How Does Humidity Affect Energy Bills?

Humidity plays an important role in the overall comfort of your home. You can easily tell whether there is too much or too little humidity in your house. During the cold season, for example, the amount of humidity in your house will dictate how easier it will be to warm the interior. The same case applies to warm seasons, where the level of humidity affects how easy your AC unit works. 

The humidity in your home has the potential to affect the amount of money you spend on your energy bill. Given that we all want to spend less money on our energy bills, it is important to understand how humidity and energy bills affect your air conditioning system. Our Folsom, CA heating and air conditioning specialists share the different ways humidity affects energy bills.

It Affects Your Sacramento AC System 

Your air conditioner removes excess air and moisture from the atmosphere of your house. Any excess in these two will leave you feeling uncomfortable. 

You may feel your skin getting clammy from the excess moisture. You may also see your windows looking foggy. This usually happens when the moisture, which is evaporated water, lands on your windows. Finally, you may get a musty odor usually caused by excessive dampness. 

When this happens, most people turn to their air conditioners to regulate the atmosphere and get you to the level of comfort that is good for you. The truth, however, is that excessive humidity in your house can overwhelm your AC. The system might end up doing a lot of work without actually changing the conditions in your home. 

Our HVAC Placerville specialists explain that your house will continue feeling warmer and uncomfortable, and you will keep your AC unit running. This keeps the meter running, thus increasing the amount of energy you spend. 

It will affect your system’s Cooling Capacity

You might be tempted to buy a bigger AC unit to combat the levels of humidity in your house. This is especially the case when you feel that your current AC is not performing as expected. 

However, bigger AC units do not do very well in removing excess moisture from your house. Our HVAC techs said that since the AC unit is bigger, they will use more energy to start a cycle. The big and more powerful units also only run for a short while. Therefore, they keep turning on and off repeatedly. This will cost you more money in energy bills in the long run. 

The Best Solution for Excess Moisture 

The best solution for dealing with a more than necessary humid home is to get a dehumidifier. Dehumidifiers work by removing excess moisture from your house. Most modern AC units have a humidifier and dehumidifier. Each work by providing or removing humidity to create the right conditions for comfort in your home and ease the amount of work done by your AC unit. 

If your unit does not have a dehumidifier, you can have a technician attach a dehumidifier during the next residential AC tune-up to keep humidity levels in check.