HVAC
HVAC maintenance in San Antonio, TX

In both the cooling and warming seasons, a common complaint among homeowners with HVAC systems is that the air is too dry. While the causes in both times of year are completely different, the symptoms are often the same. In addition, they can make you feel very uncomfortable while experiencing them. Overly dry air can also provoke health issues from a simple sore throat to more serious problems like asthma and bronchitis.

This kind of air will also damage your home over time, which could result in costly repairs. That’s why you should always keep humidity levels between 30% and 50%. In addition, you should know when it’s your HVAC system that is causing your home’s air to be overly dry. In this guide, we’re going to take a look at why this phenomenon occurs, some signs of dry air, and ways to resolve the issue in your residence.

How Heating Units Create Dry Air

With furnaces and other heating units, dry air is the result of the heat actively circulating the home’s air along the internal metal coils of the system. These coils are very hot, and as air moves along these hot surfaces, the level of water in it will decrease. Since winter is a much drier time of year, this makes it easy for indoor humidity to plummet.

How Cooling Units Create Dry Air

To cool your home, air conditioners utilize an evaporator coil that works very similarly for air dehumidification as your furnace’s heating coils. Instead of heating the air and removing humidity, the air conditioner collects water present in the air and removes it from your home through the condensate drain line. Since the summer months have the highest air moisture, air conditioners remove humidity by default, but causing overly dry air is an unintended consequence.

Signs of Dry Air

Dry air is not something that you want in your living space for months. Since it can be an issue all year, knowing that the air is dry at home is essential. Let’s take a look at some signs of dry air.

Dry Skin, Eyes, and Hair

Dry and itchy skin is a symptom of low humidity. When you feel that your skin is uncomfortably dry, lotion can help add moisture back into it. Your eyes are naturally moist, but dry air will suck the moisture out of them as well. If your eyes become too irritated, you can rewet the mucus membrane with eyedrops. Hair can also have the same issue. When your hair is dry, it can become brittle. Moisturizing shampoo can help resolve dry hair and prevent damage from forming. Of course, the overall remedy would be to raise the indoor humidity level.

Chapped Lips

Chapped lips are one of the first signs you will notice when dry air is in your home. When winter hits, dry air often dries your lips, and without lip balm, this can be very uncomfortable. Wetting your lips with water can also provide temporary relief.

Wood Warping

If dry air draws moisture out of your body, it will also draw out any moisture that is in your wooden surfaces. Wood floors, wood furniture, wood panels, and anything else made of wood can warp or crack because of the lack of humidity. You may not notice this type of damage right away, but paint on wood that is too dry will chip.

Respiratory Issues

Having a sore, dry throat or a persistent cough may not be the beginning of a cold, especially if you have dry air in your home. When humidity levels are too low, the membranes inside your respiratory system dry out. These membranes are a defense that we have against colds, so dry air can make you more susceptible to airborne viruses. This will more easily affect those who already have breathing conditions such as asthma or COPD (chronic obstructive pulmonary disease). If you have a breathing issue, our technicians at Air Authority, A Riteway Service Company can help you adjust the air in your home to be more comfortable.

When your sinus cavity dries out, nose bleeds can also become more frequent. This is something that can leave the inside of your nose irritated, so it is best to add humidity to the air if nose bleeds start happening.

Wilting Houseplants

When the air is dry in your home, one of the first noticeable signs will be houseplants wilting. Dry air will suck the moisture from the soil that your plants are growing in, and if replenishment of the water does not occur frequently enough, the plant will start to suffer. This is especially true of plants that require a high-humidity environment to thrive.

Increased Static Electricity

If you find that walking around your house on the carpet with socks on your feet creates enough static electricity to shock someone, then the air in your living space is dry. Another sign of increased static electricity is clothes sticking together when you pull them out of the dryer. This is because heaters and air conditioning units can pull the humidity from the air, and with closed windows, there is no fresh air coming into your home to prevent dryness.

Ways to Resolve Dry Air Issues

Having a drier home as a result of a cooling or warming HVAC system isn’t the end of the world. There are some methodologies you can use to add a little more moisture to your home’s air. Here are a few to consider.

Use a Humidifier

One of the easiest means of increasing home humidity is a humidifier. These are available as standalone units, but there are also whole-house units that become part of your HVAC system. You can use them to ensure the right humidity levels for your health and comfort.

Create a Steamy Environment

While you don’t want the air to be too humid, one way to add a bit of extra moisture to your home is to take a hot shower so that it produces a lot of steam. Instead of allowing the bathroom to steam up, keep the door open and let the freshly created steam escape. If you prefer not to take a shower, filling the tub with hot water for a bath and letting the door open has the same effect.

Contact a Reliable HVAC Company

If you feel that dry air is an issue in your home, then we can help to make the air healthier for you and your family. At Air Authority, A Riteway Service Company, we can clean your air ducts and replace your air filters with HEPA filters for better filtration of your system. We can also add air purification units to your HVAC system to freshen the air that you breathe and help keep it from being stagnant. We have been a top company for the heating and cooling needs of San Antonio for more than 30 years. Give us a call at Air Authority, A Riteway Service Company for all of your HVAC needs!

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