Why Controlling Dry Air in Your Home is a Good Idea

Have you noticed the air inside your home has become very dry? If so it would not be surprising, since the cold temperatures of winter tend to suck all the moisture out of the surrounding atmosphere. The same problem also occurs in arid climates where rainfall is absent much of the time.

Overly dry air is bothersome and a flat-out pain to deal with. But its actual effects on people, as well as the physical environment, may be worse than you ever noticed, realized or suspected.

Dry Air and You

There are no two ways about it—dry air isn’t good for you. If the air inside your home is excessively dry—and stays that way for an extended period—you will feel its effects whether you make the connection or not.

Dry air can negatively impact your health by:

• Making you susceptible to viruses, including those that cause colds or influenza.
• Causing lingering respiratory infections that can develop into pneumonia.
• Making the symptoms of asthma worse, or possibly even causing asthma in those who never had it before.
• Drying out your skin so much it may crack or split.
• Leaving your throat so dry and raw you develop laryngitis.
• Making your eyes itchy, red and chronically sore.

Frequent static shocks are another result of overly dry air, and believe it or not these snappy electrical discharges are actually capable of shorting out electronic devices. This doesn’t happen often but it does happen on occasion.

Even your house can suffer if the air is too dry. Woodwork of all types can begin to crack and paint can peel off walls when humidity drops to miniscule levels. Dry homes are also cold homes, forcing you to turn up your thermostat (and spend extra money) in conditions that would normally leave you feeling toasty and warm.

The Whole-Home Humidifier Solution

To moisturize arid indoor air you can buy and install a whole-home humidifier, which will do an outstanding job of eliminating your dry air problem.

A whole-home humidifier is a powerful and effective piece of climate management equipment. If you install one it will use your existing ductwork to dispense re-humidified air to every room in the house, until the dryness is gone and your home’s air is as moist as you want it. If you add a digital management system to turn it on and off your whole-home humidifier should hit its desired humidity target every single time, and you can make adjustments as needed.

Buying a whole-home humidifier will require an extra investment, but this will be money well spent if the unpleasant side effects of dry indoor air can be eliminated from your life.

Dry Air is Bad Air

You probably never realized dry indoor air could be responsible for so much trouble. Its effects are often too subtle to notice unless you know what to look for. But now that you do know you don’t have any excuses left to prevent you from taking action.
Dry air can be exiled if you’re willing to take the initiative to make it happen, and if you do we can guarantee you won’t regret it.

Be sure to follow the Cardinal Heating & A/C blog as we study smart strategies for savvy home climate management.