ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, February 11, 1996 TAG: 9602150001
SECTION: HOMES PAGE: D-2 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Hints for Homeowners
SOURCE: STEVE ELDER
Few appliances arouse so much controversy as humidifiers. Some people swear by them. Others swear at them, and with good reason, because so many of them don't work.
Savvy real-estate agents often recommend that sellers exclude the humidifier from the sales description, on the theory that it probably isn't in working order. All too often they are right. Most of the humidifiers I inspect are not working. Usually, however, the reason is that they haven't been emptied and cleaned. This annual maintenance is absolutely crucial to proper operation, especially in areas with hard water.
Are humidifiers worth the trouble of maintaining them? Actually, there are a number of advantages to having a humidifier installed on your central forced-air heating system.
First and foremost, it will help to keep you healthier and more comfortable. Air that is moistened to the recommended minimum 30 percent relative humidity level tends to reduce the number of winter colds people catch. Dry air makes sinus passages more vulnerable to airborne infections, particularly for children.
Proper humidity level will usually reduce the itching that accompanies dry skin. For many people it fosters healthier hair and fingernails. It also will enable you to save on your heating bill, because you can turn your thermostat down: 68 degrees at 30 percent relative humidity will feel about the same as 72 degrees at 10 percent. This is why 90 degrees in Tucson feels hot but not uncomfortable, whereas 90 degrees in Washington, D.C. is very unpleasant as a rule. The difference is humidity.
In the winter you can make this work to your advantage, because a 30 percent relative humidity level will enable you to be comfortable at a lower thermostat setting and save on fuel costs.
The proper relative humidity helps your house, too. It will reduce the annoying presence of static electricity in dry air. Walking across a carpet and then touching metal can raise a nice spark. Kids have fun with this phenomenon, but the humor wears thin rapidly.
In drier winter air, furniture, particularly antiques, will suffer more, because the wood fibers shrink and cause joints to loosen. Maintaining a higher humidity level in your home will help prevent this shrinkage and enable your furniture to hold together longer.
Cracks that appear in house interiors are caused by many factors, including settlement and the final seasoning of the wood framing. A fair number, however, are caused by seasonal changes in the relative humidity level in the house. Different materials have different rates of expansion and contraction due to changes in temperature and humidity levels. Because of this difference, wood and plaster, for example, tend to separate as they dry. This is why you see recurring cracks in certain interior areas in the wintertime. Maintaining a higher relative humidity level will reduce the occurrence of such cracking.
Humidifiers are controlled by a humidistat, which turns on the humidifer when the relative humidity in the house drops below the set point. Ideally, the humidistat should be on a living level, next to the thermostat, because you want it to react to the humidity level in the living area. Unfortunately most humidistats are installed on the return plenum next to the furnace. Since most furnaces are located in the basement, which is typically damper than the upstairs living levels, the humidistat will tend to turn the humidifier off before the proper relative humidity level is reached in the living area.
The only reason so many humidistats are installed in basements is that, like so many other undesirable practices in life, it is faster, easier, and cheaper.
The market offers a wide variety of humidifiers, ranging from the simple drum type to self-cleaning power humidifers. Installed prices range from $150 to over $500. Certain humidifiers can be installed independently of a heating system, so if you have hot-water heat you can still have a humidifier.
My personal preference is a bypass humidifier, which drips water through a vertically-mounted medium. It is easier to clean and the only moving part is a solenoid valve. But remember, if any humidifier is not properly maintained, you may as well not have it.
A heating contractor once confided to me that he flatly refuses to install humidifiers for certain personality types.
Although I believe humidifiers have more benefits than drawbacks if they're maintained, you should check the humidity level in your house before buying one. Houses built in the last 10 years or so are more tightly constructed than older homes and can often maintain an acceptable relative humidity level without a humidifier. Older homes are usually draftier (the older, the draftier) and as a result are less likely to retain the humidity generated by normal human activity within the house. Measure the relative humidity level in your home with a hygrometer, then make your decision.
Steve Elder is a Roanoke home inspector. Questions and comments may be sent to him in care of The Roanoke Times, P.O. Box 2491, Roanoke, Va. 24010-2491.
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