During the winter, most of us are familiar with dry hands and chapped lips from the dry, cold air. While we often experience these unpleasant side effects from being outside, many people experience them from the dry air in their home as well. The winter months bring cold, dry air that causes a lack of relative humidity in your home. A lack of relative humidity can cause a myriad of issues for anyone occupying your home. That’s why a whole-house humidifier is a winter must-have. With a humidifier, you can:
Reduce Airborne Viruses
With today’s world of viruses and disease, we want to protect our families and ourselves from outside irritants and viruses. Humidifiers are comparable to having a filter system on your faucet or drinking bottled water. Think about how many times we breathe in and out in a day. Each breath is an opportunity for those airborne viruses to penetrate our immune system and we want to rest assured that our air quality is at its best, especially in our home. For optimum health and comfort, relative humidity should be about 42% in your home in the winter time.
Low relative humidity can trigger respiratory infections brought on by the cold and flu viruses that are more common in winter months. Keeping an appropriate level of humidity not only keeps you comfortable, but it helps get rid of scratchy throats, eases the symptoms of allergies, and helps reduce the symptoms in children with asthma.
Reduce Energy Bills
When your skin dries out, it can crack and peel, causing you to feel colder because the cool air is penetrating those cracks. When you have a humidifier, it coats your skin, preventing that cold air from getting through your skin, therefore making you feel warmer. Feeling warmer at a cooler temperature allows you to turn your temperature down and save on your heating bill.
How A Humidifier Works
Aprilaire offers many whole-home humidifier solutions. The whole-home humidifier is attached to your HVAC unit and water heater. There is an automatic digital humidifier control attached to the hot water heater and you can set where you want your relative humidity levels to be. The system will use water to reach the humidity level your system is set at just like your system heats the air until it reaches the temperature you have set on your thermostat.
We can help you decide which system is best for your comfort needs. Whether you are looking for a system to work with a radiator or baseboard system, or you prefer a steam humidifier, we have you covered. Call our office at 301-401-2780 to schedule a consultation today.
