Will a Humidifier Make My Room Damp? All You Need to Know
Humidifiers are an excellent addition to homes as they increase the humidity level at home, getting rid of dry air that can increase the symptoms of some allergy reactions.
But, excess humidity in the air will cause dampness, and respiratory problems, and also worsen other serious health issues.
Excessive humidity in a room will be the perfect environment for molds, bacteria and viruses, dust mites, and other harmful particles that cause serious health issues.
Read on to find out if a humidifier will make your room damp, why humidifiers make your room damp and how to remove excess moisture from your room.
Let’s head right into it!
How humidifiers will make your room damp
Humidifiers increase the moisture level in the air, but excess of it can lead to dampness in the air, which can cause serious health challenges when not properly managed.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency, the humidity level at home should be between 30% to 50% as anything greater will cause extreme moisture in the air, which can cause molds and mildew.
Excess moisture and dampness in the air will be a perfect breeding ground for molds, mildews, and other bacteria that are harmful to health when breathe in.
If you’re wondering why your humidifier makes your room damp, here are some reasons:
Wrong Size of the humidifier
The size of a humidifier matters a lot, as a higher humidifier means higher moist output. Therefore, if you use a bigger humidifier for a smaller room, you may have excess moisture in the air, which could cause mold in the room.
You should use the right size of humidifier for your room to avoid dampness as a bigger humidifier doesn’t mean better efficiency, but using the correct size in your room would do better than using that in which the capacity is higher than your room.
When a humidifier is too big for a room, it will make the room damp and then create molds, which is a perfect breeding atmosphere for germs, bacteria, and viruses to grow and thrive.
When purchasing a humidifier, it is important to know the actual size of your room to get the correct size of humidifier for your room.
Incorrect Settings
Incorrect humidifier settings may leave your home too damp or dry. If you set it too low, the air in your home becomes dry and, if you set it higher than required, the air becomes damp.
Excess moisture occurs when you use one particular setting (higher humidity level) for a long period. This can increase some allergy symptoms and other health conditions.
Higher indoor humidity levels will cause dampness or wetness in the air which is a good environment for dust mites, molds, mildew, and bacteria to grow.
Humidifiers come with summer and winter settings to help regulate the amount of moisture in the air. If you use recent models of humidifiers, find a knob at the side of the device showing S for summer or spring and W for winter.
If you cannot find this setting on your device, check your user manual for instructions or contact your manufacturer for help. If you use an older model of humidifier, get a newer version that comes with these settings.
Humidistat
A humidistat controls the humidity levels at home so that there won’t be a spike in the humidity level, which would cause dampness in the air at home. This automatically turns off the humidifier when it reaches a certain level to avoid excess humidity in the air.
When your humidifier doesn’t come with a humidistat to regulate the humidity level, you can monitor the moisture level at your home manually and adjust it to avoid dampness.
The EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) recommends a humidity level between 40% to 50% as anything beyond 60% will cause excessive moisture.
You can buy a separate humidity tester to control the humidity level at home. A hygrometer can help maintain and measure the humidity in your home.
How to prevent humidifiers from getting your room damp
If your humidifier is releasing excess moisture and causing dampness, here are a few things to do to fix the problem:
Place the humidifier correctly
Do not place your humidifier close to a vent or too close to a wall, as this can trap the moist air instead of allowing it to move freely across the room which causes dampness.
Even when you have the right size of humidifier for your room, but you place it poorly, it may still cause dampness. Do not place your humidifier directly towards the wall to avoid the air bouncing off.
Ensure to place your device two feet above ground level and also two to three feet from the wall, clothes, vents, and other equipment that may cause the air to cling to its surface and cause dampness.
Lower the settings
If your humidifier is currently causing dampness and wetness in your room, there are chances that the humidity settings are higher than the required standard.
Tone down on the settings, reduce it a little lower than it was and this should reduce the chances of dampness getting into your furniture and walls.
It is required to keep the humidity level below 60% so check to see that is below 60%. If not, reduce it to about 50% and this should reduce the dampness in the air.
Always Measure the humidity level
If you’re using newer models of humidifiers, it comes with humidistat, which helps you maintain the right humidity level for your room.
If you have an older model, get a hydrometer to always measure the humidity level in your room so that you can turn the humidifier off when it reaches a certain degree.
This way you’re able to keep track of the humidity level and avoid excess moisture from getting into the air, which causes dampness and then leads to molds, mildew, and bacteria thriving in your room.
Regular cleaning and maintenance
Regular cleaning of your humidifier will help get rid of molds and other bacteria that may get into the air from the humidifier and increase the symptoms of some allergy reactions.
Ensure to check your user manual to know the manufacturer’s cleaning recommendation. Although, for health reasons, deep clean your device once a week.
Also, change the filters of your humidifier regularly if it uses one, and ensure to use clean distilled water in your humidifier instead of hard water to reduce the chances of molds caused by hard water.
Conclusion
Yes! A humidifier can make your room damp, but this is preventable. Using the right size of humidifier for your room, placing it in a strategic location, and keeping tabs on the humidity level will help prevent your room from getting damp.
Follow the instructions above to get rid of dampness in your room. However, if none worked, then get a dehumidifier to remove the excess moisture from your room. Dehumidifiers do the opposite of what a humidifier does.