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Is Your House Drying You Out?

Odds are, you already know what we are going to be talking about here: humidifiers. And it feels strange, right? All spring and summer long, we’re working hard to set up air conditioning systems to help keep the humidity levels down in our homes to fight mold, sickness, and all other types of calamity that a humid home brings. That is what we should do!

But when fall comes, followed by winter, our homes do a flip. They dry out and they do so very quickly. If our cracked cutting boards and dusty shelves don’t tip us off to this, our health sure does. Where did these sore throats come from? Why is my child’s nose running? Why am I itchy all the time? Why are my shoulders looking like snow-capped mountains? Dryness.

Whether you live in Three Lakes, Rhinelander, or Wausau, WI – your home is drying out as temperatures cool. It goes without saying that having a dried out home is bad. What we want is to find a “Goldilocks zone” of humidity: Not too humid. Not too dry. Just right.

You really have two options for keeping your home the right humidity for the health of your home and yourself personally. Here they are, with their pros and cons.

How to Combat Dry Indoor Air

1. Purchase a humidifier for each room.

Pros:

  • Generally inexpensive up front ($30-$60).
  • Can be loaded with essential oils or other soothing scents and medicinal oils to fill a room.
  • Fills a specific room with humidity very rapidly.

Cons:

  • Only affects one room.
  • Must be manually operated and kept up.
  • Uses quite a bit of electricity.
  • Can fill with mold.
  • Can over-humidify a room.
  • Can be not child-friendly.
  • Is ultimately inefficient as humidity leaks to other rooms.

2. Purchase a humidifier to be installed into your HVAC system that takes care of the whole house.

Pros:

  • Keeps the whole house one “Goldilocks Zone” level of humidity.
  • Keeps heating and cooling bills down because the air is a uniform humidity – keeping an even temperature as well.
  • Is VERY efficient in comparison to the one-room units as it only has to maintain humidity instead of re-humidifying whenever turned on.
  • Does not need to be constantly re-filled or maintained by a homeowner as it is as low maintenance as the rest of the HVAC system.
  • Many different kinds to choose from many brands for your home size/needs.
  • Pays itself off with HVAC energy savings over its lifetime.

Cons:

  • Initial investment ($100’s for the unit itself).
  • Not really meant to have scented or essential oils in it.
  • Will not fill one specific room with extra humidity.

Whole-House Humidification Solutions in Northern Wisconsin

It’s clear that from the long-term standpoint, a whole-house humidification system is what is the best option overall for improving your indoor air quality. Ultimately, it will save you more money over time while having a greater positive effect on your health as well.

Now is a perfect time of year to have a humidifier installed. It will save you money, it will help your health, and your home will feel more comfortable. And that is what we are all about.

For more information on whole-home humidification systems and other indoor air quality solutions, call Frasier’s Plumbing and Heating, Inc. today at (715) 804-0947.

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