{"id":1315,"date":"2018-11-12T11:00:24","date_gmt":"2018-11-12T16:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.redrockmechanical.net\/blog\/?p=1315"},"modified":"2018-11-09T11:27:54","modified_gmt":"2018-11-09T16:27:54","slug":"dry-air-home-trouble-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.redrockmechanical.net\/blog\/dry-air-home-trouble-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"Dry Air in a Home Is Trouble in Winter"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-1316\" src=\"https:\/\/www.redrockmechanical.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/dog-under-blanket-300x200.jpg\" alt=\"cute-dog-under-warm-blanket\" width=\"300\" height=\"200\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.redrockmechanical.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/dog-under-blanket-300x200.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.redrockmechanical.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/dog-under-blanket-768x512.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.redrockmechanical.net\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/11\/dog-under-blanket.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>The cold is the biggest obstacle for comfort during winter\u2014that\u2019s why you have a powerful central heating system in your home. (If you don\u2019t, call us right away and we\u2019ll arrange to have one installed before the winter weather arrives.) But homeowners often ignore, or aren\u2019t aware of, another winter comfort obstacle: dry conditions. Relative humidity during the winter often plunges below 30% because of all the moisture frozen from the air. When the air is this dry, it makes it harder to stay warm, even with a great heating system at work. And this isn\u2019t the only problem dry air can inflict on you and your household during winter.<!--more--><\/p>\n<h2>Why Dry Conditions Make It Feel Colder<\/h2>\n<p>You already know that when it\u2019s humid, you feel hotter. It\u2019s the opposite when it\u2019s dry\u2014you feel colder. The reason for this is how humidity levels affect the body\u2019s ability to release heat. The higher the moisture level in the air, the slower the body expels heat through perspiration. (It\u2019s harder to perspire when the air is already saturated with water.) When the moisture levels drop too low, the body starts losing heat <em>faster<\/em>. This is why drier conditions during a hot day feel more comfortable. But when this happens during the winter, as it often does, it gives an extra bite to the cold. A 20\u00b0F winter day may seem like a 10\u00b0F day\u2014a substantial difference!<\/p>\n<h2>Other Dry Air Troubles<\/h2>\n<p>The chillier feel to the air is only one of the problems you might have to deal with during and arid winter day or night:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Low humidity is bad for the skin, eyes, lips, and nose. When moisture escapes from the body, it leads to itchy skin, cracked lips, and eye and nose irritation.<\/li>\n<li>When mucus membranes and sinuses dry up, it makes the transmission of illnesses far easier\u2014leading to an increase in sickness through the season.<\/li>\n<li>Moisture is also pulled from surfaces around a house in dry conditions, and this can damage wooden objects and lead to peeling paint.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>The Solution: A Whole-House Humidifier<\/h2>\n<p>The best way to beat the high cost of low humidity is to properly balance the levels with a <a href=\"\/indoor-air-quality\/dehumidifier-humidifier\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">humidifier in Burlington, VT<\/a>. You can purchase small, portable humidifiers\u2014but these are not great options for a home. They\u2019re only useful for an infant\u2019s room, and they don\u2019t provide much control, leading to rooms becoming <em>too<\/em> humid.<\/p>\n<p>A whole-house humidifier, on the other hand, is integrated into the HVAC system so it adds moisture to the air sent around the home. All the rooms receive humidified air to raise the relative humidity above 30%. Using a control called the <em>humidistat<\/em>, you can adjust the humidity level to around 45% (this is a recommended level for comfort and health) and avoid troubles from places in the house becoming too humid.<\/p>\n<p>To find out more about the installation of a whole-house humidifier, speak to our HVAC and indoor air quality professionals today.<\/p>\n<h4 style=\"text-align: center;\">Red Rock Mechanical, LLC has served Northwest Vermont and Northeast New York for more than 15 years. <a href=\"\/contact\/send-message\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Consult with us today for balanced indoor humidity.<\/a><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>When the air is this dry, it makes it harder to stay warm, even with a great heating system at work. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[79],"tags":[89,52],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.redrockmechanical.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.redrockmechanical.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.redrockmechanical.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.redrockmechanical.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.redrockmechanical.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1315"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.redrockmechanical.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1318,"href":"https:\/\/www.redrockmechanical.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1315\/revisions\/1318"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.redrockmechanical.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.redrockmechanical.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.redrockmechanical.net\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}