Humidity, It’s All Relative!

car covered in snow

Brad Nale here, with a few words about your relatives. No, not your uncles or cousins and especially not your brother-in-law! I’m here to talk about your relative humidity. Let’s face it, we live in a dry climate here in the Rocky Mountain region. When winter sets in, we really notice it. The high altitude thin air is far dryer than the lower altitude thicker air. On top of that, winter air is dryer than summer air. Why? It’s all relative. When the weather girl comes on and says it’s 30 degrees out with 25% humidity, why does that feel so dry? Why does my furniture crack and fall apart? Colder air holds less moisture than warmer air. Even though you’re heating your home, there’s very little moisture in the air to grab and pull in to your warm rooms.

How can you help this? Get a humidifier. Your local Ace Hardware store has a lot of humidifiers to choose from. From a small, inexpensive unit that works well for a bedroom to a larger unit that can work for over 2000 square feet, Ace is the place to get humid.

You may have seen small humidifiers in other stores that use wicks. If you’ve picked up one of these, Ace has the wicks for them. In fact, we at Ace hear that all the time, “I bought this at a discount mart, but they don’t stock the replacement wicks.” Bring in your unit, or at least the brand and model, and our helpful folks will get the wick you need.

Humidifiers have come a long way. No longer are they noisy units that just spit water. No longer do you have to add salt to the water to make them work. No longer are they something you use just when you’re down with the flu. Today’s humidifiers, especially my favorites from Venta, Air Care and Crane, use ultra-sonic waves to vaporize water and send water vapor in to the room. These units are ultra-quiet, efficient and yes, they increase the humidity very well. In fact, their main drawback: re-filling the reservoirs often, because they put so much water vapor in to the air.

 

Years ago, I knew some people from Japan who had just moved to Colorado. Still working on their English skills, they asked me one day, “How to get rid of zzt zzt?” After a few gestures I realized they meant how do you get rid of static electricity? Ah, the fun side- effect of low humidity. Yes, we’ve all given ourselves third degree burns from static shocks, especially while wearing our fuzzy socks in the winter. Instead of dragging around a ground wire from your ankle, save the torture to yourself, your pets, and your spouse and get a humidifier set up. More humidity means more comfort, less furniture loss, fewer static shocks and no more zzt zzt!

Now is a great time to stop by your locally-owned and operated Ace Hardware store and check out their selection of humidifiers. Many of our stores have one or more models running so you can see just how well they work. Let the helpful folks help you choose what’s right for your home. When your relatives come to visit this holiday season, they’ll appreciate the relative humidity being higher too. That could even lead to a relatively more pleasant time with your relatives!