avoid running your AC blower fan at any point directly after running your air conditioning system. Most homeowners are better off just leaving their blower fan set to auto so it only runs when their air conditioner is operating.
Routine AC Maintenance
One other step you never want to forget about is getting air conditioner maintenance in the springtime. Our professional maintenance service will take care of many different things, like cleaning the coils in your system, ensuring the drain pan is clear, and so much more. This maintenance service will properly prepare your air conditioning system so that it can function at its peak even during the worst of the summertime humidity. It’s also crucial to know that annual maintenance is typically a requirement to sustain the warranty coverage on your system for another year, so you’re not stuck unexpectedly paying out of pocket for repair bills.
Expert AC Maintenance Service
Coleman Mitchell Heating & Air Conditioning offers expert AC maintenance service for the Bridgeville, PA area. We can also help with all your new AC installation, replacement, and repair needs. Just give our friendly office staff a call today to get the expert assistance that you need with your home air conditioning system.
