Indoor Air Quality

Excessive dryness in your home is never a good thing. It encourages airborne bacteria and viruses to take hold, makes your air feel uncomfortable, and even affects wood furniture, flooring, and doors. You may notice in the winter months that you and your household members are sick frequently, or have cracked and itchy skin. These issues are caused by low humidity. To restore proper humidity levels and combat the dry air, you’ll need a humidifier to add moisture to the air. 

Portable humidifiers require lots of maintenance and can only handle one space at a time. A whole-house humidifier can tackle every room in your entire home with very little maintenance. The professional heating and cooling experts at Sanborn’s want to share the benefits of a whole-house humidifier and help you consider one for your home. 

What Is a Whole-House HVAC Humidifier and Why Does Humidity Matter?

A whole-house humidifier is installed directly onto your furnace. As warm air heated air moves into the humidifier, it blows over water that creates steam. This steam adds moisture to the air and helps with the home’s humidity levels. Water collects back into the humidifier and is then drained away. There is no need to change or refill the water tank, and your whole house will feel the difference right away.

An improvement in your home’s relative humidity doesn’t just improve comfort, it can also alleviate common winter symptoms like scratchy dry skin, dry eyes, and frequent sneezing and coughing. The dryer the air in your home, the more viruses and bacteria like to spread and irritate your noses and throats. This causes you to sneeze or cough and spread more bacteria and germs. Whole-house humidifiers work to improve indoor air quality and your family’s health. 

Benefits of Installing a Humidifier

There are a number of benefits of installing a whole-home humidifier besides indoor air quality. Your furnace can actually benefit the most from a humidifier. Some of the benefits of a humidifier include: 

Improved Comfort

The right amount of humidity in your indoor air keeps you comfortable. Too much humidity can make you feel hot. Too little, however, and you’ll likely feel cold. It’s important to take control of your indoor humidity levels to keep your family safe and comfortable all year long. Air humidifiers are great at raising indoor humidity levels.

Healthier Air

Too little humidity is a reality that many California residents face. A dry climate will often result in dry sinus cavities. Airborne viruses and bacteria take advantage of these situations and set up camp, so to speak. This makes it easy for family members to pass around the same cold or respiratory system infection for weeks. 

Humidity Control

A whole-house humidifier provides the correct amount of humidity to prevent airborne allergens and particulates from parking themselves in your sinuses. This provides you with healthier air to breathe. 

In addition, cold dry air contributes to: 

  • irritated eyes
  • dry skin 
  • allergies
  • nosebleeds
  • recurring coughs
  • cracked lips
  • sinus headaches
  • dryness in airways/throat

Lower Energy Bills

Using a humidifier actually saves you money! Controlling your air’s humidity means the air feels cooler or warmer as needed. When the air feels cooler, you set your thermostat a few degrees higher and still feel the same level of comfort. When the air feels warmer, you can set the furnace or heat pump thermostat a bit lower.  If your home consistently stays at a higher temperature, your HVAC system uses less energy. This results in an energy bill drop. Some homeowners report significant savings!

Contact Sanborn’s for Humidifier Installation Services

Sanborn’s Air Conditioning & Heating has been serving the Inland Empire since the 1940s! We have not remained in business that long without staying ahead of the trends and making ourselves experts in our field. We’ve helped lots of our customers experience the benefits of a whole-house humidifier, now it’s time for you to experience them too! To learn more about humidifiers and an estimate on installing one, call Sanborn’s Air Conditioning and Heating today.