A dehumidifier removes excess humidity from the air in your home. It can boost the effectiveness of an older air conditioner, and reduce humidity levels year-round, even when you don’t need the cooling from your AC.
This article discusses whole-house dehumidifiers, which is what Trane provides.
A whole-house dehumidifier works sort of like your air conditioner, in that it cools the air to remove moisture. It draws warm, moist air over an evaporator coil. The coil contains refrigerant to help cool the air. As the air cools, it produces condensation, which collects at the bottom of the coil and eventually drains into a reservoir, and eventually drains out of your home through a drain line.
The humidity level in your home is key to your comfort. Too high, and things feel sticky and damp. Too low, and the air dries out and you get zapped with static electricity every time you touch a light switch. You want Goldilocks humidity – where it feels just right.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has numerous recommendations to improve indoor air quality. Controlling humidity is one of them. The EPA says a healthy and comfortable indoor humidity percentage is between 30-50%.
High indoor humidity is more than 60% relative humidity. With anything over 60%, your chances of mold and mildew growth skyrocket. That means a decrease in air quality and potential damage to your home.
Not sure what the humidity level in your home is? If you have a programmable thermostat or smart thermostat, check there first. Most newer thermostats will display the relative humidity. You can also purchase a humidity monitor (hygrometer) online or at your local hardware store.
Test the humidity in different areas of your home. If only the basement has high humidity, you may have a water intrusion issue. This also applies if you have a crawl space and only the first floor has high humidity. But if the humidity is high throughout the house, you want to start exploring solutions.
Your home could likely benefit from the installation of a whole-home dehumidifier if any of the following are true.
You need to find the root cause of the high humidity in your home, and then apply the appropriate solutions. This could range from basement waterproofing to sealing and insulating to installing exhaust fans in the bathrooms to whole-house dehumidifier installation.
If you simply live in a humid climate, you may need a dehumidifier to run during the cooler months when you don’t need the AC but it’s not time to turn on the heat yet, either. When it’s humid outside you can’t just open the windows to improve ventilation and reduce humidity.
Whole-house dehumidifiers have numerous benefits. All of those problems listed above? They are reduced or may go away completely when you have the proper indoor humidity. A properly installed whole-home unit will:
By ensuring proper indoor humidity, you protect your home from damage and protect your family’s health and comfort.
Whole-house dehumidifier installation is a relatively simple procedure for a trained HVAC professional. You can use it as a stand-alone unit, or for optimal effect, connect it to your existing HVAC system ductwork to use with your system’s fan.
The Trane EnviroWise 70H Dehumidifier is a relatively small dehumidifier unit. The compact design fits in tight, low-clearance spaces such as closets, crawl spaces, basements, or attics. All you need is a 120V plug outlet and an adequate drain. Larger pint capacities are available – our varied solutions cover most residential home applications.
If you’re going to invest in a whole-home dehumidifier, it makes sense for your health, comfort, and wallet to get the optimal performance out of the unit. By connecting the dehumidifier to your HVAC system, you can increase ventilation and reduce pollutants.
In addition, you can control the humidity from your programmable thermostat. This allows you to optimize humidity control for overall comfort. And if you have a newer Trane HVAC system with Trane Link Connectivity, you can control the humidity, temperature, and other smart home features from the Trane Home App.
When we compile information like this, our goal is to help homeowners make informed decisions. We work with HVAC engineers and HVAC professionals with decades of experience. We provide you with accurate and up-to-date information. Our glossary items and blogs undergo expert review to ensure you get the information you need. This article was reviewed by Jennie Bergman, Senior Product Manager of Indoor Air Quality at Trane.
Questions about dehumidifiers and if getting one could improve your family’s comfort? Check out our resources guide, or contact a Trane Comfort Specialist.
A humidifier is an HVAC system that adds moisture to the air in your home, with the end goal of changing indoor humidity levels. Humidifiers can be stand alone, or added into an existing HVAC system, like a heat pump.
A humidistat, also known as a humidistat control or hygrostat, is a humidity monitoring tool that helps keep your home at the optimal level of humidity.
Programmable thermostats feature intuitive controls and settings homeowners can manage from one single access point or by app depending on the model.
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