Do Air Conditioners Dehumidify?

Whether it’s a heat wave or a cool summer evening, your air conditioning system is working hard throughout the summer. It’s not only working to keep your home comfortable and cool for you and your family but also to keep your home’s humidity at a comfortable and safe level. How do air conditioners dehumidify? The pros at Redman Services share how, and why humid air indoors can indicate a need for air conditioner repairs.

How Do Air Conditioners Dehumidify?

Air conditioners are used for cooling down ambient temperatures inside a home. The process they use to do so involves heat transfer rather than infusing the air with a chill of some sort. Your central air conditioner works by pulling heat from circulating indoor air and releasing it outdoors.

As the hot air from the home’s living spaces is circulated through the cooling system, the air conditioner’s evaporator coils and refrigerant pull heat energy out of the air supply to lower air temperature. This process also pulls the moisture out of the air – water vapor condenses as the air cools and liquid droplets are too heavy to stay in circulation. Humidity condenses and falls out of the air, collecting on the evaporator coils and eventually draining out excess moisture from the air by way of the drip pan and condensate drain line in the air conditioner.

The now cooled and dry air is then pushed back into your home, providing relief from the heat in more ways than one. In addition to lowering the air temperature, dehumidification is a great natural benefit of the air conditioner’s cooling process.

What Indoor Humidity Problems Mean

Air conditioners do provide a level of dehumidification for households, but do air conditioners dehumidify the air enough? There are a few things that can affect how well your air conditioning unit dehumidifies the air in your home.

• If your AC unit is too small, it may not be able to dehumidify all of the air in the home.
• If it’s too large, the air conditioner will cool the air quickly and then turn off, which means that once again, not enough of the humid air has been released from your home.
• The filter in your HVAC system can also affect the airflow through the air conditioning unit. If the filter is too dirty, enough air might not be able to get through the system for the air conditioner to properly remove humidity.
• When conditions are too hot and humid, your air conditioner may struggle to both cool and lower the humidity levels in the air to a comfortable level.
• A refrigerant leak can cause the air conditioner to lose refrigerant. When refrigerant volume is too low, the air conditioner may not be able to lower the relative humidity in your home.
• Dirty coils in the air conditioning system can block heat transfer, preventing the air conditioner from cooling the air and removing humidity.

If you suffer from humid air in your home over the summer, you may be questioning do air conditioners dehumidify at all? Yes they do, but a humid home can be a key sign that your air conditioner is in need of repairs. Indoor humidity issues related to air conditioners that are the wrong size for the home need to be replaced to resolve these problems.

Home Comfort Help in Northern Indiana

This summer, understand how air conditioners dehumidify to keep your home comfortable. If you notice humidity issues inside the home, they could be a sign of a problem with your air conditioner and repairs are needed right away. Call Redman Services to schedule air conditioner repair in your home today.