Experts have identified the ideal level of relative humidity in a home to be between 30% to 60%.

Keeping within this range ensures that your customers' homes are at their most comfortable and can limit the effects of many unwanted conditions and harmful household contaminants.

Excessive moisture during spring, summer and fall can leave your customers feeling uncomfortable. Their homes can feel cold and clammy, and especially stuffy at night. Surfaces can become sticky.

Excessive humidity can also create an excellent breeding ground for mold and mildew-invaders that can be unhealthy and destructive to a home, its occupants and its furnishings.

Better home building technology increases dehumidification needs.

There have been significant energy-saving changes in new and remodeled home construction. Energy-efficient windows and doors with weather stripping are being installed. Insulation is thicker and the use of air-tight vapor barriers is more prevalent. Caulk seals cracks and other potential leaks. All these advances have made homes tighter and more efficient, resulting in reduced operation time for the HVAC system.

Tighter homes have moisture loads that need to be controlled. Although moisture infiltration is reduced, many normal living activities-such as cooking, showering, dishwashing and doing laundry-add significant amounts of moisture. And because the HVAC system needs to operate less in a tighter home, less of this moisture is removed.

More efficient air-conditioning systems can increase dehumidification needs.

The technology of today's air-conditioning systems is vastly improved. Higher SEER cooling systems save energy by reaching desired temperatures more quickly. The majority of the higher SEER air-conditioning coil is dedicated to the sensible load of the home. New tall, thin coil designs drop a home's temperature faster. These changes produce air-conditioning systems that run less frequently and with little latent impact.

In addition, air-conditioning is sized based on peak load - a condition reached only 2% to 3% of the year. The other 97% of the time, the air-conditioning system is operating in a part load condition, resulting in less run time and further reducing the moisture removal capabilities of the system. This situation is especially apparent in spring and fall, when the HVAC system seldom operates. Therefore, a significant need for moisture removal remains.
Many of your customers may try creating optimum humidity conditions by running their air-conditioning longer. They are probably creating a comfort issue by doing so, with their home temperatures consistently dropping below desired comfort levels.

Other products are only partial solutions.

In addition to air-conditioning, there are a number of other ways that are currently being used to address excessive humidity in the home. None of them are a complete solution.

• Portable dehumidifiers are a huge market, with over 1.5 million units sold annually. This, in itself, is an indication of the demand for moisture control by homeowners. While portable dehumidifiers remove moisture in a given area, they seldom address the needs of an entire home. Also, because of their design, they are not effective in removing moisture at temperatures below 65°F. They can also be noisy and messy.
• Thermostat manufacturers have introduced products that address excessive moisture when used with the air-conditioning system. These advanced thermostats include a humidity control that provides additional run time of the air-conditioning equipment to remove moisture at the evaporative coil. The system operates at lower speeds giving the air more time at the coil, focusing on latent energy to remove moisture in the air.
  

Although this does remove moisture, it also has drawbacks. The result is temperatures in the home that are cooler than expected. Temperatures can drop below the set point when using this method. In addition, there will be times when the homeowner doesn't want additional cooling introduced into the home-when mild outdoor temperatures exist during evenings, fall or summer.

Whole-home convertible to basement:

The Aprilaire Model 1700/1720 Dehumidifier can also automatically switch between whole-home and localized dehumidification, allowing you installation flexibility in basement and crawl space applications.
Automatic switching allows the system to provide dehumidification to the whole-home when the air-conditioning is on and then converts to a specific location (i.e., basement) when your customers turn off their air-conditioning.
- Requires one basement kit (Model 4522) which includes two normally closed 8-inch dampers (Model 6508), two normally opened 8-inch dampers (Model 6608) and a transformer (Model 8027).

Aprilaire has taken the leadership role in providing a product that meets the needs of you and your customers.

• Sized for any home: The Aprilaire Whole-Home Dehumidifier has a high capacity to meet your homehowners needs-90 pints per day for the Model 1700 and 150 pints per day for the Model 1720 -to provide dehumidification in a wide variety of home sizes.
  
• Built for any temperature: The use of a Thermostatic Expansion Valve (TXV) metering device allows the Model 1700/1720 to effectively operate in a wider range of ambient temperatures. It also provides increased moisture removal at different temperatures and conditions. A metering device of this quality keeps the system functioning in almost any situation.
  
• Achieves optimum humidity quickly: Two unique design advances-a unique fin design and dual-tube design - give the Model 1700/1720 better surface to surface contact with moisture-laden air. Refrigerant inside the dual coil
  

• provides maximum temperature differential, so air reaches dew point quicker and more moisture is removed. These two features provide the system with a 50% SHR rating.
  
• Automatic humidity control: Aprilaire invented automatic humidification control, and the Model 1700 takes full advantage of this expertise. Your customers never need to make an adjustment to maintain proper moisture levels.
• Installation flexibility: The interior of the dehumidifier cabinet is fully insulated - sealed with 1-inch foil-faced expanded polystyrene (EPS) insulation. This extra step makes the unit especially quiet and allows installation flexibility. The unit can be installed in attics, garages and crawl spaces without condensation forming on the unit or the heat gain from high temperature areas affecting performance.