Are Humidity Levels in Your Facility Making People Sick?

The right amount of humidity makes for a healthy environment for anyone in your facility, whether they are a patient, customer, or employee. According to the Mayo Clinic, 30-50% relative humidity is what’s considered healthy. Any humidity levels outside that spectrum can start to cause problems for people indoors, increasing the likelihood of getting sick. Facilities in the Southeast are especially at risk, so it’s vital that HVAC services in Atlanta remain up to date every year.

Lack of Humidity

Although heat and air conditioning both take away humidity from the air, the winter tends to produce the lowest humidity situation since cold air holds less humidity than warm air. Running the heat then takes out additional moisture as it is burnt out of the air with combustion. This dry air makes it harder to stay healthy during the winter.

Symptoms

You can use a humidistat to tell how humid the air is in your facility, but there are some symptoms of low humidity that your people may already be experiencing. Skin becomes dry. Congestion increases as air dries nasal passages and they become irritated. Eyes can become itchy. Certain viruses, like the flu, even survive better in low humidity situations.

Solution

Standalone humidifiers work well to bring up the humidity for smaller spaces, but for humidity control throughout the whole facility, an inline humidifier connected to the existing system will work much better for consistent humidity control. If you do decide have one installed, it is especially important to have it serviced regularly, as problems can arise with mold and mildew buildup on an improperly maintained humidifier.

Too Much Humidity

Having too much humidity is an even larger problem because it’s a scenario in which mold can thrive. It’s first found in hidden places, like on a wall behind furniture, or in a basement corner. If it spreads, you’ll need a professional mold remediation company to remove the mold. High humidity situations occur most often in the summer if an area is not air conditioned properly. The musty odor is a sure sign of mold.

Symptoms

The most common symptom of mold in your facility is the chronic respiratory infections that people get when exposed to it every day. Mold can cause a lot of problems that make a doctor’s diagnosis difficult. These include skin rashes, immunosuppression, hemorrhaging, and gastrointestinal issues.

Solution

A properly working HVAC system will remove humidity from the air naturally. As the system ages, it can stop working as effectively at removing the humidity. This is especially true of an AC unit that is older and trying to keep with cooling over the summer. This is a good reason to get an AC service check this year.

Protect Your Facility

If you are concerned about the humidity of your facility and the effects it is having on people inside, then it’s time to call Anytime HVAC. We will come out and do a full maintenance check on your HVAC system. It could be that you just need overdue maintenance performed to it to bring your humidity levels back to where they should be. Our goal is to help analyze the indoor air quality of your facility so you can breathe easy. Based on that assessment, we can install humidifiers, air cleaners, and air purifiers to improve the air quality of your facility.

Give Anytime Heating, Cooling and Plumbing a call at 770-504-5881 to make sure your facility is helping people stay healthy.