Winters in Central Indiana can be notoriously cold and dry, creating discomfort indoors as well as outside. Using a humidifier in the home can greatly improve the comfort of your living space and help your family stay healthy throughout the season! Star Heating & Cooling explains the benefits of whole house humidifier installation so you can see how these systems make the chilly Hoosier winters far more bearable!
How Do Whole House Humidifiers Work?
Whole house humidifiers differ from portable units in that they are able to treat the home’s entire air supply – portable humidifiers can only provide an improvement in airborne humidity over a small space. Whole home humidifiers do so by working with the home’s heating and cooling system! A whole house humidifier is installed alongside the HVAC system, sharing its ducting or placed on a special bypass duct. This position allows moisture to be added to air as needed before heated air is circulated into your home’s living areas.
Types of Whole House Humidifiers
There are a few different types of whole house humidifiers available:
- Bypass humidifiers are installed on a special bypass duct placed alongside the furnace. Air moving through the duct passes through the humidifier’s water panel, taking on needed moisture. The furnace’s fan circulates moistened air throughout the home. Humidity can only be added while the HVAC system runs.
- Fan-powered humidifiers are installed directly within the heating and air conditioning system’s ducting. These humidifiers also pass air through a water panel to raise humidity levels. Unlike bypass humidifiers, fan-powered humidifiers operate using a dedicated internal fan. They can run with or without the furnace.
- A steam humidifier boils water to create steam which is pushed into the ducts, allowing circulating air to collect moisture as it moves into living areas. The benefits of whole house humidifier steam units include the fastest and most efficient option for raising indoor humidity levels for improved indoor air quality.
Benefits of Whole House Humidifier Installation
The benefits of whole house humidifier installation are welcomed by families throughout the Central Indiana area once winter weather hits. These units make your winter experience much better in the following ways:
- By keeping air properly moistened, family members are less likely to suffer physical effects of dry winter air. Dry skin and lips can chap, break, and bleed, causing discomfort. Exposure to dry air indoors can also cause nasal passages and mucus membranes to dry out, which causes discomfort and can make the body more susceptible to wintertime illnesses.
- Keeping air at balanced humidity levels throughout the winter can limit the spread of viruses and other germs that more easily circulate with drier air.
- Adding humidity to the air limits the likelihood of annoying static shocks as you move about your home and make contact with your loved ones.
- Other benefits of installing a whole house humidifier include protection for your woodwork, furniture, and finishings that can crack when exposed to dry air over long periods of time.
- These systems require very little maintenance. Water panels typically need to be changed once per year, and this can be done as part of your annual furnace maintenance tune up. Whole house humidifiers have dedicated water lines to supply the unit so there’s no need to continuously refill a water reservoir, which you must do when using a portable humidifier.
- Because they are installed with your home’s HVAC equipment and not within a room, you won’t be bothered by any operating noise. These systems don’t produce much noise anyway, but their location keeps them out of sight and out of mind so you can go about your day uninterrupted.
Whole House Humidifier Installation in Central Indiana
The benefits of installing a whole house humidifier are great, and the addition of such a system can deliver a more pleasant cold weather experience indoors for you and your loved ones. Contact Star Heating & Cooling today to request an estimate for whole home humidifier installation in your residence.