Is Your AC Ready for Kentucky Humidity? Early-Summer Tune-Up Tips
When summer settles into Kentucky, it doesn’t just bring rising temperatures. It also brings along with it heavy humidity that can make your home feel stickier, warmer, and far less comfortable. Before the peak of the summertime hits, it’s important to understand how humidity affects your AC system and to take preventative steps to ensure your home stays cool and dry.
How Humidity Affects Your Home
It’s important to realize that your air conditioner doesn’t just cool your home. It’s also responsible for removing some moisture from the air. As warm air passes over the evaporator coil inside your indoor air handler unit, heat and humidity are both pulled out. During normal conditions, this will keep your home feeling cool and comfortable. However, when humidity levels are high, your AC has to work much harder to keep up with your comfort needs.
The biggest problem with high humidity is that it holds heat. Even though your thermostat may say that it’s 72 degrees Fahrenheit, it may actually feel closer to 76 or 78. Your body finds it much harder to cool itself down because your sweat isn’t evaporating as quickly. This can leave you feeling hot and uncomfortable during the worst of the humidity conditions.
Because you’re uncomfortable, you’re more likely to turn down the temperature on your thermostat. This leads to longer AC run times to try and achieve your lower desired temperature setting. Unfortunately, other than just feeling uncomfortable during high humidity conditions, it also increases your risk of mold and mildew developing inside your home. High humidity creates the perfect environment for this biological growth. When paired with poorly ventilated areas, it can lead to disaster.
Why a Spring AC Tune-Up Matters
It’s highly recommended that you invest in a professional AC tune-up in the early spring before the hottest months of the summer arrive. This is one of the best ways to prepare your air conditioning system for those humid conditions. One of the biggest problems with humidity is that it exacerbates any small inefficiencies that your air conditioning system may have.
When you get a professional tune-up, our technicians will look for any defective or malfunctioning components. By repairing or replacing these components, we can ensure that your air conditioner is operating as efficiently as possible. This also goes a long way in greatly reducing your risk of experiencing an unexpected breakdown during the worst of the weather conditions.
When your air conditioner is operating efficiently, you can have peace of mind that it’s ready to take on the summer heat and humidity with ease. Our professional AC tune-ups include many different steps, like checking refrigerant levels, inspecting your electrical connections, and calibrating the thermostat. This is necessary to maintain the warranty coverage on your system so that you’re not stuck paying out of pocket for future repair bills.
Invest in Indoor Air Quality Improvements
One of the best indoor air quality solutions you can purchase for your Kentucky home is a whole-home dehumidification system. This system gets installed right alongside your HVAC unit and will help remove excess humidity from the air. It connects with your thermostat so it can read the relative indoor humidity at any point in time. Anytime that your indoor humidity level gets above your set threshold, it will turn on your whole-home dehumidification system. This allows it to drop the indoor humidity level to better accommodate your settings.
Ensure Your Fan is Set to Auto
One of the most important things you want to ensure when it comes to your thermostat is that your blower fan is set to auto and not on. When your blower fan is set to on, it will run nonstop. This means it will run even when your air conditioning system isn’t running. Any moisture that’s left on the evaporator coil in your indoor air handler unit can be evaporated back into your air.
This can lead to an increase in indoor humidity and actually feel like warm air coming out of your vents. Setting your blower fan to auto will ensure that it only turns on whenever your air conditioning system is operating. This ensures that you’re not reintroducing unwanted humidity back into your indoor air.
Professional AC Tune-Up Service
Jeffries Heating & Air + Plumbing offers professional AC maintenance services for Somerset, KY and the surrounding areas. We can also assist with all of your AC replacement, repair, installation, and indoor air quality needs. Simply contact our office today to schedule an appointment with one of our friendly technicians.
