A local HVAC expert says that having a humidifier in the home can improve your overall health and home this winter.
HVAC Expert Mark Bilbrey said dry skin, sore throats, and static electricity are common signs of low indoor humidity. He added that homes tend to dry out even more during the winter because heating systems run almost constantly.
“You can also have a health issue, breathing issues, things like that,” Bilbrey said. “The higher the humidity in the home during the wintertime, the more comfortable you feel, the better your skin is, the better your breathing is, things of that nature.”
Bilbrey said the ideal percentage of humidity in a home is around 40-55 percent. He said not only are humidifiers good for your health, but also for your trim, furniture, and other items inside the home.
“Like your cabinets and everything else, and wood flooring, hardwood flooring, when the humidity is low, this stuff tends to shrink, and it can cause cracks and things like that,” Bilbrey said. “But when the humidity stays correct, it stays full, it stays right.”
Bilbrey said people can purchase standalone humidifiers that can increase the humidity in a specific room in the house. Bilbrey said many HVAC companies offer humidifiers that can cover the entire house.
“Like our typical steam humidifiers that we utilize, they are hooked to your ductwork, and what they do, they boil water in a container with a heater, a little electric heater that acutally when it boils the water, it converts it to steam,” Bilbrey said. “And as it pushes the steam out, it will basically use the fan in the unit to push the steam out through vents into the home.”
Bilbrey said most people in the Upper Cumberland typically start using humidifiers in November and will stop using them around March once the weather starts to warm up. Bilbrey said common mistakes people make are not cleaning the water filter in their humidifier or installing their humidifier incorrectly.