Have Low Humidity? Indoor Air Scientists Uncover the Top Ten Household Items Impacted By Humidity Levels
Safeguard Your Belongings by Maintaining Humidity Levels in the Home this Winter with Honeywell Humidifiers
From antique furniture and photo albums to pianos and even wine, low humidity levels can wreak havoc on many of our prized possessions. People may be familiar with the effects of dry air discomforts associated with cold winter weather like itchy dry skin or scratchy throats, but the impact on household objects is often overlooked. The designers ofHoneywell Humidifiers and indoor air scientists have released new research on how everyday household objects suffer under low humidity conditions and what steps homeowners can take to combat the effects of dry air.
“Relative humidity levels can drop to as low as ten percent in the winter months, which is as dry as the Sahara Desert. If humidity levels are too low, household objects from wood furniture to artwork can be damaged over time as moisture is pulled from wood, paper and other porous materials,” said Dr. Ted Myatt, ScD., senior scientist with Environmental Health & Engineering and the University of Rhode Island. “The solution is to maintain relative humidity levels in the optimal range of 40 to 60 percent by running a humidifier in colder, drier winter months, to mitigate these effects.”
The research conducted found that the following list of 10 household items are most impacted by low relative humidity:
1. Wood Furniture: Has your favorite wooden bench seemed a little shakier? It could be because of low humidity. Wood absorbs and desorbs water as relative humidity rises and falls, which causes it to swell and shrink. This results in furniture joints becoming loose or even pulling apart.
2. Musical Instruments: Not sounding quite right? Low humidity levels may be to blame for your instrument falling out of tune. Natural wood instruments such as guitars, violins and pianos can be damaged when the wood contracts resulting in failed glue joints or cracks.
3. Books: Low humidity causes the pages of books to become more brittle and fragile, and the dimensions of the pages can even change as the paper absorbs and desorbs water. This leads to wrinkles in the paper, flaking ink, or warped covers on books.
4. Woodwork and Wood Floors: If you’ve noticed a slight bend in your wood floors, or gaps between the planks, it could be because of low humidity. As the wood expands and contracts, mitered corners can separate and floors can “cup” so that the floor doesn’t remain flat.
5. Wine: Does your uncorked bottle of wine not taste right? Wine corks can dry out, shrink and crack if exposed to low humidity overtime, allowing air to come into contact with the wine and potentially ruin the bottle.
6. Artwork: Maintaining humidity levels is vital for protecting artwork around the home. Low moisture levels tend to make paint brittle and prone to cracking, which is especially detrimental to oil paintings on canvas.
7. Stamp Collections: Much like books, repeated absorption and desorption of water can ruin stamps by making them brittle or discolored.
8. Photograph Collections: Have you noticed your new photographs looking more like your parents’ photo albums? When photographs curl up at the ends, it’s likely due to low humidity levels. They can also result in the photo emulsion flaking off and damaging the photograph.
9. Walls: Peeling wallpaper and separated drywall seams can be a sign of low humidity in the home. The porous materials may crack and separate when exposed to low levels.
10. Electronic Equipment: Static electricity brought on by low humidity levels can damage internal components of computers, televisions and other electronics – a lot more damaging than dealing with static in your hair!
Running a Honeywell Humidifier in your home, especially during the dry winter months, can help maintain relative indoor humidity levels in the optimal 40 to 60 percent range. Designed for large areas, the new Honeywell Top Fill Console Humidifier is one option for protecting items around the home as it releases soothing, invisible moisture into the room. To confirm when ideal humidity levels are reached, use a humidity monitor like the Honeywell Humidity Monitor that displays relative humidity and indoor room temperature.
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My Thoughts
This is quite the humidifier. I'm used to using small ones, but this one is very large. You'll need to find a table to use for this Honeywell Humidifier. It's width is at least a foot and a half and it's very tall as well. It is made to work for multiple rooms, so this is a great unit to have in your main living area and not a bedroom. I placed this downstairs between my living room, eat in dining room, and kitchen. It seemed to work in all 3 of these rooms without an issue.
It was easy to set up the Honeywell Humidifier. The instructions were easy to follow. I liked that there were different modes to put this on and fan strength. There are two water reserves to fill up. Thankfully, you can leave them each on the unit and fill with a water pitcher, because they are large and would be heavy to carry.
When this doesn't have any water in it, it comes apart easily. If you have little ones who might be attracted to this, you'll want to keep it up high. When each water base is filled, the unit is heavy and does not come apart as easy. But coming apart easy is a plus. It makes it easy to clean, as well as get to the filter if you need to. It has a very large filter to catch anything in the air.
I ran this for a week in my home to see if I noticed a difference. I live in the south and it hasn't gotten cold yet to where the heat runs a lot, so it was hard to use this the way it's intended, since running the heat in a home usually dries out the air. I don't think we are the only ones having a very warm December. However, even though the heat has not been on very much, when I ran this, I did feel like the air was more moist and easier to breath. I used it in the evenings when the heat did kick on. It was never stuffy in the house with coughs from the drier air. I am looking forward to really getting to try out the Honeywell Humidifier more when it gets cold in January.
One lucky winner is going to win a Honeywell HumidifierTo enter, simply fill out the giveaway tools form below. This giveaway will end on January 4, 2016. The winner will be notified via email and will have 48 hours to reply. Open to US only. Thanks again to the sponsor for offering this fantastic prize.
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