When humidity levels rise, this can be hazardous to your health and to your computer hardware.
Humidity can rise sharply with abrupt climate changes (usually due to weather).
This can cause internal components in computers to rust and degrade over time – and under the most extreme conditions, can cause short circuits in your devices.
Furthermore, humidity encourages mould build-up in your home, because it causes extra moisture.
In severe cases of mould build-up, this can develop childhood asthma. The World Health Organisation attributes a large portion of the 300 million cases of global childhood asthma to dampness and mould in the home.
Here’s what you can do about it:
How To Reduce Humidity In Your Home
Here are some simple, common-sense tips to help reduce humidity in your home:
Open windows / doors or turn on the ventilation system (if you have one)
Doing this for just a few hours each day can greatly lower humidity levels. Air flow helps remove excess moisture which reduces humidity.
Air conditioning
This can help on days that have particularly humid weather as it increases airflow and makes the room drier.
Take short or colder showers
The steam produced from hot showers has a great impact on humidity. This is especially the case if your bathroom does not have a window.
Dry wet clothes outdoors or use a dryer
The evaporation from drying wet clothes indoors contributes to humidity levels! Either dry your clothing outdoors or use a dryer.
Little-known tips to help reduce humidity indoors
Replace or dry your rugs
Your rugs can often become a breeding grounds for mould!
This is because moisture gets collected by the rug when humidity levels rise – this is especially the case if it does not get much sunlight.
Dry the rug regularly when the sun is out or send it to the dry cleaners.
Otherwise, if mould build-up becomes too severe, you may need to replace it altogether.
Charcoal briquettes are great “humidity absorbers”
This common barbeque item can reduce humidity and even eliminate unwanted odours from the air because of its absorption properties.
Just a single piece of charcoal can retain its absorption properties for up to 2 – 3 months – simply leave it a bowl or basket in an area that is humid and it will absorb moisture and odours.
If possible, get a bag of coconut shell charcoal, as it has the best absorbing power with minimal powdering.
Place houseplants outside
If you keep indoor plants, the soil can contribute to extra humidity because it releases moisture into the air (from watering of the plant).
How To Prevent Humidity From Damaging Your Computers and Laptops
- Avoid using computers (or laptops) near liquids or where liquid could be splashed on them.
- If there have been sudden changes in temperature, wait for your devices to adapt to these new conditions before turning them on.
- If you have a humidistat (measures levels of humidity), humidity levels between 45% – 60% are best for computing environments. For Laptops, between 30% – 80% is acceptable.
- Avoid placing your devices near an actual humidifier
Advanced Computers has in house certified technicians to help you on rust cleaning,
repair, parts replacement and data recovery.
Please feel free to contact Advanced Computers team at 09 444 8823 for more information.
We are open 6 days a week (Mon-Fri 9:30am – 6pm, Sat 10am – 4pm).