For people that track your indoor humidity…what’s comfortable?

[Anonymous]

I bought a small humidity meter because my husband and I are waking up with sore throats every morning, and I’m getting some sinus headaches too, so I wondered if our air is too dry. It says our humidity is generally between 28 and 36 percent. Would those levels be causing our symptoms?

I know I can and probably should buy a humidifier but they are such a PITA to deal with, so I haven’t yet. Feel free to recommend one that isn’t like having an additional child to take care of.

Anyways, please let me know what your humidity typically looks like!

Thanks.

[Anonymous]

We have a whole house stream humidifier and a whole house dehumidifier, we keep it at 40-45 percent

[Anonymous]

About 40 is good

[Anonymous]

Sounds low. Yes, dry winter air can cause your problems.

I have a small one gallon steam humidifier that we run on low at night. It keeps the bedroom around 50% during the night, but that's at 66F so it's about right. It drops off during the day as the humidifier runs out of water and the setback themostat goes to 68F.

The ultrasonic humidifiers create an annoying dust from the dissolved salt/minerals in the water. The console humidifiers are a maintenance hassle.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds low. Yes, dry winter air can cause your problems.

I have a small one gallon steam humidifier that we run on low at night. It keeps the bedroom around 50% during the night, but that's at 66F so it's about right. It drops off during the day as the humidifier runs out of water and the setback themostat goes to 68F.

The ultrasonic humidifiers create an annoying dust from the dissolved salt/minerals in the water. The console humidifiers are a maintenance hassle.

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

45% is the target.

[Anonymous]

I find under 45 is dry. I like 45 to 55.

[Anonymous]

45-55 is usually pretty good for me depending on what’s going on. There are days though when it gets in the 30s and it’s horrible.

[Anonymous]

If your house is dry in the winter it's because your house is leaky. Tight, modern houses don't have dryness problems. Sometimes they even need to be ventilated to shed humidity in the winter.

The long term fix is to find out where your house is leaking and plug the leaks.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If your house is dry in the winter it's because your house is leaky. Tight, modern houses don't have dryness problems. Sometimes they even need to be ventilated to shed humidity in the winter.

The long term fix is to find out where your house is leaking and plug the leaks.

Or, you don't have humidification in your heating system.

[Anonymous]

YES op thats very dry you need a humidifier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If your house is dry in the winter it's because your house is leaky. Tight, modern houses don't have dryness problems. Sometimes they even need to be ventilated to shed humidity in the winter.

The long term fix is to find out where your house is leaking and plug the leaks.

Or, you don't have humidification in your heating system.

You don't need humidification in your heating system if your house isn't leaky.

Heating doesn't remove humidity from the air. What removes humidity is replacing the indoor air with outdoor air with lower moisture content.

[Anonymous]

If you have drafty windows the humidifier won't help as much -- try to weatherproof and seal them first.
Tabletop humidifier like those for $20 on your nightstand can be useful. Try it out. I wouldn't do the big one for the whole room. Like you said they're a pain and constantly break.

[Anonymous]

Arizona weather is generally about 25-35% humidity. You're living in an indoor desert!

[Anonymous]

40 to 60 is ideal year round.