Indoor air quality is a primary concern for many homeowners. During warmer months, outdoor air from open windows dilutes irritants from household cleaning products, emissions from indoor appliances and helps humidity levels remain stable. With the arrival of fall and winter, cold weather prompts you to seal windows and keep doors closed. Modern home construction further impacts the issue. Homes are far more efficient at maintaining an ideal indoor temperature, but recycled indoor air is often far worse than outdoor air.
Since every home and environment is different, Thiele Heating and Air Conditioning provides friendly and expert consultation on the best solutions to enhance indoor air quality. There are numerous ways to improve indoor air quality including air cleaners, air purifiers, smart thermostats, dehumidifiers and humidifiers. Each of these devices plays a specialized role in protecting the health and comfort of your household.
What Is a Whole House Humidifier?
Adding a humidifier or dehumidifier to your home has an fast and lasting impact on maintaining ideal relative humidity. Warm air holds moisture, and when the temperature drops in the fall and winter, the air becomes excessively dry. Furnaces circulate dry air through air vents, causing humidity levels within your home to fall even lower. A humidifier adds water vapor to the air circulating throughout your home. This is accomplished by ultrasonic humidifiers, evaporative humidifiers or mist humidifiers. By adding moisture to the air within your home, the relative humidity is maintained at an ideal level.
Most homeowners are familiar with portable humidifiers. When you put a portable humidifier near a bedside of an ill family member, it helps alleviate symptoms like cough, dry nose and even helps with snoring. A compact humidifier is very helpful in raising humidity levels in a small area. Portable devices range in size from compact to larger floor models designed to treat an entire room.
There are limitations of portable models, though. Obviously, they only treat a certain area effectively. Other limitations include the space they require, demands on electricity and refilling the water tank. Most models also produce noise. Most of these issues are nuisance problems, although dirty tanks, components and wick filters allow mold to grow, causing more harm than good. Most importantly, many portable humidifiers do not monitor and maintain humidity levels. Too much moisture is also a health hazard and can damage your home’s structure.
You can gain all the benefits of portable units in every room of your home and avoid the risks of excess moisture, noisy humidifiers and unregulated humidity levels with the installation of a whole home humidifier. When Thiele technicians install a humidifier into your HVAC system, our devices can be set to monitor your preferred humidity level and add moisture to the air as it circulates throughout your home.
When your home has an ideal relative humidity ranging from 40-60%, many of the common ailments of winter drift away. Dry skin, cracked lips, scratchy throats, dry nostrils and even bloody noses are persistent and annoying dry air issues. Proper air circulation of moisturized air helps trap dust, airborne debris and allergens. Removing these irritants from the air may improve the health of family members with allergies, asthma and respiratory concerns. Coughing and snoring are associated with dry air so sleep may improve with a humidifier.
How Does a Humidifier Work?
The mechanics of a humidifier are quite simple. The central humidifier mounts into your HVAC system. You can set the device to your preferred relative humidity. As air circulates through your ductwork, a humidistat monitors the humidity levels. Just like your thermostat turns on when temperatures fall too low, the humidistat activates when the humidity reading falls to low.
The humidifier adds water vapor to the air, and with the ample airflow and power of your furnace, a balanced humidity level is restored throughout your home. An evaporative humidifier and a steam humidifier are very quiet, and because they use the power of your furnace, they require very little energy to operate. Maintenance is far less invasive because there are no water tanks to fill and clean. An annual inspection of the device may be performed during routine furnace tune-ups.
Where should the Humidifier be Located?
Whole house humidifiers are installed by a professional heating and air conditioner technicians. Some modern furnaces are designed to accommodate modification directly into the furnace. The best humidifier placement is centralized between the air return duct and the furnace. In this position, humidity readings are most accurate and the device is most effective.
Skilled and experienced technicians carefully evaluate the design of your home’s heating system to determine the optimal location to place a humidifier. The key is adequate airflow and accurate readings for the humidistat.
Contact Thiele for Indoor Air Quality
Thiele Heating and Air Conditioning offers comprehensive indoor air quality assessments. This often starts with humidifier installation during dry winter months. We can help you consolidate the mixture of portable humidifiers, warm mist humidifiers, cool mist humidifiers and untangle the power cords from your house. Replacing noisy humidifiers with a quiet whole house humidifier that precisely controls the comfort of your home is our goal. These systems provide relief for common maladies and help your family stay healthy during cold and flu season.
Many homeowners enjoy additional improvements including media air cleaners that trap dust, debris, pet dander and other airborne irritants. We also install air purifiers that use ultraviolet lights to treat and clean the air circulating through your system. Our traditional HVAC services like furnace tune ups, duct cleaning and installing thermostats also provide relief from poor indoor air quality. Contact our team with questions or to schedule an appointment for your family.