Dry air in your house can be terrible, and make you and your family feel bad, if it’s there for extended periods. This is why humidifiers can be good to use in dry areas or during the colder months.

Humidifiers raise the moisture and humidity in the air. Considering humidity typically leads to more heat in an environment, does running a humidifier make your house feel warmer?

When a Humidifier is On

A humidifier makes an area warmer. The added moisture makes an individual feel warmer based on wetness content. When a human body is in higher humidity, it triggers the body to evaporate much less water, creating much less natural air conditioning. Additionally, the extent to which humidifiers enhance room heat depends upon the kind of humidifier: mainly warm mist or cool mist. The real room temperature – the temp on your unit’s thermostat – is not going to change depending on the humidifier.

How Does a Humidifier Make a Room Feel Warmer?

When moisture is released into a room, the higher humidity will make the air feel much heavier. The science as to why this happens involves the process called thermal expansion, which takes place when water vapor sent out from a humidifier maintains the ambient warmth already existing in a space. Additionally, warm mist humidifiers produce warm vapor.

Let’s see the different possibilities and your choices. Given the differences in how warm and cool humidifiers release vapor, knowing how each type works will let you know what to pick for your home.

• Warm Mist

Primarily, if you are utilizing a warm mist humidifier, this item is most definitely making your space feel warmer. This kind of machine functions by boiling water with a heating element and then releasing the warm vapor into an area. Considering that electric appliances are motorized, this adds to a warmer temperature in a space.

Because the flow of warm mist into a room is designed to make the space feel warmer, this is an evident reason why this type of humidifier makes an area really feel warmer. Yet, a cool mist humidifier can make a room feel warm as well since it’s also generating higher humidity.

• Cool Mist

It’d make some sense to think a cool mist humidifier would help make a space feel cooler. This isn’t how humidity and a real room temperature work together. Cool humidifiers work by passing water by a wick which attracts air out of the water, which is then sent out via a fan into a mist that is cooled down somewhat by the fan. So why does this end up feeling warmer?
Moisture causes the retention of wetness within the body. If the vapor given off by a humidifier is cool or warm, the higher humidity cuts down on a body’s sweating, which is why it feels warmer even if the area temperature has actually not moved.

So, despite the fact a cool humidifier is releasing cooler water vapor into a room, the body reacts to raised dampness the same no matter the vapor temperature. You’ll still feel warmer with more humidity. This results in one of the most perplexing, yet true facets about humidifiers: ambient space temperature level vs. raised moisture content.

Does the electric motor from a humidifier give off heat?

There is in fact another commonly forgotten part as to why a humidifier is likely making an area feel warmer. It’s an electric appliance. All electric appliances generate heat just by running. Although this is only a little fraction of why humidifiers make a room warmer, it’s still part of what adds to that.

Especially when it comes to warm humidifiers, this facet is a little bit more of a change in contrast to cool humidifiers. Warm mist designs have a heating mechanism. This part uses more electrical power via its currents and generates heat for the water vapor. The combination of electrical currents and a heating system is significant.

With cool mist humidifiers, the electric motor only creates a small amount of warmth as the electric currents go through the electric motor. Yet, when you have added humidity and a small amount of heat from an electric appliance, it’s enough to produce some warmth.

As already said, these aspects aren’t probably going to be very obvious. We’re all surrounded by multiple electronic devices in the home. It’s true, though, a motor within a humidifier does generate warmth and this element can be factored into the overall environment a humidifier can create in a room.

The Full Picture

Ambient area temperature, the differences between how cool and warm humidifiers work, and humidity impact how you feel. Then, the warmth created by electric home appliances adds to making a space warmer. This is true regardless of the kind of humidifier you choose to use.

An important aspect of the heat generated by a humidifier concerns the temperature level of the air within the room prior to turning on the appliance. Moisture and warmth enhance each other, and water vapor will certainly always raise moisture when going into the air.

Humidifiers can make an area feel warmer even if the temperature level in the space is cooler. Every one of these factors is scientific in practicality. The temperature level in your room is additionally impacted by the addition of water vapor. When air and water combine, quantity as well as mass boost, which after that creates warmth.

Plus, merely running an electric device adds to the feeling of heat within a space. Although humidifiers do make a space feel warmer, the benefit of more moisture is worth the difference.

At South End Heating and Air, we specialize in HVAC and furnace repair, call us for a free consult. We’ll evaluate your system and help make recommendations for optimum value. After all, we want to keep you cool all summer long and warm in the winter. Just schedule a visit with one of our technicians to talk about how we can help with your heating needs. Would you like to learn more options our techs can help you with? Give us a call at 704-684-5339. For all your plumbing needs, please check out South End Plumbing.