I think it improves the overall comfort of the home - less dry skin/lips and thirst, house feels "warmer" at a lower heat setting. BUT I don't think it helps with winter "congestion" - so we also run room humidifiers at night in each bedroom. But we are a sinus/nasal problem family, so YMMV.

Anonymous wrote:Most people's system is useless because they don't work. They need regular maintenance like changing the filter just like your furnace and most people don't do that, so the humidifier breaks. When they are operating properly, they're a huge benefit.

Absolutely. We put one on our furnace when we bought our house. It makes a HUGE difference. BUT, you have to keep up with the maintenance of it or it will not work properly.

Anonymous wrote:We bought a home that has a house dehumidifier system that is attached to the furnace. It costs $700 to replace it but I am just wondering if it's worth it to even get it fixed. My sister tells me hers is useless and she ended up having to put a humidifier in each bedroom in the winter anyway. If you have a house humidifier system, did you find that it increased the comfort level of your house environment in the winter (i.e. less cracked skins, less electric shock, less nose bleeds)?

Humidifier or dehumidifier? These two things do opposite jobs. If you have a dehumidifier you should not expect to see the effects of more humidity. Find out which one you have and you will get clearer responses.

If you have an attic furnace or the furnace is in an area that is itself not climate controlled, you'll need a more expensive model.

Over the winters, our DD was sounding like Bobby Senior from the Sopranos (that show taught me a surprising amount about home maintenance) for months, we had been taking her to the Dr every 3-6 weeks, nebulizer, etc., etc.

We got a whole-house humidifier and bam! in a week those issues were solved.

If you have a maintenance contract w/ the HVAC folks, whole-house humidifier maintenance is handled by them. Otherwise you have to really stay on top of stuff.