Humidistats: Helping to Control Indoor Humidity

You can’t ignore your home’s humidity level. As your home’s humidity level increases, it can cause mold and mildew to grow while simultaneously increasing the risk of respiratory allergies. If your home’s humidity level is too low, conversely, it can cause dry that’s electrostatically charged. Fortunately, there are devices available to control indoor humidity, one of which is a humidistat.

What Is a Humidistat?

A humidistat is a device that works in conjunction with an air conditioning system to regulate indoor humidity. It’s similar to a thermostat, except it allows you to control the humidity level in your home rather than the temperature. You can adjust the humidistat to achieve a higher or lower humidity level.

How Humidistats Work

While there are different types of humidistats, they are all designed to measure and regulate the humidity level of the home in which they are used. They are connected to the home’s heating, ventilation and cooling (HVAC) system. If the home’s humidity level is too high, the humidistat will send a signal to the air conditioner, essentially telling it to run. Running the air conditioning system will then dehumidify the air so that the home’s humidity level decreases.

There are standalone humidistats, and there are humidistats that are built into thermostats. Using them, you can specify the desired relative humidity level for your home. Maybe you want a 50% relative humidity level, or perhaps you prefer a 55% relative humidity level. After setting the humidistat to your desired relative humidity level, your air conditioning system will do the rest. If the relative humidity level rises above 50% or 55%, your air conditioning system will turn on.

Do You Need a Humidistat?

While convenient and easy to use, a humidistat isn’t always necessary. Running your air conditioning system will often keep your home’s humidity level in check. After all, humidistats themselves don’t actually dehumidify the air; they simply tell your air conditioning system when to run so that it can dehumidify the air. A functional air conditioning system is your first line of defense against high indoor humidity. As it cools your home, it will dehumidify the air.

You can also install a dehumidifier in your home instead of a humidistat. Dehumidifiers are dehumidifying devices. During use, a dehumidifier will pull moisture out of the air, after which it will either drain or store the collected moisture.