Central Humidifiers: Cleaner Air For The Whole House

A humidifier is a household piece of equipment that increases the level of water vapor, or moisture, in a room. In winters, the furnace, in addition to heating up your home also dries it up. For a comfortable environment a variety of humidifiers are available to add moisture to the dry winter air. In addition to portable, console and other types of humidifiers there are central humidifiers as well.

A central humidifier is attached to the home’s central heating system. They are usually mounted on the hot or cold air ducts of your furnace. Unlike other humidifiers, like the console type or the portable type, where you have to periodically replenish the water reservoir, the central humidifier is connected directly to the home’s plumbing, doing away with the need to replenish water. Connected to the furnace, these are the most economical systems. Moisture is controlled with a humidistat and fed directly into the warm airflow.

Central Humidifier Types

Generally there are three types of central humidifiers:

• The bypass type with drain supplies hot air through it to the humidifier mounted on the return air duct. The supply duct provides hot air to the home and the return duct draws the cool air to be heated. The excess water drains through a tube into the floor drain.
  
• The bypass type without drain operates similarly to the previous type. Only, the excess water does not drain but is used to moisten the revolving element through which the air passes.
  
• The spray type injects the mist directly into the ducts.

Instead of using individual humidifiers in various rooms, the use of central humidifiers is a very effective way to deal with the dry-home syndrome.