{"id":928,"date":"2017-07-03T11:00:22","date_gmt":"2017-07-03T15:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heatingcoolingchicagoland.com\/blog\/?p=928"},"modified":"2017-06-28T13:29:07","modified_gmt":"2017-06-28T17:29:07","slug":"relative-humidity-mean-how-it-affect-comfort","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goservicemax.com\/blog\/indoor-air-quality-service\/relative-humidity-mean-how-it-affect-comfort\/","title":{"rendered":"What Does \u201cRelative Humidity\u201d Mean, And How Does It Affect Comfort?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"flushed-man-and-fan\"At Malek Heating & Cooling, we understand that helping people find ideal comfort in their homes means more than ensuring they have an air conditioning and heating system that will provide the right temperatures around the year. It also means finding the correct balance of relative humidity, keeping the air from becoming too muggy or too dry. That\u2019s why we install both whole-house humidifiers<\/a> and whole-house dehumidifiers<\/a> for our customers\u2019 homes.<\/p>\n

But what is \u201crelative humidity\u201d? It\u2019s a phrase you\u2019ve probably heard before, yet not known exactly what it means or why it\u2019s important when it comes to comfort. Let\u2019s take a look at this term and why high and low relative humidity can both be problems.<\/p>\n

Relative Humidity and Absolute Humidity<\/h3>\n

Relative humidity<\/em> is a type of measurement of the amount of water vapor in the air. But to understand the measurement of relative humidity, you have to first understand another measurement, absolute humidity<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Absolute humidity is basically a way of saying \u201chow much water vapor is there in the air?\u201d Take the mass of water vapor in a volume of air at a given temperature and divide it by the mass of dry air. The set temperature is important, since the hotter the air, the more water it can hold.<\/p>\n

Now we can measure relative humidity. Take the current absolute humidity in the air and divide it by the highest possible absolute humidity (which, as mentioned above, changes based on temperature). The result is expressed as a percentage. If relative humidity is 100%, it means the air is at maximum saturation and it\u2019s probably raining.<\/p>\n

How This Affects You<\/h3>\n

The reason humidity has an effect on comfort is that the more moisture in the air, the slower the human body is able to release heat through sweating. Perspiration doesn\u2019t evaporate easily when there\u2019s a large amount of moisture in the air, which means that more heat is trapped in the body and the temperature feels hotter than it actually is. With lower humidity, heat escapes faster, making the human body feel cooler, which is fine in summer but not in winter. Both high and low humidity can have other consequences, such as the development of mildew and mold (high humidity) and the easy spread of cold and flu bugs (low humidity)<\/p>\n

Balancing Relative Humidity<\/h3>\n

What\u2019s the ideal relative humidity level for comfort? We recommend 45%. Below 30% can result in unpleasantly dry conditions leading to skin and eye irritation; above 60% and the air will start to turn swampy. Humidifiers and dehumidifiers aim for the ideal 45% target.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s best to leave installation of whole-house humidifiers and dehumidifiers to professionals. This way you\u2019ll ensure that your relative humidity control system won\u2019t push your home too far the wrong direction: putting in a humidifier to solve dry summer air but which ends up turning the home into hothouse isn\u2019t any type of solution!<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re looking for better indoor air quality in Wilmette, IL<\/a> this summer and the seasons ahead, whether it\u2019s a humidifier\/dehumidifier or basic air filters, contact our team today<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Malek Heating & Cooling has served the Chicagoland area since 1998.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What is \u201crelative humidity\u201d? Let\u2019s take a look at this term and why high and low relative humidity can both be problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[79],"tags":[45,52,104],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goservicemax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goservicemax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goservicemax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goservicemax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goservicemax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=928"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.goservicemax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":933,"href":"https:\/\/www.goservicemax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/928\/revisions\/933"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goservicemax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goservicemax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goservicemax.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}