Humidifiers are a great home addition no matter the season. Dry air can impact a home at any point of the year, whether it’s the cold of winter or the heat of summer when your A/C is frequently running. According to the Mayo Clinic, dry air can cause a number of uncomfortable health conditions such as cracked lips, itchy eyes, and dry nasal passages. Humidifiers can help ease these symptoms by releasing water vapor or steam into the air to increase your home’s air moisture levels (humidity). There are many types of humidifiers on the market, so you’ll want to weigh your options and consider your home’s needs before selecting one. Let’s explore the types of humidifiers out there so you can select the best one for your home in 2022 and beyond.
Types of Humidifiers
Central Humidifier
Also known as a whole home humidifier, central humidifiers are built into your home’s HVAC system to evenly humidify your entire home. There are three different types of humidifiers for whole-home use: bypass humidifiers, fan-powered humidifiers, and steam humidifiers.
Bypass Humidifiers – A bypass humidifier adds moisture to warm air through a furnace. They channel warm air from a home’s HVAC system and pass it through a water tray. This lets the air collect moisture which is then expelled back into the house.
Fan-Powered Humidifiers – These models are very similar to bypass humidifiers except they use a fan to push air through a water tray. Fan-powered humidifiers typically produce more humidity than bypass humidifiers and are very energy efficient.
Steam Humidifiers – Steam humidifiers are powerful units often used to heat large homes. Whole house steam humidifiers use electricity to boil water, which creates steam. The steam is pushed through the house’s vents to increase humidity.
Evaporator Humidifier
Evaporator humidifiers blow moisture into the air through a damp filter, wick, or belt. They are fan-powered, single-unit systems, so they can only work in one room at a time. These are typically a more affordable humidifier option, but they can expel too much moisture into the air if overused. Too much humidity in the air can lead to mold growth and trigger asthma symptoms.
Impeller Humidifier
Impeller humidifiers use rotating disks running at high speeds to shoot cool mist into the air. Like evaporators, these units can only work in one room at a time. The upside is impeller humidifiers are very child-friendly devices because they have no burn risk. However, overusing one of these units can trigger allergy reactions.
Steam Humidifier
These are extremely portable and inexpensive humidifier units powered by electricity. Steam humidifiers work by heating water then cooling it back down before expelling it into the air. They can cause burns, so small children need to be watched while around these humidifiers.
Ultrasonic Humidifier
Ultrasonic humidifiers use ultrasonic vibration to produce a cool mist. They come in both cool and warm mist versions and are available in a variety of sizes.
How to Choose the Best Humidifier for You
1. Consider Your Space
How much space do you need to humidify? If your entire home has dry air, selecting a whole home humidifier may be your best choice. If you want to increase humidity in a specific room in your home, a more portable unit like a steam humidifier or impeller humidifier may be a better option. If you are looking to install a humidifier in a single room, evaluate how much space you have available to install a humidifier.
2. Evaluate Your Humidity Needs
Whether you live in a drier climate or are experiencing symptoms associated with low humidity, it’s important to consider your personal humidity needs. The Mayo Clinic indicates your home’s humidity levels should ideally be between 30% and 50%. You can purchase a hygrometer, which measures the amount of moisture in the air, from a hardware store to check your home’s current humidity levels.
3. Think about Your Desired Level of Maintenance
Different humidifier types have varying maintenance needs, so it’s important to consider how much work you want to put into maintaining your humidifier. Depending on the model, humidifiers generally need regular cleaning, filter changes, and fresh water in order to keep the air pure and free from mold and bacteria. For expert help, professional HVAC technicians can help maintain your home’s humidifier with regular cleanings, checkups, and system tests.
4. Consult with a Professional
Talking with a seasoned HVAC professional is a great way to know what type of humidifier is best for your home. Like the team at Mountain Heating and Cooling, an HVAC technician can chat with you about your personal humidity needs, evaluate your home’s HVAC system, and make an informed recommendation about which type of humidifier may best fit your goals.
Our Recommended Humidifier Brands
At Mountain Heating and Cooling, we’ve installed, worked with, and inspected many types of humidifiers, so we know which models stand up to our rigorous quality tests. We offer two types of humidifiers for whole house humidification: Honeywell Bypass Humidifier and Trane Steam Humidifier.
Honeywell Bypass Humidifier
Honeywell Home Bypass Humidifiers provide humidity throughout the entire home by hooking up to your current central heating and cooling system. Their sleek, versatile designs and easy-access pads help in managing your indoor humidity and creating an enjoyable home environment. Honeywell provides a variety of models to choose from depending on your home’s needs, and the company takes pride in their humidifiers’ efficiency and easy control systems.
Trane Steam Humidifier
Tane products are renowned for their durability and longevity, and these qualities apply to their humidifiers, as well. Trane’s steam humidifiers help increase your home’s humidity while protecting wood floors, furnishings, and moldings from the damage of dry conditions. Their quiet, automatic steam humidifier operates independently of your home’s HVAC system, so it fits a wide range of home homes.
Consult with an HVAC Technician
If you’re considering installing a humidifier in your home, chat with one of our HVAC technicians today. For over four decades, Mountain Heating and Cooling has been providing Bozeman homeowners and businesses with efficient comfort solutions, top-notch craftsmanship, and stellar customer service. We take the time to know your personal and home needs to match you with the best products that will serve your home for years to come. Your comfort and peace of mind motivate us to provide only the best-of-the-best recommendations and HVAC services! To schedule an appointment, drop us a line or give us a call at (406) 586-8630.
Indoor air pollution is a big consideration as a homeowner. The last thing any of us want is for our home’s air to be unhealthy for our family. This is even more of a factor during forest fire season, when keeping the air safe and reducing the amount of smoke in your home becomes crucial. Folks often ask us how they can keep their home’s air clean during the fire season, and which house air filters are best. If you have a heating and cooling system, your air conditioner or furnace will have an air filter in it. But are those built-in air filters good enough to keep your home’s indoor air quality as high as you want it to be?
In terms of house air filters, you have a couple of options:
Relying on your HVAC air filter
Investing in a standalone air purifier or air cleaner
HVAC Air Filters: Should I run my AC during fire season?
If you have a furnace or an air conditioner, you should have an air filter. Air filtering is not the primary function of these units, though most will have a filter installed in them. The quality of furnace air filters or air conditioning filters will depend on things like the model of the unit, its maintenance history, and the settings it has. All of these will have a bearing on how much risk there is of wildfire smoke and other pollutants circulating through your home.
When fire season starts, one of the first things you’ll want to do is to turn off any settings that allow the intake of outdoor air into the indoor air space. Then, you’ll want to turn off any window air conditioning units that can pull in contaminated outdoor air into your home. To get the most air cleaning value out of your AC unit, you’ll also need to regularly maintain it and replace the filter. That will help to minimize the risks of pollutants— like wildfire smoke— entering your home’s environment.
Standalone House Air Filters
Air filters that are included in your furnace and air conditioner are not as thorough as air purifiers and cleaners that are designed purely to clean your home’s air. To gain the best air filtration for your home, it’s worth considering an air purification system as well. A couple of air purifier options that we carry are:
Trane CleanEffects™ Air Cleaner: This model uses cutting-edge technology that creates cleaner, healthier air for your home. It removes up to 99.98% of airborne particles. Many room filters and HVAC unit air filters aren’t as good at filtering out tiny particles like dust, smoke, and bacteria, which are small enough to get deep into your lungs because they aren’t filtered well by your nose and throat. This Trane air cleaner is great at catching those tiny particles, and so can reduce the presence of smoke, dust, pollen, and even bacteria in your home.
GPS Series Plasma Purifiers: These units are simple to maintain, cost effective to install, and are easy to move around. They use an ionizing technology that drops the smoke out of the air, and as a bonus they’re also great for eliminating odors in the home!
Air Filter vs. Air Purifier: Do I Really Need Both?
Most HVAC system air filters will do a decent job of filtering out larger dust and dirt particles from the air, though they will need to be regularly maintained and they simply aren’t designed to trap smaller particles like smoke. They are designed to keep the HVAC running optimally and to reduce wear and tear—not to make your indoor air perfectly clean. We recommend investing in an air purifier to take your indoor air quality to the next level, especially during fire season. This will be the best option for getting the cleanest air and the best house air filters available.
Wildfire season is the time when we are often the most conscious about how clean and safe our home’s air is. When fires start, it can feel daunting to try to find the right solution for your family and home. We can help you find the best air filter for wildfire smoke! At Mountain Heating & Cooling we have years of experience in finding the perfect solution. We know air cleaners inside and out, and we will take the time to get to know your needs to make sure we fit the right system and model to your home. Give us a call to arrange an appointment today.
Spring is here! The trees, flowers, and grasses will be blooming before we know it. Springtime in Montana is unique and wonderful, but no one loves being held back by allergy season so that they can’t enjoy all of its benefits.
Now is the perfect time to prep your home and make sure your system’s air purifier is ready for you to enjoy the spring while being sneeze and headache free from pollen and cutting season. A home air purification system will clean your air as it cycles and cools your home.
What can you do to filter your home’s air?
Guarantee your home’s air is clean, fresh, and filtered. Let’s dig in to some things you can do right away to get ahead of allergy season!
Install air purifiers in your home
Installing air purifiers can help with allergens from dust, dander, and pets, and they can also help control viruses, bacteria, and mold. As an added bonus, installing air purifiers ahead of forest fire season can protect your family from harmful particles from smoke and remove the smell of smoke, too. Now is the perfect time to install an air purifier to get the maximum benefit from your investment this year.
Tip for pure home air: shut the windows and switch on your AC or fan
Pollen— and many other allergens— are airborne, so keeping our homes sealed up can help a lot during allergy season. Consider shutting the windows and turning on the AC, but before you do, make sure that your air conditioning system is working smoothly and the filters have been cleaned. Running the AC rather than having the windows open can keep your home’s air clean, healthy, and cool.
Change your air filters
Montana’s spring comes with fluctuating temperatures, and it’s not uncommon to find yourself running the AC in the daytime and switching the heater on for a bit during a chilly evening. Folks will often turn on their furnace just to use the fan function, too. When you’re running your heating or cooling systems during allergy season, make sure that your air filters and furnace filter are freshly cleaned. Dander, dust, dog hair, and pollen all naturally build up in a home, and these are pulled right into your HVAC filter system and in the worst cases recirculated into the air. Getting your air filters changed and cleaned will make sure the system is sending clean filtered air to the rest of your home.
Get your air ducts cleaned
Over time, air ducts can collect a sticky residue from everyday use. Forest fires and smoke can also lead to air ducts collecting residue more quickly, too. To make sure your home’s air is as clean and allergen and irritant-free, it’s worth getting your air ducts cleaned and maintained regularly. We generally recommend getting them cleaned every 3-5 years, depending on things like system use and pets. It’s worth the peace of mind to get reset your duct work with a visit from our maintenance team.
While we’re cleaning your system we can also seal your home’s duct system with a high tech and effective internal sealing system called Aeroseal. Aerosealing your duct system will make it more efficient delivering better airflow and removing opportunity for dust, pollen, bugs and contaminants from entering your home’s air delivery system through unsealed seams. The typical system has a duct leakage measurement of over 20%. With Aeroseal we are able to reduce duct leakage below 6%.
We all love the Montana spring, and it’s great to be able to enjoy it without getting too bogged down by allergies in your home. There are things you can do to keep your home’s air clean throughout the allergy season, and we’d love to help! Let’s make sure you can enjoy those sunny spring days with your family skipping the headaches and sinus issues that come along with the season.
Is Your Air ‘Asthma and Allergy Association Certified’ Clean?
Spring has finally begun, and that means it’s time to get your ducts cleaned. Dirt and neglect are the top causes of heating and cooling system inefficiency and failure. it is important to perform routine maintenance to ensure energy efficient system operation, and to ensure that you’re breathing clean air in your household. Our duct cleaning services start at $11/ month. If you bundle an air purifier with your spring duct cleaning service, we offer deals that help you save as much as $450. If you bundle the two, not only will you have clean, fresh ducts, but adding an air purifier will knock out dust, allergens, forest fire smoke, and unpleasant odors permanently, so you’ll be set for spring, summer, and fall.
We are proud to carry the Trane CleanEffects air purification system, which is the only air purification system certified by the asthma and allergy association.
Our Spring Cleaning Special Includes Financing as Low as:
Duct cleaning service starting at $11/mo
Air Purifiers starting at $23/mo.
Bundle the two together and receive financing as low as $33 per month for an AirScrubber Plus, or bundle a duct cleaning and a Trane CleanEffects air purification system together for as low as $41/month.
We get a fair number of folks asking about air purifiers. Most commonly, I see one stuffed in the corner of your living room or bedroom while doing a bid.
The bottom line is we have some great solutions. While they get to the same goal a different way, all of the products we carry have been tried and tested by our staff and customers.
We carry the GPS series plasma purifiers. They are simple to maintain, cost effective to install, and can easily go with you when you move across town. Here’s a video…
At the top end of the catagory (and best in it’s class) is the Trane ‘Clean Effects’ air purification/furnace filter.
The right fit for you depends on the problems you are looking to solve. But I’ll rank them below for the big issues we most commonly see.
Dust:
Both do a good job with dust, but they do it very differently.
The GPS makes the particles heavy and sticky. So they get caught up in the filter. Because of this, we recommend the filter be changed about 4 weeks after installation.
The Trane ‘Clean Effects’ filters out the dust by making it adhere to a membrane. Wash and vacuum the membrane and you are good to good for another 3 months.
Winner: We’ll give the edge to Trane on this one. While both do well, the Trane does it on a more refined level.
Pollens & Allergies:
We have seen excellent results with both of the units related to pollens and allergies. It’s important to note that this isn’t a medical solution, but we have seen success here at removing the source of the airborne issue that is causing the symptoms. Again, edge goes to Trane, but it really depends on how you use your home related to windows and open doors.
Smoke and odor:
The GPS uses an ionizing technology that drops the smoke out of the air. It also takes cooking, pet, spouse, kids, etc… odors and eliminates them. Pretty nice for the price.
The Trane air purifier is in a dead heat on this one. System owner’s report that being indoors during fire season was comfortable and odor free when combined with the cool air delivered through the ducts.
We don’t think there is a bad choice here. And, with our 100% guarantee on the GPS unit, try it out, if it doesn’t work for you family we’ll upgrade you to the Trane.
We are proud to carry the Trane CleanEffects air purification system, which is the only air purification system certified by the asthma and allergy association.