{"id":486,"date":"2019-12-23T11:00:24","date_gmt":"2019-12-23T16:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.awheatingandcooling.com\/blog\/?p=486"},"modified":"2024-05-02T17:27:29","modified_gmt":"2024-05-02T21:27:29","slug":"is-my-heater-drying-out-my-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.awheatingandcooling.com\/blog\/hvac\/is-my-heater-drying-out-my-air\/","title":{"rendered":"“Is My Heater Drying Out My Air?”"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"vent-low-on-wall\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

This is a pretty frequent question we get as we get closer\nto winter, since homeowners often do notice dry air around this time of the\nyear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

During winter, the moisture level in the air drops as more\nand more water vapor gets pulled out of the air outside. Dry conditions are\noften considered helpful in the summer, as it makes it easier for us to cool\noff from our air conditioners. However, dry air during the rest of the year\nthreatens not only our comfort but also our health. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Furnaces and forced-air heat pumps are often blamed for\ncausing the air to be dried out even more, but is this really the case?<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Yes, But Also No<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

We get it\u2014this isn\u2019t an answer. Bear with us though! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The issue is a bit more complicated than a simple \u201cyeah your\nheater dries out your air.\u201d Technically speaking, heating up the air doesn\u2019t\ndirectly cause the air to become drier. What does <\/em>happen is that older furnaces\u2014known as atmospheric combustion furnaces<\/em>\u2014draw air from the home into their\ncombustion chambers, which allows combustion to occurs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This causes a bit of a deficit of the air in the home, and\noutdoor air moves in to replace that deficit. Since the outdoor air is drier\nduring the winter than the indoor air, this can lead to a drop in relative\nhumidity levels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cBut wait, it sounds like you basically just said yes, my\nfurnace is drying out my air!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, newer furnaces can be and are constructed as sealed combustion furnaces. <\/em>Their combustion\nchambers are shielded from the inside of the house and draw the air they need\nfor combustion through a pipe that leads to the outdoors. This prevents the\nfurnace from pulling in indoor air and creating that deficit\u2014so in this case,\nthe dry air you feel indoors is not <\/em>coming\nfrom your heater! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In conclusion, yes, dry air is a problem in the winter\u2014the relative humidity level in homes often drops below 30% which is considered too dry. But this isn\u2019t caused <\/em>by your furnace, it\u2019s caused by our climate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, What Can You Do About It?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Alright, so your furnace isn\u2019t causing your dry air, but that doesn\u2019t mean you like it\u2014and we don\u2019t blame you! After all, dry air dries out our sinuses, making us more susceptible to colds and other illnesses since we can\u2019t fight off germs as well. It also dries out furniture, wooden floorboards, and even precision instruments like pianos if you have one in your home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The solution here isn\u2019t to stop using your heating system, but rather to add a whole-house humidifier to your home<\/a>. These systems are installed directly into your HVAC system and help keep humidity at a reasonable level as your heater runs. Or, it can even be run independently of your heater!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you need a professional opinion, our team is trained in the latest heating<\/a> and indoor air quality<\/a> practices. Contact AW Heating & Cooling<\/a> today! “Your Comfort Specialists.\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

During winter, the moisture level in the air drops as more and more water vapor gets pulled out of the air outside.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[104],"tags":[105,93],"class_list":["post-486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-hvac","tag-hvac-service-company","tag-maumee"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.awheatingandcooling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.awheatingandcooling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.awheatingandcooling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.awheatingandcooling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.awheatingandcooling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=486"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.awheatingandcooling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1144,"href":"https:\/\/www.awheatingandcooling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/486\/revisions\/1144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.awheatingandcooling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.awheatingandcooling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.awheatingandcooling.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}