Because dry air is far more common during winter in most parts of the country, that’s usually the time of year when most people consider adding a humidifier to their home. The most common motivation is relief from physical symptoms—itchy skin, sore throat, dry eyes, cough and other discomforts are associated with low humidity. Indoor humidity below 50% is proven to promote replication of airborne viruses including cold and flu. Other household issues also arise: painful zaps from static electricity are more frequent and wooden building materials such as hardwood floors tend to shrink, causing gaps between planks and splintering.
How Dry Is Dry?
The Environmental Protection Agency recommends keeping indoor humidity levels between 30 and 60 percent. Humidity dropping below 30% will often cause one or more of the above dry air symptoms. Humidity above 60%, conversely, degrades indoor comfort and raises a different set of health concerns such as mold and mildew become an issue
Once the need to raise indoor humidity is established, you have two options:
Room Humidifiers
These units add humidity to the air in limited enclosed spaces. They are free-standing, generally portable and require addition of water to the reservoir tank on a daily basis, as well as periodic cleaning. Small room humidifiers can treat rooms up to 300 square feet, while the largest models placed centrally inside a home can handle up 1,000 square feet.
Room humidifiers are typically available in two types:
- Warm mist models include a heating element to boil water in the reservoir into steam, which is then released as water vapor directly into the air.
- Cool mist units emit a stream of room-temperature mist composed of ultra-fine water particles.
Whole House Humidifiers
Mounted directly inside your home ductwork, these units add humidity directly into the HVAC air flow that circulates throughout every room in the house. Most are directly plumbed to a household water line and require no refilling or other daily user input. Automatically operated by a wall-mounted humidistat—much like a thermostat—the whole house humidifier allows precision setting of desired humidity in the entire residence.
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