Not many people find comfort or pleasure in humidity for a variety of reasons. For starters, high humidity in your home can actually cause damage to the home. Recent studies have now stated that high indoor humidity can contribute to a variety of health issues and potentially even cancer as well. The fact is that high levels of indoor humidity allow for any Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) to have a greater presence in the air space in your home.
What Are Volatile Organic Compounds?
VOCs are emitted in the form of gases from a variety of liquids and solids. With organic chemicals being used regularly as ingredients in many of our household products, the possibility of dangerous side effects of VOCs is increased. Many of the household cleaning products on the market today, along with cosmetics, disinfectants, air fresheners, wood preservatives, degreasing products, gasoline and a variety of other common products contain organic chemicals.
We all breathe in these gases or vapors every day putting ourselves at risk. When high humidity levels are present in your home mixed with VOCs of any type, there is an increased risk of health issues such as central nervous damage, eczema, liver damage, and kidney damage to name a few, as well as forms of cancer.
The studies conducted to date have revealed that high levels of VOCs did, in fact, cause cancer in lab animals and, as a result, are said to cause cancer in humans as well. Having learned of these results it is safe to say that we should all make every effort to avoid VOCs.
Eliminate Humidity in your Home and Keep VOCs at a Low Concentration Level
The most practical way of reducing VOCs in your home is to simply remove its source. Though you cannot remove painted walls or varnished wood floors, you can eliminate certain cleaning products, degreasing products, deodorizers and air fresheners for starters. Further steps you can take include the following:
- Ensure that all the water sources in your home are at peak functioning levels. Be sure to repair any leaking pipes you may have because this excess water can add to the humidity levels in your home as can watered plants. So, move those plants outdoors.
- Get in the habit of turning on the exhaust fan in your bathroom before, during and after showering. Also, make it a point to use the exhaust fan over your stove when cooking both of which will reduce humidity levels in the air.
- Make sure you always set your AC fan to the ‘Auto’ position rather than the ‘On’ position. The reason is simple. When set to the ‘Auto’ position, your cooling system will be able to effectively dehumidify the warm air in your living space, a task not able to be performed when set to the ‘On’ position.
- Having the appropriately sized air conditioning unit for your home is critical to controlling humidity levels. The longer your AC runs, the more humidity is being removed from the air. With that said, if your unit is too large for your living space it will continuously turn itself off, which limits the amount of humidity being removed from the atmosphere. A properly sized AC is essential to the process.
- Last, but not least, the folks here at South Nashville Heating and Cooling highly recommend you invest in a dehumidifier. These practical appliances are inexpensive and provide an efficient and effective option for homeowners to reduce and/or eliminate humidity from separate rooms in the house or the entire house itself.
Whether you are experiencing high levels of humidity in your home and need professional assistance, or perhaps you want to purchase a dehumidifier, the experts here at South Nashville Heating and Cooling are the ideal team for you. Our highly skilled and trained technicians handle it all. Simply give a shout out to our professionals today. We look forward to serving you and to providing you with all your HVAC needs, season after season, year after year!!
