Whole Home Humidifiers & Dehumidifiers in Tulsa

Whole Home Humidifiers & Dehumidifiers in Tulsa

From dry, itchy skin, to chapped lips, and static electricity, low humidity in the home affects your quality of life. It can affect breathing, irritate the nose and throat, cause nosebleeds, and is especially hard on asthma and allergy sufferers. It can also suck the moisture out of hardwood floors, pianos, guitars, furniture, and other expensive wood-based items, costing you a small fortune.These things can happen if the relative humidity in your home falls below 30 percent.

Benefits Of Whole-House Humidifiers

In the winter, that level can easily dive as low as 15 percent, drier than the air in most desserts. Broken Arrow, Oklahoma should not feel like the Sahara desert. To regulate moisture in your home you need a good humidifier.While most portable units don’t regulate actual humidity levels, and can only humidify one or two rooms, whole-house humidifiers have an immediate connection to your heating system, providing comfort and consistency throughout the home. Portable units run the risk of adding too much moisture to the air, which can lead to mold, mildew, dust mites, and insects. If portable units are not cleaned often, they can become sources of mold and bacteria. Some benefits of whole-house units are that they only need to be cleaned once or twice a year, and don’t use a reservoir, eliminating the dangers of stagnant water in the home. Once ideal humidity levels are set, whole-house humidifiers regulate moisture levels, humidify air as needed, and distribute it to every room in the home.Maintaining humidity levels reduces the chance of respiratory infection by reducing viruses, bacteria, and dust. By eliminating dust you also reduce the time, effort, and cost of cleaning your home. In addition, as dry air feels colder, maintaining proper moisture levels will help you to feel warm naturally, allowing for lower thermostat levels, and lower utility costs.In terms of health, cost, and energy efficiency, whole-house humidifiers are the most beneficial way to regulate humidity in your home. With several models available, the best humidifier for you will depend largely on your existing heating and cooling system, as well as the size of your home.Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information, click here. Air Assurance services Tulsa, Broken Arrow and the surrounding areas.  To get started, check out our website or see our current promotions.

The Top Three Links between Plumbing and HVAC

Certain HVAC and plumbing links are built into most homes. While we tend to think of these as distinct, separate systems, cooling and heating may interact with plumbing at several points inside your house. Defects can cause problems in either system, including indoor water damage and potential damage to connected HVAC units. Here are some points where HVAC and plumbing links converge inside your home — and what could go wrong. 

AC Overflow

Humidity reduction is a vital part of air conditioning. As the indoor evaporator coil condenses water vapor, it is collected in a condensate drip pan beneath the indoor air handler. This liquid flows through a line that's connected to the household drain system. Problems that occur with HVAC and plumbing links include algae growth in the condensate drip pan clogging the drain line. If this happens, the drip pan will overflow every time the AC cycles on.

Annual preventive maintenance of HVAC and plumbing links by a qualified professional contractor includes an inspection and cleaning of the drip pan and drain line. Biocide tablets may be added to the drip pan to inhibit algae growth and prevent future clogs.

A High-Efficiency Furnace

Furnaces with high AFUE efficiency ratings condense water vapor present in exhaust gases. This condensate flows through typical HVAC and plumbing links, including a drain line that extends to the outdoors or into the home's drain system. A clog anywhere can cause condensate to back up into the furnace, triggering an automatic safety switch that shuts down the furnace. Professional HVAC service is required to clear the clog and then restart the furnace. 

Home Dehumidifiers

A whole-home dehumidifier that's installed inside home ductwork may produce more than 10 gallons of condensate daily. A blockage anywhere in the common HVAC and plumbing links may cause leakage or overflow and resulting water damage where the dehumidifier is located — usually in the attic. Most manufacturers recommend annual dehumidifier preventative maintenance by a qualified professional to avoid clogs and overflow.

For more about potential problems with HVAC and plumbing links — as well as effective solutions — talk to the professionals at Air Assurance.

What Are the Best Brands of Dehumidifiers on the Market?

Dehumidifiers pull excess moisture from the air, removing that uncomfortable, damp feeling from your home as well as helping to prevent allergy triggers. With so many product manufacturers to choose from, it can be challenging to know which is the most reliable model for your home. Let's save your time by telling you some of the top-rated dehumidifier brands currently available.

Frigidaire

Frigidaire is one of the most widely sold dehumidifier brands. Its dehumidifiers range from 35 to 70 pints. Many of its new units meet the current Department of Energy (DOE) standards, making them highly energy-efficient. They often feature digital controls. Frigidaire dehumidifiers are exclusively refrigerant-based.

Lennox

Lennox is a premium brand that places a huge focus on quality and user safety. Lennox dehumidifiers come in a variety of sizes and control indoor moisture levels without producing ozone. Some models are designed to work with any central cooling brand, and some are specially engineered to work with Lennox cooling equipment and, as a result, don't require water-collection tanks.

GE (General Electric)

GE is also a widely sold dehumidifier brand. Many of its products have received numerous positive reviews from customers. GE manufactures large-, medium-, and small-capacity units. The dehumidifiers have elegant designs.

Keystone

Keystone is a major manufacturer of dehumidifiers, with its units being available in capacities varying from 30 to 95 pints. You can choose between desiccant and refrigerant models. Keystone is a great brand to consider if you want myriad options.

Ivation

The designs of Ivation dehumidifiers are known to be smart and innovative. Whether you want minimalist or contemporary, the brand offers a variety of styles to suit your needs. Ivation high-capacity and small, mini dehumidifiers are available at pocket-friendly prices.

A high-quality unit from one of these reliable dehumidifier brands will help you enjoy a healthier and more comfortable home without having to worry much about the dehumidifier breaking down prematurely. For more information on dehumidifiers, contact us at Air Assurance. We offer Broken Arrow-area homeowners reliable installations and repairs of dehumidifiers and other HVAC equipment.

School's Out: Changing Your HVAC Schedule

You always want your children to be comfortable. Since kids will be spending more time at home in the summer, you'll need to take the necessary steps to keep your home cool enough for your little ones. Here are some useful tips on how to adjust your home's HVAC schedule accordingly.

When at Home

When your kids are at home, it's best to set your thermostat to 78 degrees. This will not only keep them comfortable but also save you money. You can make your home's cooling system more effective by taking the following steps.

• Invest in a dehumidifier.

• Replace worn weatherstripping and caulk around your windows and doors to keep your house sealed.

• Install window treatments to block out the sun's rays.

• Set ceiling fans to spin counterclockwise.

When Nobody's Home

Whether you're taking your children to soccer, for a walk in the park, or going on a bike ride, you should alter your home's temperature settings when everyone's away. Turn your thermostat up to 85 to 88 degrees to keep your home warmer than usual.If you have a standard thermostat, you'll have to manually adjust the temperature each time you and your kids are leaving the house. With a programmable thermostat, you can program a different cooling schedule for a specific time of the day or each day of the week, depending on your family's schedule. You simply set it and forget it. Be sure to follow these programming timing tips when using a programmable thermostat:

• Reset the thermostat to 78 degrees 30 minutes before returning home.

• Reduce cooling an hour before going to bed each night.

• Increase the cooling about 30 minutes before your wake up time.

Adopting the HVAC schedule above will keep your entire family comfortable and your cooling bills lower. For more home comfort and energy efficiency tips, contact the experts at Air Assurance. For more than 30 years, we've helped homeowners in the Broken Arrow area with their HVAC needs and won numerous awards for our exceptional services.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about other HVAC topics, call us at 918-217-8273.

Should You Get a Whole-Home Dehumidifier?

The Broken Arrow area may not be the most humid part of the country, but we can still get enough moisture in the air to cause problems. A whole-home dehumidifier can control your humidity to improve your comfort and save you money.

The Problem with High Humidity

Ideally, your indoor humidity should fall somewhere between 30 and 50 percent. Although it's naturally a little higher in summer, humidity that's consistently above 50 percent causes a number of problems.

• You feel hot and sticky in summer, even with the A/C temperature set low. In winter, you always feel chilly, even with the heat on.

• Your allergies or asthma are worse when you're at home than when you're out.

• You find mold on the ceilings in your bathroom or kitchen, or you smell a musty odor.

• You see brown, splotchy water stains on your walls or ceilings.

• Your paint is bubbling or your wallpaper is peeling.

• You often see condensation on your windows, particularly in winter.

How a Whole-home Dehumidifier Helps

A portable dehumidifier is useful in a small space with high humidity, but it can't dehumidify multiple rooms. A whole-house dehumidifier sits inside your heating and cooling system and removes excess moisture from the air as it passes through. The resulting water is drained away to your plumbing system. The dehumidified air continues through your duct system and out to your rooms. This lowers the humidity in your entire house to a healthier level.

Better humidity improves the "feels like" temperature in your home. In summer, your body will be able to cool itself more effectively in drier air, and you'll feel cozier in winter, too. You'll need less heating and cooling, which means lower energy bills.Lower humidity inhibits the growth of bacteria, mold, and dust mites, improving your indoor air quality and protecting your home from the rot that mold can cause. Less condensation also protects your windows from rot.

If you think you could benefit from a whole-home dehumidifier, get in touch with us at Air Assurance in the Broken Arrow area.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). Credit/Copyright Attribution: “marekuliasz/Shutterstock”

Keep Cool and Reduce Humidity in Your Home With These Tips

The first goal of any air conditioning system is to cool the home, but that's not the only thing. Effective residential cooling also requires the ability to reduce humidity. If your home is cool but still damp and clammy, your A/C isn't doing its job. The good news is that every homeowner has available strategies to dehumidify the home. 

Dehumidification Steps for Your Home

The following are a few ways to dehumidify your home:

• Effective ventilation: This is especially important in rooms or areas where activities add moisture to the air, such as bathrooms and the kitchen. Make sure these areas have exhaust fans that are vented to the outside. The last thing you want is for moist air to be redirected back into the house.

• Attic ventilation: A hot, muggy attic can have a negative effect throughout the house. Make sure the attic has the right amount and type of vents, and consider an attic fan. The attic floor should be properly sealed and insulated to separate attic heat and air from the downstairs living spaces.

• Shorter, cooler showers: Those 15-minute, steamy showers may feel good, but they add a lot of moisture to the air that can remain in the bathroom and general area for hours afterward. Along with using the bathroom exhaust fan, take shorter showers that aren't so hot. Install low-flow shower heads to reduce humidity and save water.

• Use the A/C: Most of the time, you can better dehumidify household air with the air conditioner running than by opening windows. A well-maintained, properly sized cooling system is designed to remove moisture from indoor air.

• Get a dehumidifier: For persistent whole-house humidity, you'll need an effective whole-house solution such as a dehumidifier that connects directly to the home's HVAC system.

For more advice on how to remove humidity from your greater Tulsa area home, please contact us at Air Assurance.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). Credit/Copyright Attribution: “PJStock/Shutterstock”

Easy Ways to Prevent Allergies in Your Broken Arrow Home

Spring is almost upon us and that means allergens are about to start blowing across the prairie. If you're looking for some ways to keep your allergies under control, consider implementing the following tips:

• Control the temperature. Keeping your home around 70 degrees can prevent dust mites and mold from taking hold.

• Use a dehumidifier. By reducing dampness, you can keep mold from forming on interior surfaces.

• Keep the windows closed. Even when the weather warms up, rely on your air conditioner and fans to keep your home cool.

• Upgrade your filter.Using a small-particle or HEPA filter can help remove pollen, dust and spores from the air you breathe. It's important to replace or clean these every month.

• Go chemical-free. Instead of using store bought, chemical-based cleaners, consider making your own natural cleaners.

• Wash linens, drapes and clothing regularly. This will help remove particulates that are stuck within the fibers.

Completing these tasks will remove a great deal of particles that trigger allergies within your home's environment. Other things you can do include reducing the number of knick-knacks you have, which reduces the amount of things you need to dust. You can also replace carpet and wallpaper with tile, which makes cleaning easier and more efficient.

If you have pets, you'll want to increase their bathing regimen as they'll likely begin shedding more as the weather warms up. It's also a good idea to increase your own bathing routine, so as to remove pollen and dirt as soon as you come indoors.

The team at Air Assurance is happy to share some more ways to prevent allergies in your home. We invite you to contact us to learn more about the ways we're helping our clients keep the air in their home's around Broken Arrow clean and clear.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). Credit/Copyright Attribution: “Piotr Marcinski/Shutterstock”

Controlling Humidity in Your Tulsa Home Increases Summer Comfort

No one wants to live in a humid home. And in summer, controlling humidity in your home can be a challenge.

Controlling Humidity in Your Tulsa Home Increases Summer Comfort

How humidity makes you feel warmer“It's not the heat, its the humidity,” is a common expression. And it is true. A higher level of humidity in your home will make you and your family feel hotter on a warm day. But why?

Humans release heat from their bodies in a many ways, but the most common is by sweating. It is the evaporation of the skin's sweat that cools your body. A humid environment reduces this evaporation and makes you feel warmer. People feel most comfortable in homes with a relative humidity level of around 45 percent.

Controlling humidity in your home

Maintaining an ideal level of humidity in your home can be difficult. While air conditioners can reduce the humidity in your home's air by cooling the air (cool air holds less moisture than warm air), A/Cs are not the ideal way of reducing humidity. A/Cs are designed for hot weather operation and humidity is a hot and cool weather problem. To feel a difference year-round, you need to install a dehumidifier.

There are two types of dehumidifiers: a whole house dehumidifier and a portable unit. The portable unit can be placed in any room as needed. While this may sound like a good idea, remember that dehumidifiers are noisy. Depending on where you place your unit, you may find the noise to be distracting. In addition, as many portable dehumidifiers are not attached to drain pipe, the unit's water reservoir needs to be emptied often. Whole house dehumidifiers are built into the HVAC system of the home. They have the benefit of dehumidifying your entire house and require less maintenance.

Homeowners thinking about installing a dehumidifier, should speak with HVAC experts to assist them in their decisions. The HVAC specialists at Air Assurance are more than happy to assist you with any of your heating and cooling needs. Air Assurance has been proudly serving the Tulsa-area community since 1985.

Our goal is to help educate our customers in the Tulsa and Broken Arrow, Oklahoma area about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  Image courtesy of Shutterstock

Key Components Of An Annual Service Check

An annual service check is near the top of the U.S. Department of Energy's  HVAC to-do list for homeowners. It's #2, right after monthly filter changes. And it's money well spent: You're protecting major investments, namely your heating and air conditioning system, and you're ensuring the comfort and safety of your family.Annual service checks catch problems before they happen and keep your system running efficiently year-round. A professional service technician will perform the following services to your oil, gas or electric HVAC system:

• Inspect and clean burners and heat exchangers
• Check vent flow and clean obstructions from the venting
• Test the thermostat and electrical connections to be sure they're working properly and at correct voltage, so the system starts and stops as it should
• Inspect oil fans and and other moving parts
• Clean A/C condenser coils
• Check/adjust the refrigerant level as needed
• Make sure the drain is clear for A/C and dehumidifier (if applicable)

These are just a few of the major things a check/tune-up will provide.  Air Assurance provides over 30+ checks while doing their maintenance.Everything runs smoother and more efficiently when cleaned and lubricated.  Your HVAC system is no exception. Burners and coils are the heart of your system. Furnace burners, like those on a stove, need cleaning to prevent the dirt and dust accumulation that leads to corrosion, rust and breakdowns. Without regular cleaning, burners become clogged, burn inefficiently and can cause damage to the heat exchanger. Cracks in the heat exchanger can allow combustion gases (like carbon monoxide) to escape into the air in your home.Coils need regular cleaning to remove the cottonwood, dust, grass clippings, etc away from the unit so that it can breathe, otherwise, putting too much strain on the compressor causes  it to prematurely give out.Don't let this happen to you. Call us today for more information. Ask about our preventive maintenance plan that keeps your system clean with annual service checks. It also offers priority service; no extra charges for emergency service; a 15 percent savings on any repairs (service and labor) and more. It also is a big part in the exclusive Limited Lifetime Repair Warranty only offered by Air Assurance! Visit us at the Air Assurance website, and don't hesitate to contact us for more information. We're always happy to help.Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information, click here to download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.Air Assurance services Tulsa, Broken Arrow and the surrounding areas. To get started, check out our website or see our current promotions.