Adding humidity to your home can help prevent illnesses and discomfort, protect your possessions and reduce your heating bills. If your home is uncomfortably dry in the North Texas winters, a whole-house humidifier can help.

How do you know if adding humidity to your indoor air is a good idea? Here are a few warning signs that your air may be too dry:

• Itchy skin, dry throat or chapped lips
• Allergies or illness that may be caused by microbes remaining airborne for too long
• High levels of static electricity, which you may notice when touching doorknobs after walking across carpet
• Chipping paint
• Dry, warped or splintering furniture
• Cracked leather furniture or belongings
• Unreasonably high heating bills

Dry air contributes to high heating bills because it doesn’t naturally retain as much warmth as humid air. Dry air is not only harder to keep warm, but it also sucks moisture out of you skin, making you feel even colder. Adding humidity can keep your air warmer and your bills more manageable, enabling you to lower your thermostat settings one or two degrees.

Whole-house humidifiers work in conjunction with your HVAC equipment. As your indoor air passes through the system, it flows over a water-soaked panel. The warm air picks up the moisture molecules and carries them through your living space. Whole-house systems are self regulating, meaning you don’t have to make manual adjustments.

Portable units are available that only serve small spaces. These can be beneficial if you’re only dealing with specific trouble spots. However, they require manual adjustments, and must be regularly emptied, cleaned and re-filled to prevent moisture-loving bacteria from proliferating.

Some whole-house humidifiers keep the indoor space at a constant, static level of humidity. Others adjust the indoor humidity based on the outdoor temperature. This can be beneficial because comfortable humidity levels fluctuate with the temperature outside. A humidity percentage that felt comfortable at 40 degrees may be too moist at 30 degrees.

Call Crawford Servicesif you’re interested in adding humidity to your indoor air. We’re proud to help Dallas area homeowners stay comfortable without breaking the bank.

Our goal is to help educate our customers about energy and home comfort issues (specific to HVAC systems).  For more information about humidifiers and other HVAC topics, download our free Home Comfort Resource guide.

Crawford Services provides heating, air conditioning and plumbing services to all of North Texas. Visit our website to see our special offers and get started today!