Pittsburgh winters are brutally dry

Everybody talks about Pittsburgh summer humidity, but the flip side is the thing people do not realize they can solve. It gets wicked dry here in the winter. Indoor humidity can drop into the 10 percent range, sometimes below. Inside the house it is just dry. You feel it everywhere:

• Dry, itchy skin
• Static electricity, the kind where you zap everything you touch
• Cracking nails and brittle hair
• A home that feels colder than the thermostat says

And the cold can feel very cold in Pittsburgh when the air is that dry. It just does not feel good.

The fix: a whole-home humidifier

What we can do is install a whole-home humidifier that adds water to the air every day. One thing to set expectations on: it can take two or three days of a whole-home humidifier running for everything to really absorb. All the wood, the furniture, the carpet, everything in the house has dried out over the winter, so it soaks up that first moisture before the air itself comes up to where you want it. That is normal. Be patient through the first few days.

It is the opposite of what we do in summer

I like to explain this alongside summer humidity, because it is the same idea in reverse. In summer, the air holds too much moisture, so we remove it and you feel more comfortable. In winter, we are in such a deficit that when we add moisture back, you feel more comfortable. Both times, we are just steering you back toward a comfortable baseline, the window of humidity where a home feels right.

And there is a real window to stay inside of. Too dry and you get the dry skin, static, and cold feeling. But if it gets too humid in winter, you can grow dust mites and mold spores. So this is not about cranking moisture as high as possible, it is about hitting that comfortable middle.

The cool trick: moist air feels warmer

Here is one of the best benefits, and it surprises people. When we add moisture to the air, the air has more carrying capacity for energy, which means it can hold more heat. So the same home, at the same thermostat setting, feels warmer once we raise the humidity.

We often find people whose house feels a little drafty or a little cold, and after we add a humidifier, it feels warmer without touching the furnace. It is a nice little trick, and it is something we are genuinely passionate and knowledgeable about at Wahl Family Heating, Cooling & Plumbing.

Who benefits most

Just about everyone feels better with the right winter humidity, but a few groups really notice it:

• Asthma and allergy sufferers, dry air is rough on breathing, and the right humidity helps.
• Anyone with dry skin, hair, or nail issues, moisture in the air makes all of that feel better.
• Folks tired of static shocks, the right humidity gets rid of that static electricity.

If your home feels cold and dry every winter no matter where you set the thermostat, a whole-home humidifier is one of the most satisfying upgrades you can make. It is part of a bigger picture of comfort, so it is worth looking at your home’s whole indoor air quality setup at the same time.