When winter comes, the idea of maintaining or increasing the control of the oven in a matter of priority. Part of this may be the humidifier. The chaos created by dry winters can vary from irritating to dry skin, damage to wood floors and furniture. Humidifiers can take care of maintenance problems this winter dry. However, the energy consumption. While energy is not an essential factor for your electricity bill, without understanding their energy consumption adds hidden costs.
First, the physics of humidification mustbe explained. Air contains water vapor, the amount of water vapor as humidity. When referring to the actual amount of water vapor in a given sample of air, which is the absolute humidity, absolute humidity and moisture. Have you ever wondered why your weather person reports a value called the dew point? This value is directly correlated with the moisture in the air. The higher the dew point, the greater the amount of water vapor. If the actualTemperature (dry bulb) falls to the dew point, water begins to condense from the air. Since the morning is typically the coldest time of the day, we often see this effect, as the dew.
An important physical aspect of the air that keeping it is only so much water vapor. It 'is important to know how to close the amount of water vapor in the maximum amount it can hold. This is called the relative humidity and is usually expressed as a percentage. Air at 100% relative humidity can notcontain more water vapor. If the air is at 50% relative humidity, the amount of water vapor can be doubled before reaching the maximum limit.
Why is humidity important to us? Our body is cooled by evaporation of sweat more. When the sweat evaporates quickly then we are fresh. When the sweat evaporates slowly, we feel warm. The ability of sweat to evaporate directly affects the relative humidity. If the relative humidity is high, say 80%, has been so muchHumidity in the air, the sweat does not evaporate quickly. The result is a feeling too hot.
There is another important aspect about the relative humidity. The maximum amount of water vapor decreases dramatically with temperature. Air at 85 degrees Fahrenheit may contain about 10 times more water vapor the air to 25 degrees Fahrenheit. Therefore, it is dry in winter. The cold air outside can not easily contain a lot of water. How do you heat your home increases the temperature, but not the 'Moisture content. This winter outdoor relative humidity of 90% to 30% when the air is heated to a comfortable room temperature.
So let's add moisture to the air. This is the purpose of a humidifier. There are two ways water can be absorbed into the air. One is to evaporate or boil the water and the steam (water vapor) in the air. The other is that of liquid water in the air force is small enough, it falls quickly turns into steam.
It should be obvious energy needs in the firstMethod. The water is in some way, usually electrical resistance heating coil into a vapor. The advantage of this is that water is pure, the impurities in the liquid water may be left in the humidifier. Water vapor has no influence on the temperature.
Now is the time for the great myth of humidifiers energy to explain. The second method is to spray droplets of liquid water in the air. Atomization, ultrasonic, cool mist, air cleaning, evaporative humidifiers, these includeCategory. This can be done with much less energy to heat water. Because the humidifier does not use much energy, manufacturers often tout the device to save power. In use, the units are not a lot of energy, the energy is still needed. You can not just convert liquid water into steam, without energy.
So where does the energy come from? It 'taken from the air. Since liquid water is injected into the air, it evaporates into a vapor. The energy is transferred fromthe surrounding air. This slightly lowers the air temperature. Suppose you want to moisturize without a drop in temperature, the air must be heated. Thus, the oven provides the energy, if the humidifier does not offer. While the humidifier can be efficient is your furnace?
The bottom line is the use of humidifiers ALL energy. Your choice of types of humidifier should be based on other criteria. By the way, is not Energy Star humidifiers. The differences in energy consumption betweendifferent types of humidifiers are under discussion. If you want to save energy, limit the time of the humidifier is running. The problems associated with dry air tend to occur when the relative humidity below 30%. It is necessary to wet only up to 30% more is a waste of energy. However, higher relative humidity will feel warmer and the result at a lower thermostat setting? No, because the human body can not distinguish between the values of relative humidity below 50%. The body's ability to vaporizeThe sweat does not change much when the relative humidity is low. In summer, the body can feel variations in relative humidity, if it is greater than 50%. The test may be in your supermarket. Some grocery stores have reduced the relative humidity, but not the temperature in the refrigerated and frozen food section. People complain when the temperature is lowered, but not relative humidity.
