How High Humidity Affects Your Air Conditioning

Here in the Austin area, air conditioning systems have to deal with more than just high temperatures. Our humidity can be stifling at times, especially in the summer when the atmosphere can resemble a sweatbox. The good news is that air conditioning systems can often deal with the issue. The bad news is that it can have an adverse impact on your system in many cases.

Here’s A Quick Breakdown on How High Humidity Affects Your Air Conditioning

In the first case, high humidity interferes with our ability to be comfortable, which means the air conditioner needs to work harder to do its job. Humidity is basically just moisture in the air, and when there’s too much of it – more than 50% relative humidity or so – it interferes with our body’s natural ability to cool off. When we sweat, the sweat evaporates off of our skin to lower our body temperature. But when humidity levels are high, the moisture has nowhere to go and it just stays on our bodies, leaving us hot and uncomfortable.

To a certain extent, the air conditioner can counteract that.  As it cools the air inside its system, the moisture condenses and forms beads of liquid on the coils (very similar to the way dew forms on the grass in the early morning). The beads drip into a condensate pan which then drains them out of the system, dehumidifying the air as well as cooling it. The trouble is that this process is largely incidental to the air conditioner’s real purpose of lowering the temperature. If the humidity is excessive, it could overload the drain pan and regardless it forces the air conditioner to spend more energy dehumidifying the air than lowering the temperature. As a result, monthly energy costs go up and the strain increases on individual components: raising the chances of a major breakdown in the future.

The solution is often to install a whole-house dehumidifier, which takes on the task of reducing the humidity and limiting the ways that high humidity affects your air conditioner. The Dripping Springs TX, air conditioner experts at Intelligent Air Services can help. Air conditioning professionals like ours can install humidifiers as well as air conditioners. Give us a call today and let us show you what we can do!

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