The biggest benefit I have found with keeping humidity levels where they should be is the benefit of a lower heating bill. You may ask yourself. “How is keeping the correct home humidity level going to decrease my heating bills?” The answer is actually quite simple and can be related to those hot summer days when the humidity is very low.
I remember getting out of the pool and drying off with a towel and in a matter of minutes everything is dry. But on the other hand you have those hot and humid day when you break a sweat and it seems like hours until your hat, shirt and whatever else you are wearing becomes dry. Not to mention how extremely uncomfortable you feel when humidity levels are high.
So how does this all relate? Well, if the humidity level in your house is low then the air will actually make you feel cooler. It makes you feel cooler because of evaporation. The problem with evaporation in your home during the winter is that you don’t want to feel cooler! During the winter, if you can keep your humidity around 50% then you can actually reduce the temperature you have your thermostat set at. Reducing your thermostat means reducing how hard your heating system has to work. Reducing how hard your heating system has to work means you reduce the amount of electricity, wood, coal, gas or whatever you use to heat your home. And when everything is said and done you have actually reduced your heating cost!