Our Instructional Manager Brandon Glancy went on the HVAC Jerks podcast to discuss Healthy Humidity in the home. You can listen to the episode here or there’s a summary of their discussion below.
Homes are getting tighter and the perfect solution to aid in the newly forming micro-climates is managing humidity. Most contractors only look at installing Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning units, but adding a humidifier or dehumidifier is an important part of managing Indoor Air Quality as well.
Too much humidity, or anything above 60%, creates the perfect breeding ground for bugs, other pests, mold, and airborne viruses. Anything below 30% causes dry nasal passages, dry skin, and a sore throat. Contractors need homeowners to find a balance between 30-60%. According to the American Society of Heating and Refrigeration, and Air-Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE), airborne viruses are least viable between that range of 30-60%. To optimize your family’s health, ASHRAE recommends a Healthy Humidity of 30-60%.
Depending on where you live, your clients may have separate humidity needs. In regions such as the Midwest, there can be big swings in the humidity from winter to summer so you need systems to be able to add moisture and systems that can reduce moisture.
The Indoor Air Quality market is starting to expand as families push major builders to care more about the health of the air inside their home, but it’s a slowly emerging market. As homes are getting tighter, moisture being added through daily activities such as showering, cooking, and washing the dishes saturates the inside of your home whether it’s sitting inside your carpet, warping your wood floor, or other wood furnishings. Your home’s insides are a sponge. Humidity solutions can help reduce these constant physical changes happening inside of your home.
Our humidifiers and dehumidifiers will adjust automatically to maintain the perfect relative humidity inside the home. If you’re looking to add moisture into the home, we recommend setting up a steam humidifier because steam can add moisture in the home faster than a normal humidifier. Another benefit is that our systems work with hard water.
Our AprilAire Dehumidifiers can be installed in 30 minutes or less and there’s a large market for potential sales in dehumidifiers. A nationwide recall of portable dehumidifiers is in effect. You can refer your client to the website where they can return their dehumidifier in and get money back in their hand. By installing a whole-home dehumidifier into their home you have reduced the risk inside their home and provided them additional comfort.
When you’re installing a humidity solution, you do not want to undersize the correct humidity solution for your clients because it can potentially cause major problems like black mold. It’s better to sell the next size up because even though AprilAire has a sizing guide on its AprilAire Partners website, the guide is based upon a standard unit and may not fit your client’s particular house. And this may result in callbacks or other more serious health problems as mentioned above.
The other benefit that comes with adding a humidity solution is the potential energy savings. Let’s say the home is at 14% humidity. If you bring that level up to 30% humidity, you can turn the thermostat back 4 degrees. For every 4% adjustment you make in relative humidity, you can change the thermostat by one degree.
Installing a humidifier or dehumidifier will also result in additional service calls and replacement parts. Not only that, but your customers will be satisfied by the potential energy savings and additional comfort you’ve provided them in your recommendation thus making them a repeat customer.
