I live in the desert. My air conditioner barely keeps up, is it ok to put a humidifyer in front of a fan, in?
Question:front of the air conditioner vent? We simply cannot afford a swamp cooler. I am assuming that this putting some moisturizer in this extremely dry air will cool it off better, as the a/c is working optimal and well. My concern is mold... i've been told black mold is deathly toxic here and will actually grow in your veins if you breath it in. The machine I bought stops working at sixty percent humidity level and I've already noticed a great difference. Should I be concerned about this mold? I should also add that this is a very fine mist humidifyer and you cannot even see the moisture coming out of it. Thanks.
Answers:
I live in the desert as well. If you are talking about central air/heat pump (unit outside of your house) It may not be a big enough system for your home. The federal gov't raised the minimum seer on these recently. 10 used to be the minimum I believe. That's what we have but our home is one level & about 1500 sq ft. We are well insulated and I keep the blinds closed on the sun sides. How big is your home? How many seer is your unit?
With all the fine powder dust here I change my filters religiously 1st of every month. I don't care if they say "good for 90 days". No way down here! Also was your unit serviced this year? How was the Freon?
The humidifier is not going to hurt anything and as dry as it is. You do not need to be concerned about mold. We use ours in our bedroom at night just for the moisture for our breathing and poor dry noses. You won't want this going during the monsoon season though. As you know we suffer massive hot humidity during that time of year.
Swamp coolers are terrific here in the desert for the moisture and the lower cost to run but they are virtually useless during the monsoon season. Many folks are using split systems that switch from swamp to A/C.
We have a fan in front of one of the vents in our living room just to circulate the cool air around and it helps a lot. A ceiling fan will too. Our ocillating fan has run in front of that vent 24/7 for 3 years now. I like to keep the air moving. Feels better.
As you know.. this is the time of year we are cooped up and closed in like other areas are in the winter. It's 113 here today. Good Luck! Stay Cool!
I'm not convinced you are on the right track. The more humid the air the warmer it feels because it does not evaporate sweat as readily. Also, adding humidity to the air will work the AC harder because it will remove, condense, the humidity as it crosses the evaporator. It think a humidifier is a mistake while running the AC.
A swamp cooler without running the AC, if indeed you have low humidity, will use less energy than an AC.
A major function of an A/C is to remove humidity in the air, so adding a humidifier could be counter productive. If the A/C is struggling to keep up, first make sure the filter in the A/C is clean. Second, use a fan (ceiling fans are perfect for this) to help circulate the air so the A/C can be more efficient. If neither of these work, the A/C may be too small for the room. Check the BTU rating on the unit. 5,000 BTUs is good for a moderate size bedroom. If you are trying to cool a floor of a house, you may need something closer to 12,000 or 15,000. 15,000 BTUs is generally the largest you can run on standard 120V electricity. If you need something larger, you may need to have a 240V outlet installed (like the one for an electric dryer).
When I was a kid in Texas we had a swamp cooler, the shoes in our closet would be covered with green/ gray mold. We just brushed them off and went about our business.
As far as growing in you veins, never happened. Could cause pulmonary problems but not vasculature. Maximize your air-conditioning effort by insulating you attic if you have one. Put milar solar film on the windows. Attic vents with fans are also effective. Wrap an ice cube in a cloth wear it in the back of your neck, inside of your wrist this will cool the blood that passes through the arteries and veins. Keep well hydrated.
can't see why anyone would choose to live in the desert.
ok im assuming you are talking central air not a window unit, is this system original to the house, if not It is possible that whoever installed it later may have undersized it, you may want a contractor to come out and do a heat load calculation on your home so you know if this unit even stands a chance at cooling your place down, remember if it is sized properly you will save loads on your energy bill!
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