Winter is a picturesque season. There’s beauty in the snow covering the surroundings, painting everything white. That said, winter can be brutal, too. Considering the fact that you usually stay indoors during this time of year, you may see yourself having to deal with different kinds of health issues, including dry skin and eyes, a sore throat, respiratory problems, and other complications associated with dry air.
For this reason, you need to have a whole-home humidifier that works alongside your furnace to provide you with just the right amount of humidity.
Marsh Heating and Air Conditioning is your trusted HVAC company in Roseville MN. With over forty years of experience serving the home comfort needs of Minnesotans, we know how to help you establish a comfortable, energy-efficient home environment.
Why is Winter Air Very Dry?
Several reasons can be given to help us understand the dryness of air come wintertime. For starters, there is less vegetation to increase outdoor moisture. Most trees have lost their leaves and gone dry. Also, most of the grass is covered in snow. You may wonder how these changes would make much of a difference in your community’s humidity levels, but when your lips begin to chap and your skin gets dry, you’ll understand how dry air can negatively impact your body.
You can’t ignore your furnace’s effect on your indoor air either. Without a humidifier helping, your furnace will distribute dry air throughout your home. You may want this warm air during a cold night, but without humidity, you will still feel uncomfortable.
What is Humidity and Why is it Important for My Family’s Health?
Humidity refers to the presence of water vapor in the atmosphere. It is completely transparent, just like the rest of the gases. Humidity impacts several aspects of our daily lives such as our breathing patterns, skin, eyes, sleep, and hair. It can also influence electronic devices such as smartphones and tablets.
Having the ability to measure your home’s humidity levels is important to maintaining proper moisture. A hygrometer helps you evaluate the amount of moisture present in your home.
Your home’s indoor air quality isn’t only about pollen, dust, and other airborne contaminants. Humidity also directly affects the quality of the air you inhale. If your home has insufficient moisture, you can suffer from respiratory problems. When you think about the most common health issues at home, such as dry, cracked skin, chapped lips, bloody noses, and dry sinuses, you can trace the cause back to low humidity.
Failure to maintain the right amount of moisture in your home can also cause problems not related to health. Poor humidity can damage wood surfaces such as hardwood floors, furniture, and musical instruments. When humidity is too low, wood doesn’t have sufficient moisture to maintain its form. The wood fibers swell as they soak up moisture and shrink as they release it, causing the wood to expand and contract. Typically, relative humidity lowers during winter. And since you’re running your heating systems, your home’s relative humidity is generally different indoors than out.
How a Furnace and Humidifier Work Together
A furnace and a humidifier are two separate pieces of equipment that have different functions. They might be both connected to your HVAC system, but each has a distinct task. The furnace converts fuel into heat while the humidifier adds moisture to your home. When the furnace blows dry air, you need the humidifier to moisturize your indoor environment. The humidifier might work by pulling air through a saturated wick to add moisture, boil water, and release moist air throughout your home. It may also use ultrasonic vibrations to create small water droplets that can be added to your indoor air. The moisture does not necessarily make the air any cooler, so you don’t have to worry about the surrounding temperature getting lower and defeating the purpose of running your furnace. All it does is add moisture that otherwise is not present if you were running only the furnace.
Ask Marsh Heating and Air Conditioning
To make sure your home has the right humidity levels, give us a call. As your total New Brighton heating and air conditioning company, we aim to provide you with excellent products that meet and exceed your expectations.