ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Heating your house is very important during the winter season, but the moisture can be just as important.

You know it is too dry in your house if get shocked by static electricity, or your skin drying out quickly. The winter season is the perfect time to use a humidifier in order to create some additional moisture. This can make a huge difference in your level of comfort. And in order to make the improvement, you need to start by measuring moisture by dewpoint or the relative humidity. Dewpoint is the temperature the air has to be cooled to reach saturation. Relative humidity is different because it is a mathematical ratio. In other words, it is highly dependent on the temperature and therefore accounts for the rate of evaporation.

A good rule of thumb with relative humidity, is the higher the temperature the greater the capacity of the air to hold moisture. In fact, the capacity of air to hold moisture doubles for every 20 degrees of increase in the temperature.

Let’s say the temperature outside is 40 degrees and relative humidity is at 53 percent. This tells us that the moisture level for this atmosphere is approximately half (53 percent). Then, if we increase the temperature to 62 degrees (like some homes), then the relative humidity drops to 23 percent. Capacity to hold moisture is now increasing. If you raise the temperature to 72 degrees, the humidity lowers to only 17 percent. This very dry air is similar to what you may experience in a desert environment. It also illustrates the importance of knowing moisture levels – especially during the winter season. This can be determined by purchasing an inexpensive table-top device that measures temperature and humidity. Then do your research as there are many different types of humidifiers and all needed to be cleaned on a regular basis.

It sounds kind of silly, but I always wanted to place a humidifier and a dehumidifier in the same room and just let them battle it out.  Not an experiment, but just a little meteorological humor.