Indoor Air Quality Part IV: Whole House Humidifier

Welcome to Part IV of our Indoor Air Quality series. Today we discuss whole house humidifiers. A whole house humidifier or whole house dehumidifier can be a life saver if you are in climates with any type of humidity extreme. Whether a cold, dry Chicago Winter or a hot and humid Georgia summer season. This fourth part of the indoor air quality product suite is definitely key.



Whole House Humidifier
When the Winter climate is dry Winter, a whole house humidifier can be the end to itchy dry skin. It can also avoid damage to instruments and wood furniture, static electricity and other discomforts. A whole house humidifier is installed onto your HVAC system, and adds humidity to the air leaving your furnace (or air handler). There are different types of humidifiers including fan powered, bypass and even steam humidifiers.

There are two primary types of whole home humidifiers: powered and bypass. A Bypass Humidifier is installed before the furnace, on the return air ducting, and has a bypass pipe that is attached to the "warm air" or "supply" duct. A bypass humidifier doesn't have a fan, so it takes the forced air leaving the furnace and uses that to flow through the humidifier. Obviously, if your furnace is crammed in a closet, you might not have room for this setup. A powered humidifier has its own fan which means some electricity used, but they can also out perform a bypass humidifier and don't require the extra installation space. A powered humidifier is mounted on the warm air ducting (never on the cool air return).

Automatic controls: Advanced humidifiers can sample the outdoor air to gauge how they run. A humidifier with automatic control is the best because it will adjust to daytime and nighttime humidity changes. Just because your air needs humidity doesn't mean pumping too much in is healthy either. That introduces other problems. You want a humidifier and control that can keep humidity levels right where they need to be year round.

Another humidifier on the market is a steam humidifier. They can churn through 10-12 gallons of water a day for large homes, but they also required much more power to run. Additionally, for ultra humid climates, whole home dehumidifiers exist to help maintain proper moisture levels.

Whole home humidifiers are tricky to install. If they are not done right you can ruin controls (never mount the humidistat on the hot air return for example), you can loose major performance (if placed on the wrong ducting) and much more. Do your research, but let a pro install it. One technician stated that he has had more business fixing bad humidifier installations than installing new ones. Don't be a statistic!

Whole House Dehumidifier
An air conditioning system dehumidifies indoor air as it cools it, because moisture condensates on the frigid piping in the indoor coil as the warm indoor air passes through. However, a whole house dehumidifier can step it up a notch, and for our humid Atlanta summer weather, that can be nice. Similar to a whole house humidifier, a dehumidifier integrates into your HVAC system, and removes humidity your indoor air as it passes through your cooling system.

For more information on our HVAC service please visit Atlanta Heating & Air Conditioning.

Thank you for reading our four part series on indoor air quality! We know these products will transform the health and comfort of your home. Call us at (770) 860-1837 for more information!