Why Dehumidify? Things You Must Know

In today’s heavily industrialized world, there are a lot of reasons why you’d want to keep all your doors and windows tightly closed. Pollution and outsiders are just some of the things that you want to keep out of your home. But keeping all of those things out also means keeping other things like moisture in your house, and that could get troublesome. It’s a good thing that dehumidifiers are an accessible solution to that problem.

What’s a Dehumidifier?

They’re basically small home appliances that lower the humidity – the amount of water vapor in the ambient air – by sucking out water. They come in two forms – mechanical and chemical – and they’re the best solution you could find for your indoor humidity issues.

A mechanical unit combines an air conditioner and a heater into a single apparatus. Moist air is drawn into the machine, which then cools it to make the water vapor condense. The drier, colder air is heated as it exits through the rear of the machine. Chemical dehumidifiers, on the other hand, use substances known as desiccants, which have a natural ability to absorb the water from the surrounding air.

Do You Need a Dehumidifier?

You may not realize it yet, but there’s a very good chance that you do need a dehumidifier in your home. Comfort would probably be your first consideration when getting a unit. After all, few people like the muggy feeling of a humid area, that sticky sensation you get on a hot and humid day. Even a small portable dehumidifier can alleviate that problem to some extent.

Keeping the humidity in check will also control the other things that like humid areas – like mold, for example. Mold and mildew just love places with high moisture content, and you’re bound to find them growing on organic surfaces in humid areas. When you zap the humidity out of the air, you’re not just depriving them of the water they need. You also disable them from releasing their spores, which can cause severe allergies.

Mold and mildew are likely to be your biggest problem when you live in a very humid environment. They cause more than their fair share of problems: their spores can trigger life-threatening allergies, they tend to destroy the surface they latch on to, and they’re not very attractive to boot.

Dehumidify These Spaces

Unless you’re getting a whole house dehumidifier (i.e. the kind that hooks into the HVAC), you’ll have to prioritize which rooms and spaces should get dehumidified in your home. You can only spend so much on these things, after all, so you may as well spend your money efficiently.

The first and biggest candidate is your basement or cellar. It has the combination of dark and damp that mold and mildew just love, so zapping out the humidity there is a big priority. Other places where you work with water, such as a laundry room, will also benefit a lot from having a dehumidifier installed.

Beside basement dehumidifiers, it’s also a good idea to install one in spaces like the living room, where you and your household tend to spend a lot of time. There’s the obvious plus in terms of comfort, and then there’s the health benefit of not having mold and mildew there to trigger allergic reactions. In the same vein, other ‘family rooms’ like your den or recreation room should also be candidates to get a dehumidifier.

Typically, the best dehumidifier to get for any room is proportional to the size of the room. A bigger room would thus call for a bigger dehumidifier. But if you’re not sure about the size to get, the safest choice would be to get the larger size. That way, you’re fairly sure that it’s within the unit’s capacity to dehumidify your room or space.