How much humidity?

[bbfarm]

I just fired up a floor humidifier I got at a rummage sale this year for $3.

What % humidity should I aim for? Before turning this on we read 44%

 

[Stretch_024]

I have mine set at 55% and it doesn't run all the time to keep up

 

[briansol]

I shoot for 55% as well, but it has a hard time in the dead of winter making it to 50.

 

[peirhead]

It was probably in the rummage sale for a reason....many modern homes have too much humidity and need air exchange to keep it down.....humidity in the house should vary with outside temp...the colder outside the lower humidity should be ...if you have a lot of condensation on your windows then it is time to reduce your humidity level.....having an OAK will help keep humidity up in the house, not having one will lower the humidity on the house.....Having said that I have no OAK but do have a balanced air exchanger, and keep my house at around 40% during the winter.

 

[Madcodger]

Humans (and wood) like 40-60% relative humidity. Depending on tightness of house, outside air temp and location 40% can be a challenge in middle of winter.

 

[XXV-AK]

I keep my house around 45% with a manual humidifier thats tied into the force air handling system.

 

[bbfarm]

The windows do not sweat unless I am cooking or boiling water for cooking.

Lots of static electricity driving me crazy.

Our oil burner has April Aire on it, but I don't want to run the fan and pull all the cold air from the basement up.

 

[Madcodger]

Our oil burner has April Aire on it, but I don't want to run the fan and pull all the cold air from the basement up.

The April Aire (or most if not all other models) would not perform well in those conditions anyway. Furnace-mount humidifiers depend on warm air greatly aiding evaporation. Without warm air, you get very little evaporationfrom the pad and thus limited additional humidity. Using hot water can help but it greatly increases cost and energy use (and still isn't as good as hot air from the furnace).

Try your floor model but watch for algae / bacteria growth and clean it periodically. You may need to add a bacteriostat (chemical to impede bacteria growth) to the water each day. You can buy this at home centers. Bleach can be irritating to people so is not recommended even in small quantities as I recall. Failing to control the bacteria can also be very irritating to the respiratory tract.