Some Say You Can Raise Your Home's Humidity With Water. But Does It Work?

In a large part of the United States, winter months bring about bitterly cold temperatures. That cold air carries less moisture than warm air, and when that cold air is heated by your furnace (which you might have on frequently), the air particles hold even less moisture. The result? A dry house, along with negative effects on your body like dry skin, runny nose, and chapped lips. Is it possible to raise your home's humidity levels with water to help keep it at a comfortable moisture level? The answer is: yes. 

There are some hacks, like placing metal bowls of water near heat sources like floor vents, that can add moisture back into your air to make the relative humidity climb back up to the comfortable 40% to 50% that it should be. Additionally, there are many ways to use boiling water to solve common household problems, and using this method to add moisture to your air to raise your home's humidity is one of the easiest. Simply fill a pot with water, leave it uncovered, and boil on the stove. The longer you boil, the more water is added to the air, but you want to keep an eye on your water level so that it doesn't leave you with an empty pot, and never leave your stove on unattended.

Beyond placing bowls of water near heat sources and boiling water on your stove to raise your home's humidity levels, there are a few other tricks that you can incorporate into your daily winter routine. If you have a larger house that won't fully enjoy the moisture added by the boiling water, you can choose the perfect room humidifier to help give your relative humidity a boost. Essentially, these do the same thing that boiling water does, without the heat component, turning water into vapor and adding it back into the air. With portable humidifiers, make sure you use distilled water so that you won't find mysterious white dust in your house. 

In addition to the above ways to raise your home's humidity with water, why not use the steam from your bath or shower to help do the same? Instead of turning on your bathroom exhaust fan to dispel the humidity, leave the fan off and the door open to allow the extra moisture to filter into the adjoining space. If the hacks below don't add enough moisture to your home, consider hiring a pro to install a whole-home humidifier. This will help consistently add moisture to your entire home without the need for any additional tricks.