House Blog Throwback -- The Humidifier

The year was 1996, and we had just purchased a new house.  She was a great starter home, 1 1/2 story, vaulted ceilings, 2 car garage, and a white picket fence surrounding a postage stamp sized back yard.  The home also had something totally new to me, gas heat.  I couldn't believe it when I held my hands in front of the vents during that first cold winter, and the air was actually HOT.  Halfway into winter a couple of other things started happening.  Wearing a sweater and scooting my feet across the carpet would build up a static charge equivalent to a police taser.  Yes, people peed in their pants and fell in the floor when I touched them, and sometimes the shock would go all the way up my arm.  The issue didn't get much thought until my nose started bleeding regularly.

In 1996, Google wasn't here yet, dial-up was king, and the best PC out there was the wretched Pentium 75 with a 15" tube monitor.  At that time, I didn't know Ancient Age from Pappy Van Winkle.  Boy, this was going to be tough without today's tools.  One day that winter, a part of my childhood came back to me.  We had something in the hallway called a humidifier.  Hmmmmm, time to hop in the car and head to Sears.  The salesman actually spent time with us back in the day, and we settled on the Kenmore Quiet Comfort 13.  Funny, my Bose headphones are Quiet Comfort 2's. 

The Kenmore has two 3 gallon tanks and can pump 13 gallons of water in the air if you turn it up all the way.  Sounds crazy doesn't it?  13 gallons is a lot of water, but this Kenmore can crank out water faster than gas through a Chevy Suburban.  An important add-on to the humidifier, a humidity meter, helps you manage the settings.  Luckily, I found one of these at Ace Hardware in the sale aisle for 99 cents at around the same time.

Perfect Level

The humidifier has 3 controls: fan speed (more of a volume knob), humidity level, and power to 1 or 2 fans (always left on "2").  Judging from my 99 cent gauge, 30% is a comfortable setting.  Without the Kenmore running, the 1996 house maintained 0% humidity during cold weather.  Humidity in your house does a couple of very useful things. 

1. Moisture in the house makes the air feel warmer.
2. Sinus membranes don't appreciate 0% humidity.  They dry out and get irritated (mine bleed).  30% keeps the sinuses happy.
3. Lower instance of human taser.  Seriously, one time in the old house, I saw a blue spark when I put my hand on the wall.  Yes, my wife still touches my arm before she kisses me, but the ouch factor is much lower with the humidifier.
4. Skin doesn't dry out as bad during cold weather.

Humidifier Controls and Fans

From my experience, a house with gas heat on a concrete slab maintains the lowest level of humidity in the winter.  On the other side of the coin, a house with a heat pump on a crawl space maintains the highest level of humidity.  One house I had didn't even need a humidifier.  Well, that one also had a sump pump in the crawl space to keep the water out. 

Here are a couple more tips before you leave:

• The very best water treatment product is BestAir Bacteriostatic and Algae Control, and Meijer keeps it in stock.  Water treatment keeps bacteria and algae from growing, the family safe, and the air smelling good.  Crud will grow in a cold air humidifier if you don't use this stuff. 
• Change the wicks every month or so, and sooner if a moldy smell develops.  Sears has the most expensive ones, and Lowe's has the best price.  Wicks are pretty low tech, so I can't see paying $10 more for the expensive ones.  Buy these guys at the beginning of the season, because they'll be sold out by the end of January. 
• Clean out the insides of the unit and dump out the water when you change the wicks. 
• The best place to put the humidifier in on an interior wall.  The humidity is dispersed more evenly, and you're less likely to see moisture build up on windows. 
• Dump out the water if the weather warms up, and the unit doesn't run for a day or two.  The water treatment can only fight so long before the ick wins the battle.

Wish I'd found this stuff
in 1996

Wait, you mean nothing broke in your home this month?  Well, I had to rewire the light switch on my attic furnace (that would be a 1 picture, 2 line article), soldered a new LED bulb in my 3 year-old's Lightning McQueen night light, and we're also developing a Lego themed Pinewood Derby car for the upcoming cub scout race.  Yes, another large scale project is cooking, but that one will have to wait until the Polar Vortex goes home.