Many homeowners aren’t aware that the size of their heat pump can make a difference in both cooling performance and humidity levels indoors. Surprisingly, a pump that’s too large for your home won’t do as good a job removing humidity as one that’s smaller. If you’re installing a new heat pump this season, the contractor should first perform a cooling load calculation using Manual J software.
The reason that oversized heat pumps don’t remove as much humidity is because they run in short cycles that don’t last long enough to provide effective humidity control or balanced cooling to a home. Since drier air always feels cooler, lessening the air conditioning load, you’ll also save energy when you remove as much humidity as possible. This also will help preserve the health of your home, since moist air can damage fixtures and furnishings.
Cooling equipment needs to run for 15 minutes or longer during a cycle to remove enough humidity to make a measurable difference. The fan inside the air handler delivers air over the evaporator coil, and the refrigerant circulating through the coil removes the heat from the indoor air. If the system doesn’t run long enough, the coil won’t get cold enough to condense the moisture in the air. You might be able to remedy the situation by installing a variable-speed motor in the air handler or having an HVAC contractor adjust the fan’s speed to slow it down.
Humidity isn’t an issue in the winter with a heat pump because hot refrigerant circulates through the coil. Instead of condensing the water vapor, it disperses it, which is one reason why homes dry out when the heating system runs (plus indoor air is dryer in the winter anyway).
If you’d like to learn more about heat pump options, please contact us at Energy 1 Heating & Air Conditioning. We’ve provided outstanding HVAC services for Lorain and the surrounding area for more than 34 years.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Lorain, Ohio about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about heat pumps and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock
Energy 1 Heating & Air Conditioning
1 (440) 246-5440
Serving the Lorain, OH Area