Moisture content of air inhaled by a person directly affects his well-being and general state of health. Even slight deviations to a greater or lesser extent over time can lead to the occurrence of a number of very unpleasant diseases. To avoid them, it is necessary to prevent both drying out and excessive concentration of moisture in the room. For this, it is important to understand how to determine the air humidity in the apartment, and if necessary, take measures to normalize it.
What should be the humidity in the apartment
The average indoor air humidity for a person is 45%. Naturally, this indicator cannot be constantly at the same level and there are deviations that will not cause negative consequences. The level of humidity in the house is different for the premises, depending on their purpose:
- In the hallway, living room, bathroom, kitchen or dining room, the humidity should be within 45-60%;
- In bedrooms for adult family members – 40-50%;
- In children’s rooms, humidity should be maintained in the range of 45-60%;
- In the office and library, the lowest level is required – 30-40%. Printed paper and dampness can cause substances harmful to human health to appear in the air, not to mention the negative effect of raw air on books and documents.
Constantly maintaining a fixed level of humidity at home is quite difficult, because it is extremely sensitive to many factors, the most common of which are:
- Seasonal climate change;
- Changes in weather conditions;
- Work in the room of heaters or air conditioning systems;
- Materials used for the construction of walls, their external and internal finishing.
In addition, the humidity level is affected by the number and size of windows in the room, the presence of indoor plants and the way the household is run.
Consequences of deviations from the norm
The main signs of a high concentration of moisture in the room are the formation of condensation on the windows , the tactile sensation of dampness on the upholstery of furniture and things, darkening and accumulation of mold in the corners of rooms. After a short time, a musty smell characteristic of mold formations appears, which permeates all things and it is quite difficult to remove it later.
But the smell of dampness is far from the most serious problem. Being in a room with mold on the walls is dangerous for health. This can cause a number of diseases:
- Fungal formations irritate the respiratory tract of a person, and their significant concentration subsequently provokes the occurrence of allergies. In a complex, these two factors lead to the appearance of such a pathology as asthma, complicated by allergic reactions.
- High relative humidity promotes more intensive growth of cancer cells in cancer patients, which complicates treatment even in the early stages.
- Exacerbation of cardiovascular diseases. It is especially difficult for hypertensives, who are already quite severely affected by climatic changes.
A dry microclimate is less dangerous , but it can also cause a number of negative health consequences. It is not harmful that the body does not receive moisture from the inhaled air. More harmful are dry dust particles that do not settle on the surface of objects, but are around and enter the human body through the respiratory system. The situation is further complicated by the fact that the mucous membranes also dry out and do not cope well with dust, which has become even more. In addition, immunity decreases, kidney disorders can be observed, and dysbacteriosis develops.
Methods of measuring indoor humidity
There are a number of ways to find out the level of moisture in the room. Some of them involve the use of special devices, others allow you to do it with the help of items that are in almost every home.
This is a device specially created to determine air humidity. With its help, you can measure this climatic parameter with high accuracy with an accuracy of up to 1%. Modern models are multifunctional and, in addition to humidity, will also determine atmospheric pressure, air temperature, exact time and some other parameters.
But what to do if you don’t have a hygrometer at hand, and you need to find out the humidity immediately. There are ways to do this using the most common devices and tools.
Any attempt to determine the humidity level without a device will have a much larger margin of error than 1% for a quality hygrometer. However, they will allow you to get at least an approximate idea of the humidity level in the room.
To make a measurement, you will need an ordinary mercury or alcohol thermometer for measuring the temperature in rooms. With its help, you need to perform the following actions:
- Measure the temperature in each room (in order not to confuse the data obtained, it is better to write them down);
- Soak a piece of cloth or cotton wool in water at room temperature and wrap it around the part of the device that contains the main part of the working fluid.
- Repeat the measurements in the rooms and record the measurement results.
- Next, you need to calculate approximate values. For this, the second readings are calculated from the first, and the obtained result is converted into a humidity level using Assman’s psychometric table.
A glass of water
The most affordable and simple way to find out humidity without a hygrometer. It does not require any calculations, long measurements with records and special equipment. Unfortunately, the accuracy of readings obtained using a glass can differ significantly from the actual level of measured data. But if you follow the instructions exactly, you will be able to fix critical deviations from the norm.
- Pour water into a large glass (or any other glass container). For greater clarity, it is better to fill the full capacity, but so as not to splash water during further movements.
- We cool the measuring instrument to a temperature approximately equal to 5 ˚C (for example, in the main chamber of the refrigerator, for half an hour).
- To measure humidity, take a container and place it in any place in the room that is not exposed to heating devices or air conditioners.
Condensation immediately forms on the walls of the vessel. Further analysis of the result comes down to studying what happens to it.
- If the condensate dries after 10-15 minutes, this indicates that the air in the room is too dry and needs to be humidified.
- In the case of an excessive concentration of water in the air of the apartment, the condensate on the walls of the glass will not dry after 10-15 minutes, but will collect in drops and flow down.
- At normal humidity, condensate will not collect in drops and evaporate quickly.
How to normalize humidity
If it was possible to correctly check the humidity level, in case of deviations from the norm, it is necessary to immediately take measures to normalize it.
Indoor air humidification
There are ready-made solutions – so-called humidifiers. If you do not want to buy such a device, you can use improvised means. During the winter period, you can put a container with water or put a wet towel on the radiator in a dry room. In addition to oxygen, indoor plants emit a considerable amount of moisture, which will also help in eliminating too dry a climate. Well, as a last resort, you can periodically turn on the electric kettle indoors (many factory humidifiers work on the same principle).
We reduce the humidity of the microclimate in the apartment
If the check showed high humidity, things are a bit more complicated. It will not always be possible to reduce humidity with improvised means and available household appliances .
The easiest, but unfortunately not the cheapest and most affordable way is to buy a special dehumidifier. These devices do not heat or overheat the air, and some are able to maintain humidity according to the specified parameters. If there is no device, it is recommended to ventilate the room more often. This should be done regardless of the weather outside and the season. Hoods should be used for rooms in which natural ventilation is difficult.
Determining the level of air humidity in the apartment is half the job. It is necessary to constantly monitor it, and in case of detection of inconsistencies with the norms, immediate measures should be taken to eliminate these inconsistencies.