Having dry air in your house can irritate you with asthma, allergies, skin diseases like psoriasis, or a cold. So, How Do I Make My Electrically Heated Room Less Dry? A humidifier increases the humidity, or water vapour, in the air. On the other hand, Humidifiers can be costly and normally only work in a single room.
Fortunately, there are natural ways to enhance humidity in your house and battle dry air. In this post, we’ll look at one approach to making your humidifier and ten other strategies to improve your home’s natural moisture.
How to Make an Electrically Heated Room Less Dry?
If you’re struggling with a dry atmosphere in your electrically heated room, you’re not alone. Many face this issue, especially during colder months. Here are some effective solutions:
- Adjust the Thermostat: Consider turning down the thermostat or even switching it off for a few days. This allows the room to revert to its natural humidity levels.
- Dry Clothes Indoors: An unconventional yet effective method is to dry your clothes inside the room. As the clothes dry, they release moisture, increasing the room’s humidity.
- Understand Your Heater: Electric heaters, including light bulbs, produce heat by creating friction in the electricity flow. Being aware of this can help you manage the room’s dryness better.
Lets dig deep more into humidity…
What Is The Significance Of Indoor Humidity?
Indoor humidity, or more precisely, relative humidity, can significantly impact human health. For those unfamiliar with the word, “relative humidity” refers to the amount of water vapour in the air compared to how much the air could hold if it were saturated.
Our indoor environments should ideally have a relative humidity of roughly 50%, but how many of us have a hygrometer on hand to monitor the changes in our air quality? I doubt there are many.
Nonetheless, because of our collective ignorance on the matter, many homes are suffering from general health issues that may be readily alleviated by understanding how humidity affects our interior environments.
How Can I Keep My Electrically Heated Room From Being Too Dry?
Winter has reduced humidity, to begin with because the sun’s radiating heat causes less moisture to evaporate from the soil. This indicates that the air drawn into your home contains less moisture.
When this is combined with the dry heat produced by a furnace, the outside air becomes even dryer.
This is why, throughout the winter, there is a notable drop in moisture. Those who suffer from dry skin throughout the winter months will notice this the most.
Humidifiers
Humidifiers are equipment that adds moisture to the air. If you increase the humidity in your home by 10%, the temperature in your home will rise by about 1 degree Fahrenheit.
This may appear insignificant, but it can save you money over the cold months.
A humidifier filters water before dispensing it as a fine mist into the air. A humidifier normally only impacts one room, but you can install a home humidifier that adds moisture to all rooms if needed.
Pots Of Water
Natural evaporation will help to improve the moisture content by placing pots of water on shelves. This ensures a steady, energy-efficient flow of moisture into the atmosphere.
This method is less expensive than using a humidifier, but it can result in minor spills if you have children or animals.
By adding some drops of your favourite essential oil to the water, you may add some aromatherapy. The aroma of the essential oil will be released into the air as the water evaporates.
Aquariums
Bring a sense of tranquillity and wetness into your home. The majority of aquariums are heated. Aquarium water evaporates quickly due to the added heat in the water.
When the water evaporates, it can only go into the air of the room where the aquarium is located. This provides centralised humidity in a space like your bedroom or living room.
Wet Clothes
When you wash your clothing, hang them out to dry on a clothesline in your home. Water evaporates into the air, adding humidity to the atmosphere.
Your clothes dryer will consume less electricity and emit less heat due to this. This is an excellent option for saving money on your power bill when heating prices are high during the winter.
Shower With The Door Open
By opening the bathroom door as wide as possible, you can benefit from a hot shower. The steam will likely penetrate the adjoining rooms if your shower is hot enough, increasing humidity levels.
If you leave your bathroom vent on, all the moisture will be wicked.
Save Your Bathwater
Don’t immediately dump the water when you’ve finished bathing. Allowing it to cool completely releases the remaining water vapour into the atmosphere.
Additionally, if you prefer employing aromatherapy during your baths, this will aid in the release of essential oil vapour into the air.
Dishwasher Use
Steam will be emitted into the atmosphere throughout the wash cycle of your dishwasher when the dishes are cleaned.
As the steam exits from the dishwasher, cracking the door and allowing your dishes to air dry will raise the humidity of the surrounding air.
Skip The Clothes Dryer
While it’s convenient to toss the laundry in the dryer and call it a day, you may use the most items to boost humidity.
After washing the garments, hang them to dry on a drying rack. They shall release the water back into the atmosphere when they dry, helping to raise the humidity.
Mini Aquarium Or Fish Tank
Water evaporation is a natural element of an aquarium’s or fish tank’s life cycle, and it can help raise the humidity in the surrounding air passively.
Fish tanks and aquariums can also be readily decorated to improve the overall appearance of your home, particularly if you’re trying for feng shui vibes.
Problems With High Humidity
In the UK, high humidity is a typical problem as our highly insulated homes trap more and more moisture indoors, causing condensation and mould to form on our walls and windows.
Due to the lack of consistently warm weather, we tend to dry our clothing inside and open our windows less, contributing to excess moisture inside.
Because all living things require moisture and warmth to survive, overly humid environments can be ideal breeding grounds for mould and dust mites.
Mold and bacterium multiplication in these conditions can have catastrophic effects, especially for those with respiratory disorders or allergies, as the number of airborne spores increases dramatically.
If you often suffer from coughs and colds or even frequent allergy attacks, it’s worth looking into the relative humidity in your home. Dust mites and funguses can’t thrive if indoor humidity is less than 50%.
Problems With Low Humidity
Snow-covered trees Though high humidity is a problem in many UK houses; low humidity can be a problem in the winter.
Certain heating systems can even aggravate it. While it is common sense to turn up the heat during the winter months, this might result in a feeling of ‘dry air’ in the evenings once the house has warmed up.
Cracked, dry, itchy skin, inflamed eyes, and nasal passages are all possible symptoms. This is due to factors, including the outside temperature and our heating systems.
Outdoor temperatures are substantially lower during the fall months, and the colder air carries less moisture.
We operate our heating systems to battle the chill once it enters our home, but as we do, this already dry air heats up, and the relative humidity indoors declines.
This causes the air around us to feel dry and uncomfortable, and it can even cause nosebleeds and an increase in static electricity in extreme circumstances.
Moisture evaporates more easily from our bodies when the air around us is warm and dry, and we lose a crucial layer of protection against infection.
The mucus and moisture in our noses play a critical role in pre-filtering the air we breathe in, eliminating allergies and undesired microorganisms before they can harm our systems.
Because the mucus doesn’t collect bacteria as we inhale when this protective layer is gone, our respiratory tracts are more susceptible to infection.
Low humidity is likely to be the explanation if you’ve ever noticed you catch colds more easily in an atmosphere with an air conditioner.
Viruses like influenza, according to studies, flourish in low-humidity conditions.
Conclusion
That’s it; How Do I Make My Electrically Heated Room Less Dry? Keep in mind that a home’s humidity can be high enough to promote pests and mould growth.
Dust mites, a frequent allergy, flourish in high humidity levels of 70 to 80 per cent, according to the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America.
Humidity levels that are comfortable range from 30 to 50 per cent. Humidifying your home should improve the air quality without causing water droplets to gather on the ceiling or other surfaces.
And there you have it: Ideas for simple modifications you may make in your house to prevent dry air. If you’re thinking about investing in a professional humidifier system, read this article to learn more about what to look for and anticipate.