Cold winter air doesn’t hold moisture like warm summer air does, so outdoor humidity declines as the temperatures fall. Heating your home draws out additional moisture and can make your indoor humidity level plummet. A humidifier can help restore much-needed moisture and keep the level inside your home in the ideal 45–55 percent range.
Types of Humidifiers for a Home
You have a choice of two main types of home humidifiers:
- Portable humidifiers. These small units are equipped with a refillable tank. Because of their size, they’re a good choice for humidifying a single area like a bedroom.
- Whole-house humidifiers. These units are installed on the HVAC system and connected directly to your water supply. They can humidify the entire house because the water vapor they add to the heated air gets sent out to every room through the ductwork.
Whole-House Humidification Benefits
Having a whole-house humidifier installed can bring you a number of benefits this winter including:
- Increased comfort. Adding moisture to the air can prevent common cold-weather complaints like static electricity, dry hair and itchy skin. You’ll feel warmer too because humidified air holds heat better.
- Healthier living environment. Dry indoor air can cause a variety of health issues like nasal irritation, sore throats, allergy symptoms and asthma and other breathing problems. When humidity is kept at a good level, viruses and bacteria that thrive in dry conditions are kept in check too, so there’s less chance of developing the flu, colds and infections.
- Damage prevention. Adding a controlled amount of humidity can preserve your wood floors, trim, drywall, paint, wallpaper and furniture. Maintaining the right amount of moisture in the air also prevents damaging static electricity that can harm televisions, computers and other electronic equipment.
- Heating cost savings. If your indoor humidity level is too low, you may have to dial up the thermostat’s temperature setting frequently just to stay comfortable. By adding moisture to the air, you can lower the setting instead and save energy.
Contact us at Energy 1 Heating & Air Conditioning to learn whether a humidifier is a beneficial addition for your Lorain home.
Our goal is to help educate our customers in Lorain, Ohio about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems). For more information about humidifiers and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Guide or call us at 440-201-2959.
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Energy 1 Heating & Air Conditioning
1 (440) 246-5440
Serving the Lorain, OH Area