There are several factors that improve indoor air quality: one of them is maintaining a correct level of humidity in the rooms. To ensure that there is always good air quality in the home, therefore, it is essential to guarantee an adequate level of humidity: if this exceeds a certain threshold, it is necessary to intervene with dehumidification to make the air healthier and improve the well-being of the occupants.
Let’s see what solutions are available to reduce humidity in the home and how to choose the most suitable dehumidification system.
Dehumidifying your home means healthier air.
There are various solutions for dehumidifying your home: from portable or fixed dehumidification systems to air conditioning. Let’s take a look at the various solutions and find the one that suits you best. And before you do so, you better read dehumidifier reviews, there are plenty of websites that share their opinions and user reviews on their website, so that should clear your doubts about the product.
Dehumidification system: when and why it can be useful
In general, for thermal comfort, during the winter the indoor air should have a relative humidity of between 40% and 50%, with a temperature between 19° and 22°C, while in the summer the relative humidity should be between 50% and 60%, with a temperature between 24° and 26°C.
The presence of excessive humidity in the home, however, is a widespread problem and should not be underestimated, as exposure to moisture and mould – the formation of which is encouraged by the presence of humidity – can have negative effects on health, but can also cause degradation of building materials.
The use of a dehumidifier, fixed or mobile, can be of help in dehumidifying the home if we want to combat the humidity that forms in the home due to human activities – for example cooking or showering – and due to the presence of the man himself. If, on the other hand, the cause of the dampness is due to structural problems, such as rising damp, different solutions are required.
Furthermore, it is essential to provide a fixed dehumidification system if a radiant wall, floor or ceiling cooling system is installed, in order to reduce the humidity rate and avoid condensation. It is clear that the dehumidifier – whatever model it is – does not act directly on the temperature by heating or cooling it, as an air conditioner would do, but only on the humidity level. Despite this, it is able to influence our perception of temperature, making both hot and cold more tolerable.
How to choose a dehumidifier for your home?
If you are thinking of buying a dehumidifier for your home, you should know that there are several solutions to choose from. Let’s take a look at some preliminary questions you should ask yourself in order to find the right option:
how large is the room? First of all, you need to know the size of the room to be treated;
how much moisture can the unit absorb? Another very important question is to know how much moisture, in terms of liters, the dehumidifier can absorb in 24 hours;
what is the energy class of the device? Preferring an item with a high energy class allows you to save on energy consumption;
Does the dehumidifier have washable filters? No less important is the presence of washable filters to purify the air from harmful agents.
A portable dehumidifier or fixed dehumidification system?
The first important distinction to be made is that between stationary and portable dehumidifiers.
Portable dehumidifiers have the advantage that they can be transported from one room to another in the house. Compared to fixed dehumidifiers they are cheaper and more practical but do not always adequately meet the actual needs of the system.
Fixed dehumidifiers can be installed on walls or ceilings and are generally more effective and efficient than portable dehumidifiers. They are ideal for dehumidifying large spaces but are also excellent for the home environment. As already mentioned, this category includes dehumidification systems to be combined with radiant cooling systems.
Desiccant or refrigerant-mechanical dehumidifier?
Dehumidifiers can also be distinguished between desiccative and mechanical-refrigerative models. In this case, the difference lies in the system used to dehumidify the air. The desiccant dehumidifiers absorb moisture through desiccant material, usually silica gel, while in the mechanical-refrigerative ones the air is pushed by a fan towards a cooling coil that allows condensing the steam.
In this way, the air is deprived of moisture and returned to the environment, while the condensed water is collected in a special tank. The mechanical-refrigeration models are particularly efficient and recommended in the presence of high temperatures and humidity levels.
