How to Tell if You Need a Humidifier or a Dehumidifier in Sacramento, CA

If there’s something wrong with your indoor air quality, you’ll notice. For instance, if the air is too dry in your Sacramento, CA, home, you might see your skin cracking. If it’s too humid, you’ll feel stuffy. If your indoor air is too dry or too humid, you can always use a humidifier or dehumidifier to resolve the issue.

Humidifiers

Humidifiers come in handy when the air in your home is too dry. They add moisture to the air to raise the relative humidity. The two common types of humidifiers are cool-mist and warm-mist humidifiers; the warm mist ones are also known as steam vaporizers.

Both types do an equally decent job. The only difference between them is how they create moisture. Cool-mist humidifiers break up water into tiny inhalable particles that enter the air in the form of water vapor. The water is cold throughout, meaning they can contribute to cooling the air too.

On the other hand, steam vaporizers use a power source that brings the water in a container to a boil. The boiling water produces steam. However, the steam cools before leaving the humidifier.

Dehumidifiers

Contrary to humidifiers, dehumidifiers take excess moisture out of the air to keep it dry. Typically, a dehumidifier can reduce the relative humidity of your home by 30%-50%.

The dehumidifier uses a fan to take in warm air. Metal coils, which use a refrigerant, cool the warm air. As the warm air shrinks, tiny water droplets fall out. The water droplets collect in a tank on the outside of the dehumidifier while the cooler air without moisture goes back to your house.

Which One Do I Need?

To ensure fresh indoor air quality all year long, you might consider getting both a humidifier and dehumidifier for different times of the year. You might also consider getting an air purifier, which gets rid of pollutants in the air.

Reach out to Jaguar Heating & Air for all your HVAC needs. We’ll make sure your home is a comfortable retreat from the outside world.

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