Dry-home air problems and humidifiers

A humidifier is an appliance that increases humidity in our houses. The most simple and common humidifiers are used to humidify a single room, but there are also whole-house or furnace humidifiers connected to a home's ventilation system to provide humidity to the entire house.

Dry-Air Health Effects

An indoor relative humidity (RH) less than 30% causes dry-air problems: excess of static electricity, skin irritation, respiratory problems, and problems in timber walls and floors, cracks in drywall or problems involving furniture.

Humidifiers: Recommendations for Use and Care

Humidifiers should be used with some care. Though they can solve health problems caused by dry-air, in some particular cases they may be also responsible for negative health side effects.

There are some reports pointing to negative health effects resulting from the dispersal of microorganisms and minerals by home humidifiers - though these problems are mainly restricted to particular types of humidifiers: ultrasonic and impeller humidifiers...

It is important to use a humidifier only when conditions require it, to use the correct moisture setting for existing conditions, and to clean it thoroughly.

Dry-Air Measure

To track dry-air use a hygrometer (or humidity meter, or moisture meter). These devices are inexpensive ($10-$50) and may be acquired at many hardware stores.

Some models of humidifiers include hygrometers.

Causes of Dry-Home Air

There are several possible reasons for low humidity levels:

- weather conditions (winter is the time when dry-home air problems are more common).
- deficient ventilation
- high levels of insulation

Indoor dry-air is common in non energy-efficient homes (drafts can lower indoor humidity) but also in high insulate modern homes, without adequate ventilation.

Controlling dry-home air problems

To deal with dry-home problem you may

- use a humidifier
- act upon levels of insulation
- solve ventilation deficiencies.

Humidifier types

Humidifiers are very simple appliances, though there are very different types, models and performances:

The most common humidifier type is the Evaporative (or wick humidifier) that involves just three basic parts: a reservoir, a wick and a fan.

Other types of humidifiers include:

- The Vaporizer Humidifier, based on boiled water, releasing steam and moisture into the air. Although cheaper, the vaporizer humidifiers have higher operational (high consumption of electricity used to heat the water).

- The Impeller Humidifier, based on a rotating disc that breaks the water into fine droplets which then float into the air.

- The Ultrasonic Humidifier, based on a metal diaphragm that also creates water droplets that exit the humidifier. Ultrasonic humidifiers demand a regular cleaning to avoid bacterial contamination.

Dry-home air problems and humidifiers

Dry-Air Health Effects

Dry-Air Measure To track dry-air use a hygrometer (or humidity meter, or moisture meter). These devices are inexpensive ($10-$50) and may be acquired at many hardware stores. Some models of humidifiers include hygrometers. Causes of Dry-Home Air

Controlling dry-home air problems

Dry-Air Measure

To track dry-air use a hygrometer (or humidity meter, or moisture meter). These devices are inexpensive ($10-$50) and may be acquired at many hardware stores.

Some models of humidifiers include hygrometers.

Causes of Dry-Home Air