Is the Humidity Level in My Ashburn Home too High?
Our Ask a Tech line received the following question and we thought it was important to share with your.
Question: I am noticing puddles of water on my Ashburn, Virginia home’s windowsills and rivulets of condensation running down the glass. If I don’t clean them at least once per week, I notice mildew or mold growing. We installed a humidifier two years ago, what is making this happen?
Our initial reaction to your question is that your Ashburn home humidity level is too high; indoor humidity should be 30 to 50 percent. Annual humidifier maintenance is required to properly care for the system. If your humidifier has not been serviced since it was installed two years ago, dirty reservoirs and eroding filters will make your humidity level too high and quickly breed bacteria and mold.
Performing regular maintenance will encourage a more comfortable home during winter, keep the humidifier running smoothly, reduce heating bills, and prevent damage from mold or mildew buildup.
Most of our customers leave the maintenance of the humidifier up to us to do every season. We typically do the humidifier maintenance when we do the furnace maintenance.
For Carrier, Honeywell, Aprilaire, General, or Auto-Flo humidifiers, you must replace the evaporator pad at least once each year. For hard water areas, as we see in many Northern Virginia homes, the pad should be replaced twice each heating season.
We have pads and parts for all the major humidifier brands. When our trained technicians perform humidifier maintenance they do the following:
- Test to see if the humidifier turns on when humidity is called for
- Make sure water is flowing properly over the evaporator pad
- Make sure the solenoid valve is operating properly
- Check for leaks
- Clean the inside of the humidifier
- Clean the humidifier drain hose
- Replace the evaporator pad
Humidifiers can soothe the problems caused by dry indoor air – dry skin, chapped lips, dry nasal passages, and static electricity. Humidifiers can also help ease symptoms of a cold or another respiratory condition. But be cautious, they can actually make you sick if they aren’t maintained properly or if humidity levels stay too high.
The trained professionals at Climatic Heating and Cooling can monitor the humidity levels in your Ashburn Virginia home and keep your humidifier clean and in proper working order.
