How to Monitor and Control Humidity Levels in Your Home

Monitoring and maintaining humidity levels is generally perceived as something of achievement of comfort, but it has far-reaching consequences. Most people are oblivious about the impact of humidity on health. High or low humidity can momentarily deteriorate the elements of your health or may even lead to chronic illness. It is most apt to monitor and maintain the humidity levels in your house because that is where you sleep. It means your body may undergo deterioration or reparation, depending on your take. 

Just as low concentration of moisture can lead to skin irritation, eye irritation, and even skin diseases, the high amount of moisture can also be detrimental to your health. Some think that the concentration of moisture inside the house is determined by the weather outside, and so completely unchangeable from our efforts. This is true to some level. 

While to some extent, the temperature and humidity inside the house are determined by the elements of the weather outside. We have ample technological instances at our disposal, which can allow us to alter the natural course on some levels. Air-conditioner, for example, allows us to battle heat on hot summer afternoons when the room temperatures are at the peak, whereas on winters we have heaters and radiators, performing contrary functions of AC. 

How do we have to monitor and control the humidity levels in a given area? Humidifiers and dehumidifiers are the devices that are used to monitor and control the humidity inside the premises of your house. 

What Humidity Levels are Recommended?

The humidity levels that should be maintained in your house depends upon the region where you reside and the ambient weather of that region. On average, the relative level that your house should be subject to is between 35 percent and 45 percent. The advantages of maintaining the humidity between these limits are two-fold.

First, you will experience the most comfortable time at these levels. We get irked with extreme heat and succumb to extreme cold. Sometimes, it is the sheer moisture or the lack thereof that causes us discomfort and irritation. Humidifiers and dehumidifiers cater to this precise need, monitoring and maintaining the humidity as per our needs, to provide us with utmost comfort and relief.

The second advantage and the most important one, is its effects on health. Low humidity can lead to skin-related diseases and irritation. It also dries up our mucus membrane, which may further cause irritation. All this can be eradicated if the room was subject to moisture augmentation. That is where our friend humidifier plays the role. It increases the humidity in a room rendering the people occupying it the utmost comfort. 

On the other hand, high moisture content causes damage to furniture, walls, insulation, etc. This is apart from the irritation it causes to the people. 

How to Monitor Humidity Level in Your House?

Humidity can be observed and controlled in numerous ways. As far as monitoring goes, you can keep a close eye on the humidity levels of your place over a period of time via humidity sensors.

Humidity sensors or monitors are devices that record and display the humidity and other related elements of your house. These are small devices that do not cover a large area. One good quality humidity sensor can cover the range of about a room. To monitor the humidity of the entire house, you may have to purchase 4-5 units of these, according to the size of your house and the size of the rooms. You can purchase humidity sensors at cheap rates online or from retail stores. Sensors of fair quality and durable functionality will cost you around 10 dollars per unit. An ample of these units should suffice for accurate and effective measurement of humidity.  

Another way of keeping track of the humidity levels of your house is by using the Thermostat devices. Thermostat devices predominantly consist of devices that measure the temperature levels of your house and take necessary measures to maintain the desired figure. Thermostats can vary as per their spectrum of functionality. Some units just monitor the temperature of the room and let you know. Others provide curative measures.

Advanced thermostats may come with the function of monitoring humidity as well. If your thermostat can display humidity of the house along with temperature, then there is no need for you to purchase a humidity sensor.

How to Control Humidity

Predominantly, hygrometers are used to measure the concentration of weather vapor in the air, soil, or any given space. Most hygrometers do not only measure the humidity but can also be trusted with the measurement of temperature, atmospheric pressure, mass, etc., as these elements influence the humidity of a given area. Buy the best hygrometer to get accurate measurement of water vapor in your home.

Decreasing humidity can be achieved by multiple means. In winters, underground spaces such as the basement can reap benefits from heat. Thus, heating up an area like the basement can level of the moisture content in the air. Excessive humidity can be battle by a combined effort of heat and dehumidifier to achieve the recommended levels of humidity. 

When heating cannot do well in any way, using dehumidifiers will be your only option and the most effective way to restore the humidity to the proper level. 

In dry regions where the concentration of humidity is low and unbearable, humidifiers can come in handy to reach the required humidity. This device will augment the amount of moisture in no time and put you at ease with its operation

Apart from the use of hygrometers, humidifiers, and dehumidifiers to reach the proper levels of humidity, devices like air-conditioners can also be used to serve you in that precise sphere. Some ACs are equipped with the function of monitoring and managing humidity if you command it. These are highly advanced units that serve in more than one way of rendering coolness to you. These are comparatively more expensive than regular units.

Water coolers also used by many families to provide moisture to the room. These are less effective than other options and can only provide short-term comfort. Nonetheless, it is choice worth going over if you are someone who considers all the available alternatives to achieving one objective. 

When to Increase Humidity?

The need to increase humidity is something that you would feel when you succumb to low humidity and utmost dryness. This can happen during winters when radiators and heaters may make the air in your room very dry. You will feel the uncomfortable itching on your back, and your skin will show the signs of low levels of moisture. 

The skin may become subject to rashes and red marks. The need to itch will shoot up. Your eyes may irritate you because of dryness, which will cause you to blink a lot. Long-term low humidity can also cause eye infections. Not only will your body experience the detrimental effects of low humidity, but it will take a toll on your furniture and walls as well. They will start to crack up and wear off if necessary measures to combat the incessant dryness is not taken. 

Therefore, you will get unnumbered signs of low-humidity. The same goes for high humidity. Did you notice that sometimes a wet floor takes way too long to dry up? This is because of the high concentration of water vapors in the air. This can prove to be a sign of high humidity and your cue to take necessary measures to restore the humidity to its proper levels. This, as I have mentioned, can be done by a dehumidifier. 

Buying and Use of Humidifier and Dehumidifier

Buying a humidifier is easy if you do the necessary research beforehand about what to expect from an ideal humidifier. Relevant information about the performance, accuracy, and durability can be gathered from the reviews on the manufacturers and their products. 

Before starting to use a humidifier, it is advised to read the instruction manual that comes with the appliance and know everything there is to know about the functionality and operation, especially the DOs and the DONTs of the device. Every device has different dynamics, and conceding these is essential for effective functioning. 

The ways of maintaining it is also an essential measure. If proper care is not given to the humidifier, it may prove to be short-lived even though a much longer life was promised by the dealer. The fault, most of the time, does not lie with the producer, rather it is the carelessness of the consumer that causes its deterioration. 

Conclusion: 

Just as we perceive ACs and radiators essentialities for a comfortable and healthy lifestyle, humidifiers, dehumidifiers, hygrometers, humidity sensors too, have their role to play in the same sphere. Proper levels of humidity are important for healthy living and especially while you sleep. When you are asleep, your organs start to get repaired; in other words, it is during sleep that your insides are reinvigorated for the next day. If necessary incentives, such as ideal humidity is not rendered to it, the reparation becomes inefficient and ineffective, subsequently taking a toll on your health. I hope you found this article helpful.