Don Vandervort, Head Homeboy, has written more than 30 DIY home improvement books, been a segment host on HGTV, served as MSN.com's home improvement expert and written countless magazine articles.
Balanced humidity is important not only for your family’s optimal health and comfort but also for your house. Lower levels of water vapor in the air can increase bothersome static electricity, and higher humidity levels can encourage molds and mildew.
During winter, the first sign of overly humid air is condensation on the inner surfaces of windows. Though this normally isn’t a serious problem, the same condensation may collect on the inner surfaces of exterior walls. This can rot the structure and ruin insulation. Peeling, blistering, or cracking paint— especially if bare siding is visible in spots— usually indicates this condition.
Keeping humidity at the proper level often demands mechanical assistance. On sultry summer days, when indoor humidity rises above the comfort range, many people turn on air conditioners or dehumidifiers to help dry the air. And when the dry winter heating season sets in and drops relative humidity to skin-chafing lows, boosting the humidity usually calls for a humidifier.
A humidifier is simply a device that puts water vapor into a home’s air. Depending upon its water-output capacity, it may serve a single room or the entire house. Room-size humidifiers are referred to as “tabletop” units. To humidify a whole house, you need either a freestanding cabinet “console” unit or a “central” humidifier that ties into the home’s forced-air heating system.
Tabletop and console models are relatively inexpensive, easy to move from one room to another, and easy to hook up. Both types must be filled manually—usually on a daily basis. Regardless of the method they use to humidify air, tabletop models run from about $20 to $70, and consoles run from $75 to $150. Tabletop units output from two to four gallons per 24 hours. Small consoles output eight gallons per 24-hour period. The latter can handle up to a 2,000-square-foot area. A large console may output 14 gallons, enough to humidify a 3,250-square-foot house.
Central evaporative humidifiers are hooked up to the heating equipment, and water is piped directly to them, so they’re out of sight and out of mind most of the time. Because they deliver humidified air directly to rooms throughout the house, they’re particularly efficient. The only drawbacks are that you need a forced-air system to operate a central humidifier and humidification takes place only when the forced-air system is running (this isn’t a problem in most homes because it is generally the heating process that dries out the air). Equipment prices range from about $140 to $200; the cost of installation depends upon the complexity of the work, but it is likely to run about $100.
To put moisture into the air, humidifiers use one of four different methods:
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