The ability to be able to control humidity and temperature levels individually is increasingly becoming more important in the home. Most HVAC equipment has a temperature-only control that can easily over cool a space while trying to reduce the amount of humidity. It is recommended that you should maintain an environment with less that sixty-five percent humidity.
Maintaining an environment with a humidity level of less than sixty-five percent will help improve indoor air quality that can have a positive affect on the health of both you and your family. There are several factors that you should look for when considering purchasing new HVAC equipment. There are two types of HVAC systems that you should consider when you are trying to achieve optimum temperature and humidity control inside your home or office, rooftop or split systems.
Stage Compressor
The first step you should consider when selecting new HVAC equipment is to figure out what type of stage compressor would be the best choice for your home or office. You want the stage compressor to match the cooling capacity and load required to cool your home. Equipment that has staging capability to better match capacity and load requirements will be less likely to over cool the area while trying to reduce humidity levels. If you are looking into purchasing a single compressor you should be sure to make sure it contains two-stage compressors. If you are looking for multi-compressor systems you should look for the HVAC controls to be able to stage the compressors on and off as the load changes.
Select HVAC equipment with integrated dehumidification systems
The majority of HVAC equipment is integrated with dehumidification systems, such as hot gas and liquid reheat. Usually the air is cooled first then the humidity is pulled out. The reheat coil that is placed down from the evaporator then uses either the hot gas coming from the compressor or the hot liquid coming from the condenser coil to warm up the cooled and dehumidified air in order to prevent the system from over cooling. If you however choose to purchase a third part add on dehumidification system they can be very difficult to install, control, and troubleshoot.
Choose the right sensible to latent ratio for dehumidification
The sensible to latent ratio is what determines the ratio of capacity that is available for cooling and dehumidification. The lower that the sensible to latent ratio is the greater the capacity becomes for dehumidification. When selecting a HVAC system you should look for the system that is able to change the sensible to latent ratio depending on the required load of cooling and dehumidifying in order to achieve optimum comfort for everyone.
Choose simple controls for integrated dehumidification systems
It is important that you select a HVAC system with integrated controls used for controlling the temperature and humidity level. A system with integrated controls makes the installation and troubleshooting process quite simple. Integrated controls help save you a lot of money as well. With an easier installation process it lowers the cost of having your HVAC system installed and lowers the cost on parts to maintain it as well because there are much fewer parts when it comes to integrated controls.
When purchasing new HVAC equipment you should take into consideration all the things listed above. It is extremely important that you choose the right equipment for your home or office to ensure top quality comfort. It is also important to have the right HVAC equipment because if you are cooling and dehumidifying with the wrong type or size system it could cause your utility bills to skyrocket. Your local HVAC Company should be able to answer any questions you may have when it comes to purchasing new HVAC equipment.