Why Humidify?

With the change of season upon us most of us find “ The Shoulder Season” can be at times very uncomfortable. The shoulder season is the time when in the morning and sometimes at night we run the heating system to take the chill out of the air. During the day we either open the windows or run the air-conditioning. By doing this we in trying to feel comfortable we dry the air out too much.

The human body prefers an environment that has a humidity level of 35-45%. Any amount lower than this the air tries to pull the moisture from our bodies and our surroundings, such as the furniture, walls and ect in our home. When this happens several conditions occur that will cause us to feel sick, dry, stuffy and we notice a lot more dust than normal.

What is Humidity?

Humidity is the measurement of water content in the air we breathe and live in. This moisture retains heat, helps settle dust and allows the wood furniture, trim, moldings and ect stay in the condition they were when they were manufactured.

What would happen if the air got to dry?

If allowed to get to dry not only do our noses feel dry, throats feel dry but our skin will as well feel dry and can be irritated as well as  crack. Our furnishings and our homes could show signs of separation, splitting, and fall apart due to the glues moisture being pulled out.

I though that is what air-conditioning does in the summer time, cool and dehumidify?

That is correct but it is very important to have a right sized system to prevent over cooling without proper dehumidify. A correctly sized system is one that has taken into account all of your homes factors on how it was built as well as how leaky, energy efficient it is. (This is called a manual J load calculation)

Outside the obvious benefits of adding humidity how would it cut my heating bills in the winter?

Remember that moisture retains heat, when you burn fuel to heat the air in your home whether you have baseboard or hot air it still boils off the airs natural content of moisture. By adding humidity back into the air, that water vapor hold the heat longer causing your system to run less. The side benefits are that all of your furnishings, trim, wood floors stop shrinking and cracking!

Can I add a humidifier?

Yes, it does not matter what type of heating system you have there are all types of central humidifiers that can be added to your home and inmost cases these will pay for themselves in reducing your energy cost as well as repairs that might be need to the fix the shrinkage of the wood in your home.