Anyone who has spent a winter in our cold climate has probably experienced insufficient home humidity, whose effects range from mildly irritating to serious. Low humidity not only impacts your health and comfort, it also has a serious affect on your home furnishings as well.
Dry air occurs during the winter because heating the air causes the relative humidity to plummet, and cold outside air holds less moisture than warm air. Ideal levels of indoor humidity range from 30 to 50 percent when outdoor temperatures are over 10 degrees F. As the temperature slides, you need less moisture in the air, to prevent frost from forming on windows or co
ndensing on pipes.
Ways to combat low humidity levels include portable or whole-house humidifiers. Unless your home is very small, a whole-house system offers the most effective way to increase home humidity. They attach to a forced-air furnace and add water vapor to the air before it gets delivered to your living spaces. Of the two kinds of central humidifiers, the flow-through type works most effectively, requiring less maintenance than the drum-type.
Flow-through humidifiers trickle water over the top of an aluminum panel and the air blowing through it vaporizes the water, sending it through your home’s ductwork. You set the amount of humidity you want, using a humidistat that works just like a thermostat. Some humidistats have an outdoor thermometer that controls the amount you need based on the outdoor temperature.
Such an appliance benefits both you and your home. Dry air causes skin and respiratory problems, dries out wood objects you have inside, and can cause static electricity. Shocks from static electricity are annoying, and they can damage electronics that use low-voltage circuitry.
Increasing home humidity also slows the spread of viruses and bacteria, since they thrive in overly dry or humid air. Dry air afflicts people with allergies, sinus problems and asthma.
To learn more about managing your home humidity this winter, please contact us at Marsh Heating & Air Conditioning. We’ve been helping Twin Cities’ homeowners with their HVAC and home comfort systems since 1974.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about home humidity and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.
Image courtesy of Shutterstock