How to Maintain Your Whole House Humidifier

Gagne’s heating and cooling technicians discuss how to properly care for your whole house humidifier

If you have a whole house humidifier installed in your home, do you remember your life before it? The stuffy noses, the dry eyes and headaches. The last thing you want is for your home to go back to its former days as an arid desert, which is why it is important to make sure that you take good care of your humidifier.

Not sure how? Read on for tips on how to keep your humidifier (and you) healthy for years to come…

    1. Replace the filter annually. If you’ve ever had a room humidifier, you know that the inside of the unit can get dirty, fast.  The same is true for whole house humidifiers. All water contains trace amounts of minerals and scale deposits that will build up on the humidifier’s filter over time. Therefore, you should replace the filter at least once a year. Some filters may be reusable and merely require a good scrubbing. Check your owner’s manual to see what type of filter you have.
      Other parts of the humidifier will also accumulate buildup over the course of the year. If you feel handy enough, you can try scrubbing these parts clean yourself (you may have to remove them first), but we recommend asking a professional for assistance.
    2. Close the dampers in the spring. When spring rolls around and you’re done using humidifier for a while, consider closing the dampers that connect the humidifier to your ductwork. Closing the dampers ensures that your cooling system isn’t running air through the humidifier all summer long.
    3. Troubleshoot problems in a timely fashion. As wonderful as humidifiers can be for a home, they may require a little extra fine-tuning at first. If you’re having trouble keeping your humidity levels where you’d like them to be, call the technician who originally installed the humidifier.  Just as dry air can cause problems, too much moisture in your home can give rise to other issues, like rotting woodwork and mold growth.
      Learn more about the importance of maintaining proper home humidity levels.
    4. Schedule regular maintenance. Even if you’re handy enough to manage some basic maintenance tasks, there are certain parts of a humidifier that require professional attention from time to time. A technician can check your humidifier to ensure that your humidifier is in good working order and clean out any hidden pockets of debris. The technician can also ensure that the parts look okay, and replace them as needed. A great time to have a humidifier serviced is after the heating season – that way debris doesn’t sit on the humidifier’s components over the summer.

Your home’s humidifier shouldn’t require much attention, as long as it isn’t neglected. If you’re not up to the task, our technicians can easily service the humidifier when we show up to service your air conditioner.

At Gagne’s Heating and Cooling Services in Alpharetta, our licensed HVAC technicians are equipped to help you stay comfortable all year round. Give us a call and schedule a home visit, or get more humidifier, heating and AC tips by visiting our blog.

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