Turn on the ceiling fans. Keeping the air moving is an essential part of keeping excessive moisture away. Using ceiling fans, pedestal fans and other air-moving appliances can make a big difference and suck excess moisture out of the indoor air. Check the exhaust fans in your attic, kitchen and bathroom.
Most people enjoy the cooling and comfortable breeze of a fan. But excess wind makes the air dry. When you sleep, this dry air may affect your breathing, causing sleep disruptions. Using a fan at night can even aggravate your allergies, making you uncomfortable throughout the night.
Turn off certain appliances (such as humidifiers or kerosene heaters) if you notice moisture on windows and other surfaces. Use dehumidifiers and air conditioners, especially in hot, humid climates, to reduce moisture in the air, but be sure that the appliances themselves don't become sources of biological pollutants.
Fans are great when you can open the windows to a dry (and preferably warm) day and let the sun and the wind aid your fans. Dehumidifiers remove moisture from the air but do little to circulate it. They work best in enclosed systems. A room, sealed against the rain, will benefit far more from a dehumidifier than a fan.
The increased circulation of air will do wonders for reducing humidity and evenly distributing the cooler air from your air conditioner. Seal Leaks – Leaking seals around your windows and doors can make your home more humid!
Fans promote airflow and help reduce excess moisture. They reduce a room's overall humidity, making it much harder for spores to grow. They keep mold at bay, wicking excess moisture away from your walls and furniture.
Using Air Conditioner to Reduce Humidity
In the summer when the outside temperature is high, and humidity rises, use your air conditioner humidity setting (setting your AC to cooling mode) to reduce your home's overall temperature and encourage humidity levels to drop.
It won't necessarily make the air in a space dryer, but it can contribute to a room's reduced humidity levels. This would be the case if you were to run a fan with the windows open. The fan would push the humid air inside your room out the window and allow the outdoor air, which may be dryer, inside.
A simple tower or oscillating fan can also provide a good amount of ventilation in your basement. By allowing the air to circulate, a fan can cool the environment, which will reduce the likelihood of pests, foul odors, and mold.
Another way to reduce moisture downstairs is to install basement fans to control humidity. Similar in function to a bathroom fan, these high-capacity vents push moist air away from the basement and into the outside air. If used sparingly, you can also run your bathroom fans to reduce humidity in the house.
Infiltration through pores in the wall
Tiny cracks inside the walls of our homes make it easy for water to filter through and results in indoor moisture. This happens especially in damp weather conditions as water normally migrates from warm moist areas into colder and drier spaces.
High humidity in a house can be caused by many things, but the biggest reason is poor ventilation—in other words, air isn't being circulated properly, which causes the air in your house to become stagnant and humid. The other major reason? Too much air exchange with the outside.
However, experts are advising against leaving the fan on overnight. Apparently it can increase asthma symptoms, and trigger allergens. Fans circulate air, but they also spread dust mites, spores, pollen, and other allergens around the room.
Consumer safety charity, Electrical Safety First, says that leaving your fan on at night could put you at risk if a fault occurs within your device while you're sleeping. Yup, we're talking a one-way ticket to a house fire.
"If there's some mold in the shower or elsewhere in the bathroom that seems to reappear, increasing ventilation (running a fan or opening a window after every shower) and cleaning more frequently will usually prevent mold from recurring, or at least keep the mold to a minimum," according to the EPA website.
Use fans and a dehumidifier
Turn on the air conditioning in your basement — that will help too. It can take up to six weeks to completely dry your basement floor, so wait before having your floor sanded or refinished. If your floor still seems wet, contact a professional.
If it's safe to use electricity, set up fans to help circulate air throughout the space. Pedestal fans can be directed to dry higher areas, circulator and blower fans can powerfully move air lower to floor level, and window fans can bring in and circulate fresh air from outside.
The cool breeze can keep the heat at bay and help you get a good night's sleep. But for others, fans can circulate dry air that causes allergies or other uncomfortable symptoms. Luckily, tips like keeping your home clean or using an air purifier might lower the chances of any possible side effects.
“There are some significant takeaways: people in hot, humid conditions tend to do better with a fan. In situations where air conditioning is not possible, this means people would do better with a fan than nothing at all.” That's because the fans can help with heat loss through evaporation of sweat, Levy said.
Keep the Right Temperature
During the summer, your thermostat should be between 72 and 78 degrees. The "auto" setting on your thermostat can help cool your system's evaporator coils and dehumidify the air routinely.
But when humidity levels spike, however, most systems can't cope. High humidity cancels out the air conditioner's cooling effect. When the humidity is too high, your building will feel warmer than it is. You may find yourself running the air conditioner harder for longer and not getting the desired effects.
Most modern HVAC systems are capable of regulating humidity. Your HVAC System has an evaporator coil that condenses water vapor from the air, in a process similar to when condensation appears on the outside of a glass containing a cold beverage.
Specifically, air purifiers with HEPA (high-efficiency particulate air) filters work great at removing mold spores.