Whole House Humidifier | Residential Code

Submitted by david on Tue, 01/19/2016 - 11:11

It is a little late in the season to think about installing a humidifier, but it will make the home more comfortable and energy efficient. Here in the mid west, the heating season will tend to dry out the house to a point of being uncomfortable. Also, dry air does not retain the heat very well making your furnace run more often.

The solution is to install a whole house humidifier to get the humidity up to at least 30%. It can get too high causing the windows to sweat and potential mold growth, but people do not do well with much less. Moist air makes your furnace more efficient because it is better at retaining heat. I do not mind a little sweat of the windows as long as my skin in not dry out and my sinuses are comfortable, but that is a personal preference.

If you have hot water heat a whole house humidifier is not an option. Finding a few good portable humidifiers is your best solution. For bedrooms a smaller one is fine but for larger areas you will need something that will put out a gallon or more per day. These units usually have filters that need to be replaced and require some other maintenance. I will cover these in more detail next fall before the heating season starts.

The whole house humidifier I installed a decade ago does not use filters and does not have an automatic flush cycle. Many whole house humidifiers have a flush after the furnace runs to reduce the chance of bad things growing in the reservoir. The automatic flush cycles waste a lot of water which we all know is our most valuable resource. I prefer making a regular schedule to do the maintenance myself and I can inspect everything at the same time. Like all appliances, to be efficient they need to be inspected and properly maintained.

With a whole house humidifier your will save on heating costs while increasing comfort. There is also the added benefit of maintaining a healthy humidity level reducing respiratory problems and dry skin. It is a great Sustainable Saturdays project requiring basic hand tools and a couple hours to complete.