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The ramifications of excessively high or excessively low humidity in your home can be quite disturbing when considered. Much depends upon where you live as to what problems you may encounter. But regardless of where you live, stabilizing your home humidity can mean a lot.
I completed a course in Air Conditioning and Refrigeration at the Bladen Technical Institute, in Dublin, North Carolina once upon a time. It had no bearing upon the career I was pursuing but it was a fascinating study for me. The course was quite extensive and covered many aspects not normally considered under that subject, however, we were informed that "air conditioning" encompassed a number of aspects concerning air more so than simply transferring the heat from inside the house to the outside. Humidity was quite thoroughly covered and I found it very interesting.
I was raised in the foothills of east central Alabama, north of the center, actually. Our extremes in temperature were from approximately 0 degrees F. To 103 degrees F., yet our normal annual extremes were from about 15 degrees to 98 degrees. Our humidity varied considerably with the various lows and highs in barometric pressures. I rarely gave it a thought except in the extremely hot and humid periods when sweat would run down into my eyes when I was busy working with something which took both hands.
But, I was drafted into the U.S. Army during the Korean war and my first assignment was in Fort Bliss, Texas at El Paso, where I took basic, advanced and post cycle training...from April to January. I am not aware of the humidity level in many parts of this nation, but I venture that the El Paso area must have the lowest humidity of any, or very near. It would be impossible to get very much lower. In our arrival indoctrination there, they warned us that our lips would parch and have numerous sores on them. They were correct. My lips turned into a solid sore just about, but only lasted about a month then returned to normal as most others did. We had one old boy whose lips looked like one big swollen ulcer for the entire time we were there.
Then there are other areas whose humidity stays very high almost year round. Where these very high extremes occur, there are normally a lot of steps taken to compensate for them. But many people who live in the widely fluctuating humidity level areas, simply live with the wide variety and suffer whatever consequences occur.
Humidity is not measured by volume per square foot, but rather by the percentage the air can contain. It is referred to as "Relative Humidity" simply because it is the percentage that the air can hold at a certain temperature. Let's say that X cubic feet of air at 32 degrees F. can hold 1 quart of water it would be said to have 100% relative humidity. If you heat that same air to 100 degrees F. The relative humidity may then be something like 20%. The warmer the temperature, the more water it is capable of containing. So you can see by this that the humidity in your home is greatly affected by the difference in the outside and inside heat.
In the Summer time, if you use only open windows and fans to cool your home, you will be at the mercy of the outside relative humidity. If you use air conditioners, the chances are your humidity will stay at an acceptable level since the cooling process causes heavy condensation which removes the excess moisture. However, during periods of high humidity, the home may still have more than is best. But Winter is the time that most problems with humidity arises.
If the outdoor temperature is very cold and still has only a moderate or small amount of moisture, when you heat that air in your home, it may become dryer than the Sahara Desert. Dryer than the air at Fort Bliss. This can cause multiple problems. A normal amount of moisture can keep the wood work in your home sturdy and the fasteners (nails, screws, etc) stay tight and firm also. Excessive drying out of these timbers can cause cracking and also loosening of those fasteners, at least to a certain degree. The ultra dry timbers may also shrink somewhat and can even cause slight cracks in sheetrock or plaster.
But the condition of your home is not as bad normally as the effects it could have on your health and comfort. Excessively dry air can cause irritation of the sinuses and nasal passages as well as your throat. Quite often if you have some blood streaked discharge from your nasal passages, you may expect that it is caused, or at least worsened, by dry air. It can also have a devastating effect on your skin. Your lips may not become so irritated as ours in Fort Bliss, but they may seem to be chapped and peel if not worse. Unless you are an oily skinned person by nature, you may also suffer from dry itchy skin and you may have patches of dry skin eczema. Or it can also show up after your bath or shower as a stinging, itching sensation, almost all over for perhaps half an hour or so.
Another minus is that the dryer the air becomes, the faster the moisture coming to the surface of your skin evaporates and the evaporation cause you to feel chilly or downright cold, even if the temperature is 72 or more degrees in the house. If the humidity is controlled well, you should feel perfectly comfortable at 70-72 degrees. Conversely, in the Summer, if your air conditioner does not remove the moisture to a satisfactory level, you may feel warm or hot at temperatures that should have you feeling quite comfortable. So now I've told you all these horrible things, let's see what can be done about it.
First of all, you need to purchase a hygrometer. You can find them wherever you find thermometers. You can usually find a triple gauge desk or wall fixture with a thermometer, a hygrometer and a barometer and some are relatively cheap. I have one without the barometer which I don't want or need. A good reading of your hygrometer should be around 50% plus or minus 5%. If, you find that your humidity in cold weather is 30% (even as little as 40% if it is so much of the time) or less inside your house, you will certainly benefit by adding moisture. If you should have excessive moisture (say 65-70% or above frequently) in the Summer, even with your air conditioner running, you would benefit by removing more moisture. How? Read on.
For the most part, Summers with air conditioning will not normally need much else. The efficiency of the air conditioner removing the moisture depends upon how accurately your air conditioner was sized for your home. If you have an air conditioner which is much too large for the space you are trying to cool, it may cool the space quickly and thereby not remove an adequate amount of moisture. If it is small enough that it must run constantly to keep the air cooled to the desired temperature, it is conceivable that it could lower the humidity to below the desired level. But normally there is not a lot of problems. It is best to get an expert to prefigure the size unit you need before buying. If you already have installed a unit much larger than you need (which is rarely done) about the only solution to correct the humidity level is a portable de-humidifier. These function exactly like an air conditioner except they are inside the house and the cooled air comes out one side and the warmer air out the other. The only bad part is they have to be plumbed into a drain or the accumulated condensed water has to be emptied frequently.
But the Winters are much different. Unless one already has a whole house heating system with a humidifier built into the ductwork, it is almost certain your home will have much dryer air than is desirable. If you have a central system with ductwork to all the house, but no built in automatic humidifier, you need to do something. You can get an authorized air conditioning installer to install an in-duct humidifier which is automatic and has a water line connected so that it needs no attention except the normal changing of the filters, which you have anyway.
This is preferred over anything else, however, it also costs more. I'm sorry, but I can not give an estimate even a ball park figure.
If you can't afford that or are just unwilling to invest that amount, you have a couple more choices. Portable or semi-portable humidifiers. These come in all sizes. You can find a small table top unit that may furnish enough moisture for one room but it will be a nuisance to keep filled and these rarely have anything automatic about them. It is best to have one with an adjustable humidistat that senses the amount of moisture in the air and turns itself off when it is satisfied. You can get larger ones with an automatic humidistat for different size spaces, from one room to several or whole house. These will cost almost anywhere between $50.00 and $400.00. Over the long haul, it is best to buy a good one and plumb it into a water line so that it will refill automatically. We first bought one in 1966 from Sears. It was a whole house size and held 7 gallons of water. That thing was a work horse. We used it until 2007 with no problems except we had to replace the belt twice. It still runs quietly, but I can no longer buy belts to fit it and the old one is shot. If I can find satisfactory material, I'll make a belt for it.
We ordered another whole house one from Honeywell, but when it came it was a Duracraft, which I understand was owned by Honeywell at that time. Anyway, it is a good one but holds only 4 gallons of water and will run out in twelve hours if the outside temperature is quite low and the inside heat has to be on a lot. We are perfectly satisfied with the quality and it holds our hygrometer on 50% steady as a rock. Only the nuisance of refilling it so often. If you get interested in one, simply put "large portable humidifiers" into Google's search window and you'll find an array of them.
One final word. These things need to be kept very clean. Constant use and/or stagnant water can build up bacteria and cause you problems. You can also find an array of solutions to add to the water and/or to clean the inside of the unit.
If you feel dry and itchy all over ...go for it.
Author Biography: Joel Hendon was born September 20, 1930 near Gadsden Alabama. He attended public schools in Cherokee County, Alabama and after serving a tour of duty in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, attended Jacksonville State University, Jacksonville, Alabama majoring in Business Administration. He became a Christian in 1948, and although he followed secular work as a career and retired from Allied Signal Aerospace in 1997, he is an avid student of the Holy Bible and related works as well as biblical history. He formerly produced a bi-weekly ezine. Archives are accessible at: http://piedmontcoc.com/hofarchives.htmlHe is also the author of Final Stronghold, published in 2003, available from Amazon.
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
