Texas is known for its rough humidity, which makes it something of a challenge for Texas homeowners who are looking to replace or supplement their A/C. Of course air conditioning and humidity are big concerns for A/C manufacturers as well. A lot of thought goes into how humidity affects your comfort and into ways that we can use A/C and humidity control together to create better comfort in your home throughout the summer months.

Humidity can make the air seem hotter because one of our primary means of cooling off naturally, sweating, relies on evaporation and when the air is saturated with water, evaporation occurs more slowly, which means we don’t get to cool down as much.

We can alter the levels of saturation, of course, with the use of humidifiers and dehumidifiers. Humidifiers work simply by adding water vapor to the air, but dehumidifiers come in three different varieties:

1. Heat pump: Removes heat from the air that comes into it to encourage condensation, which is collected in a bucket and drained away.
2. Chemical absorbent: Makes use of a desiccant to absorb water from the air. The desiccant is dried automatically later and the resulting hot and wet air is vented outside.
3. Ventilators: As the name implies it makes use of vents and exhaust fans to lower the humidity inside the house. This method is virtually ineffective in hot weather environments, and is meant mostly to lower humidity in cooler environments.

Your air conditioner also dehumidifies the air as it operates, but it probably is no match for the high Texas humidity, so consider adding a dehumidifier to your home to help beat the heat.

Dehumidifiers come in two different packages. Whole-house dehumidifiers are meant to tackle large-scale humidity problems affecting many rooms at a time. While a portable dehumidifier is not unlike a window mounted A/C, it is only meant to modify the humidity of a single room, or perhaps two rooms with adequate circulation.

Talk to our experts at JD’s A/C in Longview about whether your A/C needs to work in tandem with a dehumidifier to make your home more comfortable through the summer heat, or to get an estimate on adding a dehumidifier system for your house.