Find out whether the air in your home is healthy with this digital hygrometer

It is really important to take mould prevention into account when maintaining your home. When your house is too damp, mould can begin to grow on your walls and other surfaces and is highly toxic, it can cause respiratory conditions, infections and has even been linked to depression. A lack of moisture in the air can also be a problem; drying out the skin, worsening conditions like eczema and irritating the throat and sinuses. Air that is too wet or dry can also cause structural damage to your home, weakening wood and other materials and potentially causing very expensive problems.

These issues can be avoided with the use of a hygrometer. This is a device that measures the humidity levels in your home so that you can prevent any problems as soon as they start. The ADE 1500 hygrometer will alert you as soon as the air in the room is at a harmful level. Its clear and easy to read LCD display will also show you the humidity levels from the last 12 hours so that you can get a truly clear picture of whether your house is at risk of mould.

Using the ADE WS 1500

The ADE WS 1500 can be hung on the wall or propped up on its built-in stand. When you switch the unit on it will begin measuring the humidity levels immediately, displaying the temperature and humidity percentage on the bottom of the LCD screen. You can also view the humidity levels for the past 12 hours at a glance, due to the clever bar chart design on the top half of the display. It’s divided into intervals and shows what the humidity level was 12, 9 , 6 and 3 hours ago, comparing it to the current one. The percentages are show on the right hand side and simplified on the left with these headers:

• Too dry
• Dry
• Comfort
• Wet
• Too wet

There is also a helpful line between ‘Comfort’ and ‘Wet’ as this is the point at which mould will typically develop, so you can immediately see if your home is dangerously damp.

You can set the maximum and minimum humidity levels that are comfortable for you (40-60% is the standard recommendation but you may prefer a different level if you have a health condition). You can choose to have a minute-long alarm go off if the humidity goes above or below these levels, enabling you to make changes as soon as the level of moisture starts to become unhealthy. There is also a dew point indicator – the dew point is the point at which condensation starts, which causes mould and can damage household items. You can also set a customised mould alert – choose a threshold of 60, 65, 70 or 75% and if this level is reached, the red LED on the front of the unit will flash while the screen displays the ‘mould risk’ symbol.