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A Good Question: “Should I Install a Humidifier?”

The summers in Virginia can grow extremely humid, and everyone knows the unpleasant experience of a hot and muggy day. The installation of a whole-house dehumidifier is a good way to balance humidity inside a home and eliminate the extreme discomfort of high humidity.

But what about installing a humidifier? Are there times when raising the humidity inside your home is a good idea? The answer is Yes, as we’ll explain below.

Low humidity in the winter

The time when Virginia is most likely to experience a drop in relative humidity is during winter. Moisture freezes out of the air, creating exceptionally dry conditions. Low humidity may make hotter weather easier to take, but it makes cold weather feel worse. The reason for this is that the low level of moisture in the air makes it much easier for the human body to lose heat, and that causes low temperatures to feel as if they were colder.

A single-room humidifier doesn’t do much good to combat this situation, and it provides little control over the humidity level. But a whole-house humidifier, which a technician integrates into a HVAC system, provides your entire home with humidity balanced between 30% and 50% relative humidity, which is the humidity “sweet spot” for comfort. A control device called a humidistat allows you to manipulate the humidity level so that it doesn’t become too humid in your home.

There are some other reasons aside from comfort to have a humidifier. When people in your home feel warmer, the heating system will need to run much less, and that will significantly reduce energy bills over the season. Extremely dry conditions are also unhealthy: aside from drying out skin and eyes, they also dry sinuses and mucus membranes, which removes the body’s major defense from the spread of communicable illnesses. A humidifier helps create a healthier household during winter.

Finally, dry air is damaging to wooden surfaces: it draws out moisture from the material and results in cracking and warping. A humidifier protects precision wooden instruments and valuable furnishings.

If you want to arrange humidifier installation, or you have other questions regarding humidifiers, call Oasis Heating, A/C & Refrigeration. We serve Fairfax, VA and the surrounding areas.

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