Dehumidifiers for Allergies
If mold, mildew, or dust mite allergies are making you miserable, a home dehumidifier may help.
Mold and mildew grow in moist areas, such as your damp basement or the cabinet under your kitchen sink. Molds produce tiny spores to reproduce. These spores float through the air. If you are sensitive to molds, exposure to their airborne spores can cause symptoms such as nasal stuffiness, eye irritation, wheezing, or skin irritation.
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Dust mites -- the most common trigger of allergy and asthma symptoms -- thrive in high humidity. They can live in your bedding, curtains, rugs, and the air of your home, aggravating allergy and asthma symptoms.
Removing excessive moisture with dehumidifiers can help control dust mites and limit the growth of mold and mildew.
How Dehumidifiers Work
Dehumidifiers remove excessive moisture from the air by drawing air over coils and condensing out its moisture and then passing the air over warm coils and back into the room. The condensed water drips into a container in the unit. The container has to be emptied; however, the water can be routed through a hose directly to a drain.
Home dehumidifiers remove 10 to 50 pints of water from the air each day, depending on the relative humidity. A unit's capacity is measured by the number of pints of water it can remove from the air in a 24-hour period if the relative humidity is 60% and the air temperature is 80 degrees F.
Health Benefits of Dehumidifiers
Dehumidifiers are important for families with a history of allergies or asthma who are living in a humid climate or have signs of moisture in their homes, such as:
- Wet stains on walls and ceilings
- Stuffy feeling in a room
- Rotting wood
- Condensation on windows
- Musty smells
Cost of Dehumidifiers
Dehumidifiers can range widely in cost, depending on size, capacity, and whether they are portable or built into your home's ventilation system.
A small portable dehumidifier, appropriate for a bathroom, can be found for well under $200. A built-in home ventilating dehumidifier may cost in the $1,500 to $2,000 range. If your family suffers from coughing, sneezing, itchy eyes, and other allergy symptoms because of molds and mites that thrive in humidity, you may find a dehumidifier well worth the cost.
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