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Is Your HVAC System Causing Dry Indoor Air?

One of the biggest complaints homeowners have during the winter is dry indoor air. Dry air leads to issues like dry eyes, itchy skin, frequent nosebleeds, and static shocks. While the weather outside definitely plays a role in your indoor humidity level, so can your HVAC system. We’ll explain how your HVAC system can affect your indoor air quality (IAQ) and what you can do to improve your comfort this winter.

How Relative Humidity Affects Your Home and Comfort

When humidity levels are too low, your nasal passages can dry out. This can irritate your respiratory system, worsen your allergy symptoms, and lead to symptoms like fatigue and headaches.

Dry air will dry out all the wood materials throughout your home, including furniture, trim, and so forth. Low humidity makes it harder for heat to linger in your air. This can make your home feel colder than it actually is. Conversely, high indoor humidity can lead to mold and mildew growth that can be toxic to your health. Relative humidity is the amount of water vapor in the air compared to the maximum amount the air can hold. Most experts agree that the ideal indoor relative humidity level is between 30% and 50%.

Signs That Your HVAC System Is Drying Out Your Air

Dry air issues will compound throughout the winter. Unfortunately, many homeowners fail to realize that their dry air is the result of their HVAC system. Many just blame the outside weather and think there’s nothing they can do to fix the issue. You need to watch out for the key warning signs that your HVAC system is contributing to low indoor humidity.

Dry skin and lips typically worsen throughout the winter as your indoor humidity drops. You’ll notice more static electricity when you’re touching doorknobs, light switches, and metal components. You’ll notice that your sinuses and throat feel dry as your nasal passages dry out making you more susceptible to illness. You may notice that your wood furniture or trim will crack or shrink. Your home may feel colder than the thermostat reading.

Heating Air Reduces Relative Humidity

The process of heating the air inside your home can reduce its relative humidity level. The higher the temperature, the more moisture the air can hold. As the air temperature increases, the moisture level stays the same because your heating system isn’t introducing any new moisture into the air. This results in a drop in the relative humidity level in your home. As the air gets warmer, it starts to feel much drier. When your heating system runs multiple cycles over and over, it constantly lowers your home’s relative humidity level.

Air Circulation Decreases Moisture Levels

One other way that your heating system reduces your humidity level is through constant air circulation. As air travels throughout your ducting and vents, it accelerates the natural evaporation process. This is because, as air circulates over your walls, floors, furniture, and even across your body, it pulls moisture from all these surfaces. The more frequent the air movement in your home, the quicker moisture evaporates.

Air Exchange of Dry Outside Air

Whenever air leaves your home, more air has to come inside. As your HVAC system runs, it pushes air out through your exhaust vents and leaks in your home. This allows the dry outside air to enter to replace that air loss. This constant air exchange allows dry air to continually enter your home and reduce its overall humidity level.

Ducting Issues Can Compound the Problem

Another thing to keep in mind is that your ducting can compound your indoor humidity problem. Leaky or poorly insulated ductwork that runs through unconditioned spaces in your home is one of the biggest issues.

First, it allows some of the heat that your furnace produces to escape before it reaches the rooms in your home. This causes your heater to run longer to compensate for the heat loss. When your heating system is running for longer periods, it increases the drying effect on your air.

Solutions for Dealing With Dry Indoor Air

If you’re struggling with dry indoor air during the winter, there are some things you can do to counteract it. One of the most impactful is to invest in a whole-home humidification system. This gets installed inside of your ducting to work directly with your existing HVAC system.

Whenever your thermostat reads that the indoor humidity level is lower than your desired setting, it adds moisture to the air as it travels throughout your ducting during a normal heating cycle. This helps to boost the humidity level in your home and makes maintaining it more automatic.

Because dry outside air can have a big impact on your indoor humidity level, it’s important to properly seal off your home. Anywhere that air drafts develop, you can seal them off with materials like caulking or weather stripping. Air leaks commonly develop on your exterior walls, door frames, window frames, outlets, and light switches.

Another must-do is getting annual maintenance service for your heating system. The goal is to minimize how often your heating system is running to reduce air circulation that could otherwise dry out the air in your home. Routine maintenance is one of the best ways to ensure optimal system efficiency. Additionally, it’s important to keep up with regular air filter changes to maintain that efficiency all winter long.

If you have poorly insulated ducting, it’s a good idea to add insulation to reduce heat loss. Additionally, if you have aging ductwork with leaks, it’s best to have it professionally sealed. This will minimize your heat loss and reduce the runtime of your heating system.

One other great solution for helping to manage indoor humidity during the winter is installing a smart thermostat. These specialized thermostats can help you better optimize your system’s energy usage throughout winter. They have many internal technologies, such as geofencing, that can reduce the runtime of your heating system while still optimizing comfort.

For example, they can turn the temperature down when you leave your home so that your heating system isn’t constantly running. The less your heating system runs in winter, the less the air dries out. Optimizing your heating system’s runtime is a great way to minimize overheating your indoor air and constantly drying it out.

Professional IAQ Services You Can Rely On

Our team at Hoff Heating & AC offers professional IAQ services for the O’Fallon, MO area. We can also help with all your HVAC installation, replacement, repair, and tune-up needs.

Get in touch with Hoff Heating & AC today to book a service consultation with one of our highly experienced HVAC technicians.