Maintaining the ideal winter humidity level in your home is important for ensuring a healthy, comfortable indoor environment. With January lows in Detroit frequently hovering around 20°F, it can be extremely difficult to keep your house from feeling overly dry. Cold air is always fairly dry to start with since it can’t hold nearly as much moisture as warmer air.
When your heating system runs and raises the temperature of the air inside your house, it leads to the relative humidity (RH) decreasing and the air feeling even drier. The only way to avoid issues with overly dry air during the winter is to use a humidifier to increase RH. While portable humidifiers have their uses, using a whole-home humidifier in Detroit is the most effective solution for improving comfort and keeping your family healthier and happier.
Ideal Winter RH for Comfort & Health
The RH in Detroit is typically around 70% during the winter, but this is for cold outdoor air. Once you start heating the air inside a house, the RH can plummet to 20-30% or sometimes even lower. Ideally, you want to try and keep the RH inside your house between 40% and 50%. When the RH stays around this level, the air will feel warmer and not nearly as dry. Maintaining the ideal RH also helps lessen the chances of colds and other illnesses. Overly dry air dries out your mucous membranes, which decreases your body’s ability to prevent bacteria and viruses from getting into your system.
Bypass vs. Powered vs. Steam: What Fits Your System
When searching for dry air solutions for your home, it’s important to consider which type of whole-home humidifier will best meet your needs. Bypass humidifiers are connected to the main supply duct and rely on the HVAC blower to force the hot air the heating system produces through them. Inside the unit is a pad that holds water. As the hot air flows over the pad, it causes some of the moisture to evaporate.
Fan-powered humidifiers are essentially the same, except that they have a fan that actively pulls hot air in and blows it over the pad. The fan ensures more hot air flows through the unit, allowing it to pump out more moisture.
Steam humidifiers instead use electricity to boil water and produce steam, which enables them to produce much more moisture than the other types. It also means that you can run the humidifier when your heating system is shut off. All you need to do is switch the HVAC fan on to circulate the moist air around the house.
Bypass humidifiers are the least expensive option, but also produce the least amount of moisture. As such, they’re best suited for smaller houses or places where the air doesn’t get that dry. Fan-powered humidifiers are the middle-of-the-road option, providing the best balance between initial cost, energy usage and overall performance. Steam humidifiers are fairly expensive and use much more energy. Nonetheless, they can be a good option if your house is constantly overly dry or you want to be able to humidify the air when your heating isn’t running.
Maintenance Tips to Prevent Mold & Mineral Buildup
No matter which option you choose, regular humidifier maintenance is essential. Maintenance helps to prevent mold issues that can contribute to poor indoor air quality. It’s also important for avoiding issues with mineral deposit buildup that can lessen the humidifier’s effectiveness and shorten its lifespan. You should always make sure to change the pad and filter in the humidifier at least once a year or more often if you have hard water. It’s also important to clean and descale the water distribution tray to remove the mineral deposits.
If you have a bypass or a fan-powered humidifier, you should close the shut-off valve on the pipe that connects the humidifier to your plumbing system once winter is over. Do this when you no longer need to run your heating system. While general maintenance is something you can do yourself, it’s always best to have an HVAC technician inspect and service your humidifier every year before winter.
Set It and Breathe Easier All Season
If you’re looking for ways to improve your home comfort this winter, the experts at Detroit Furnace are here to help. From whole-home humidifier installation and indoor air quality to heating maintenance and furnace services, we have all of your needs covered. To schedule service or request a humidity assessment for your home, contact us today.
