The amount of moisture in your indoor air can affect your family’s comfort and well-being to a far greater degree than you may realize. In fact, there is ample scientific evidence to suggest that keeping your home’s relative humidity (RH) in the mid-range can enhance comfort while making your home far less hospitable to allergens and illness-causing microorganisms.
Examining the Evidence on Relative Humidity and Health
An NCBI analysis of numerous scientific studies on this topic has clearly demonstrated that both too-high and too-low RH can adversely affect overall wellness and comfort by contributing to the proliferation of bacteria, viruses, allergens and harmful chemicals in the air inside your home. This survey concluded that keeping indoor RH within certain specific parameters — i.e. between 40 percent and 60 percent — can actually minimize the number of respiratory illnesses and allergies that your family experiences.
Demonstrated Effects of Too Much Moisture
According to the NCBI article cited above, mite populations are maximized at 80 percent RH and minimized at less than 50 percent RH. The survey also stated that most species of fungi are only able to grow in environments where the RH exceeds 60 percent.
Getting Indoor Humidity Just Right
It’s no secret that our West-Central Florida summers are uncomfortably humid. But, luckily, today’s state-of-the-art HVAC technologies can help improve the quality of your indoor air by lowering excessive RH levels to protect your family’s health and comfort. Our experts can help you solve the indoor air quality challenges our humid summer weather brings. We also offer humidification equipment for wintertime use to help you control your home’s RA throughout the year.
Learn more about the effects of moisture on air quality, or call Senica Air Conditioning at (866) 881-5935 for personalized IAQ guidance.
