We’re dedicated to the local community, and making sure our neighbors have the best household heating through the winter is extremely important to us. That’s why we offer services like our HomeSavers Club so our customers receive the help they need to get through a winter without any heating system trouble.
But there’s another important job we do for comfort, and that’s installing whole-house humidifiers in Fort Wayne, IN and the rest of our service area in Northern Indiana. The right whole-house humidifier can make a huge impact on comfort and energy savings during the winter.
Dry Air Makes Winter Cold Worse
Let’s talk about dry air for a moment, and why you’ll have a harder time keeping your home warm when the humidity level drops below 30%.
Dry air has the opposite effect on the human body as humid air. High humidity is like having an extra layer of clothing on: the moisture levels trap heat inside your body (because it slows down your body’s ability to release heat through perspiration). Low humidity is like removing the coat and switching to a T-shirt and shorts: heat escapes much faster from your body, with little to slow it down.
Dry air may feel great on a hot day, but it’s not much fun on a cold day. In general, you’ll feel around 8° to 10°F cooler, and that can make the difference in whether you have your heating system running or not. An ideal energy-saving temperature for winter is to set the thermostat to 68°F. But since this will feel like 60°F with dry air (or worse), you’ll have to run the heater more just to stay comfortable. The house is harder to heat, and more expensive to heat.
Putting in a Whole-House Humidifier
A whole-house humidifier is a much better choice for controlling humidity than trying to use portable units. A portable humidifier does have uses, such as in an infant’s room. But they can’t control humidity around the house, and it’s too easy for them to make a space too humid. You want to aim for 45% relative humidity, which is the sweet spot, the Goldilocks “juuust right” when it comes to moisture levels.
Where do you get a whole-house humidifier? You need an HVAC pro for that, since these humidifiers must be installed inside the ventilation system so they can humidify all the air moving through the ducts to the rooms. The humidifier uses a damp pad (kept moistened through the action of a pump connected to the freshwater system) to add moisture to the air coming from the furnace. You can precisely control the humidity levels to get that perfect 45% through a special control called the humidistat.
Our technicians can find the ideal whole-house humidifier to meet your specific needs. We also install whole-house dehumidifiers to handle muggy summer weather. The combination means you’ll always have the right humidity balance for any season.
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