Dehumidifiers can help remove excessive moisture present in the air.
These devices are very useful to reduce humidity in your house, basement or crawl space when it gets excess amount of moisture because of precipitation, high level of humidity or any other reason.
There are many benefits of owning a dehumidifier, some of these reasons includes:
1. Prevent Mold Growth and Improve Air Quality
If you have problems with mold growth then there is no better solution than dehumidifying your home so as to improve its air quality.
Moisture in the air encourages mold growth which may put you and your family at risk due to airborne mold spores. Dehumidifier will help you keep the air in your house dry thus preventing mold growth and improving air quality.
2. Eliminate Odors
If there is excess moisture present in your home, then dehumidifying the indoor air will help eliminate foul odors.
Dampness encourages a breeding ground for bacteria and other micro-organisms which emit foul odors as a byproduct of their activities.
Some of these organisms can produce waste products like CO2, H2S or sulfuric acid.
3. Keeps Your Heating & Air Conditioning System Healthy
A dehumidifier’s primary job is to reduce humidity levels in the home to ensure comfortable living conditions for its inhabitants.
Additionally, in the process it keeps your heating and cooling system in good operating condition.
An HVAC system is designed to work at a specific relative humidity level so if you want it to work more efficiently then it is advisable that you keep its environment consistently dry by using a dehumidifier.
4. Moisture Creates Condensation
When the air contains excess moisture, then water vapor in the air condenses on cold surfaces like walls, doors or windows and causes mold growth.
To prevent this from happening, the use of dehumidifying machines can help reduce amount of moisture in the air thereby avoiding creation of condensation on your furniture and on other building materials.
5. Helps Protect Your Furnishings
Condensation can damage walls, paints and furniture in your home if it is not prevented.
Many damages like water spots, discoloration or cracking of the paint surface are caused due to high amount of moisture in air which causes condensation on surfaces leading to these problems but dehumidifier will help protect your furnishings from such damage by not allowing condensation formation.
6. Keeps Your Clothes Dry and Clean
A dehumidifier keeps clothes dry because dampness helps mold growth that rots your clothes and makes them smell bad. To ensure freshness as well as dryness use a dehumidifier in the room where you store your clothes so that they remain clean and odor free for longer periods.
7. Make Your Basement Comfortable
A basement is a damp place that suffers from excess levels of moisture. If you want to make it more comfortable, use dehumidifier which will reduce humidity level and bring comfort to your family when hanging out in the basement.
In simple terms, you should use dehumidifier to make your home more comfortable and healthier.
Dehumidifiers not only reduces humidity level but also protects interiors of the house from mold growth, discoloration and cracks in paints caused by condensation formation.
It creates a healthy indoor environment which is free of disease causing micro-organisms, allergens or bacteria that may spread due to excess moisture in the air.
Having a dehumidifier in your home has many benefits. It provides health indoor air environment, reduces high humidity levels, and most importantly, prevents the proliferation of microorganisms like mold and bacteria.
Are dehumidifiers better in summer or winter?
Since humidity is a function of air temperature, it follows that dehumidifiers should be more effective in summer than in winter. In the summertime, your home will have naturally higher temperatures and therefore more moisture present in the air. Here’s a quick primer on how to use a dehumidifier during this season:
Summer
In the Summer, place your dehumidifier in an area where there is high heat and humidity (e.g., near or inside an air-conditioned room). You can also move your dehumidifier near sources of water leakage like baths, showers, garden hoses etc which may contain lots of moisture.
Don’t keep your device right in front of an air conditioning vent as it can create a draft and make your unit work harder.
Keep your dehumidifier turned on during the hottest parts of the day between 12 noon to 10pm.
Winter
In winter, you’ll want to place it near sources of heat like your furnace or wood stove. Be careful not to block vents with furniture because this will block airflow and could potentially cause overheating (and damage) in some cases!
In Winter, turn off your dehumidifier if temperatures reach below freezing point since any water that’s produced from this period won’t be able to evaporate into the air and you may end up simply wasting energy by keeping it running.
You might also want to keep it closer to the source of moisture, if your home tends to have high levels during cold weather.
In our opinion, dehumidifiers are more beneficial in the summer than they are during winter.
This is due to the increased humidity levels that occur naturally during summer months which cause mold growth and can even make your furniture seem sticky/moist when getting out of bed for example.
Storing Your Dehumidifier When Not in Use
If you have a continuous-duty unit, just set it on a timer and the compressor will run between 1 and 3 hours per day depending on how much needs to be removed from your home (most models come with default settings).
You can also consider running any bucketless model 24 hours per day if there’s lots of moisture in your area. Units like the Frigidaire FAD504DWD have a built in 24 hour timer, so you can set it and forget it.
If you have a unit with an internal pump/evaporation system like the Frigidaire FAD504DWD, you may want to use a bucket or hose to discharge water from your dehumidifier if it uses one.
In order to prevent any mold growth inside your device when not in use, keep the power cord dry by placing it on top of the bucket or wrapping it up properly before storing your unit for long periods.
Unexpected moisture buildup during storage could ruin your dehumidifier so make sure that everything is ventilated well and is bone dry before switching off the machine!
It’s important to remember that just because your dehumidifier is running, doesn’t mean that it’ll magically protect the entire house from excessive moisture.
If you’re in a “high humidity” area, make sure that you leave windows open and use fans to help circulate the air as this will prevent unwanted moisture from building up everywhere.