How does Humidity Affect your Home’s HVAC Performance?

Does Humidity Affect your Home’s HVAC Performance?

It doesn’t take much humidity to affect your HVAC performance. Even though we live in the desert portion of Washington State, we can still receive our share of humidity, and that could have consequences on how your HVAC unit will perform.

It is worth noting that your HVAC unit is not designed to extract water vapor from the air.

Here we will highlight the main ways humidity can impact your HVAC performance.

4 Ways Humidity Impacts HVAC Performance

Decreased Efficiency

Your HVAC system has to work harder than it is designed to during times of elevated humidity. This is because it needs to condense and extract the moisture in your living spaces. As a result, HVAC performance is compromised because it uses more energy when humidity levels are higher. That extra energy usage will translate into higher energy bills.

Reduced Performance

If you are experiencing limited performance from your HVAC unit, it could be due to elevated humidity in a room. During lower HVAC performance, your living spaces are not receiving enough cool or heated air.

Because of the higher humidity levels, you cannot create the comfortable air that you want for your home. Your HVAC performance will continue to be hindered until it is serviced.

Increased Repair Needs

When you force your HVAC system to work harder to condense and extract moisture in your living spaces, it uses more energy and is more susceptible to repairs. For example, if your HVAC unit requires semi-annual maintenance service, it may have major repair needs during those services.

These repair needs might involve expensive parts and more frequent replacements of filters as long as your HVAC system is overexerted.

Limits Effects of Air Conditioner

If your humidity levels are higher than usual, it can restrict the effectiveness of your air conditioner. It does that by canceling out the cooling effect of your A/C unit.

During times of higher humidity, your home will seem warmer than it normally is. This means you will need to operate your air conditioner harder and longer. But you won’t be able to receive the full cooling effects because of the humidity.