You should have the doors and windows closed the air in your house is a closed system. So where is the water in the air going when the central heating is on? Why is the air drier?
4 Responses to “Why does central heating dry the air out?”
Fletcher Threadgold says:
Same as using a hair dryer. The moisture is absorbed and dissipates. This is why people buy humidifiers for the winter period.
Rocky Sutton says:
It goes out your chimney as steam. This applies if you have a gas, oil or coal heat. Hot water heat or electric heat does not dry the air out. The other factor is in the winter time outdoor humidity is usually lower than in the summer and when you heat up the air it can hold more water so if it’s holding the same amount of water the relative humidity goes down.
Trey Cracknell says:
ifyou put a bowel of water in the room by fire or radiater it will make a big difference to the air or dont have it on so high.
Itzel147 says:
Short answer: Due to basic physical laws, cold air holds less moisture than warm air. When we heat up the cold outside air, it has very little moisture in it and feels very dry.
The long answer is rather long. Feel free to ignore it if you like.
In the winter, you are taking outdoor air and heating it up. As you heat it up, the air is ABLE to hold more and more moisture, but no more moisture is being added. So it feels much drier. By the time it is heated up, it may only be holding 10% of the amount of water that it could hold. (Even if, in the cold outdoors before you heated it up, it was holding 100% of the water it could hold.)
When it is humid out, the water condenses on the outside of your soda glass. The warm, water-heavy air cools when it hits the glass. It can’t hold all that moisture, so it condenses on the side of the glass. In the winter, the opposite happens. The air is heated up, and so it “wants” to hold more and more water. It feels drier.
Some people will tell you that forced air heat somehow takes more moisture out of the air than other types of heat. While there are tiny differences between the different types of heat, the overwhelming reason why your house is dry is the same for all heating types. Cold outdoor air is heated up and feels dry.
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Same as using a hair dryer. The moisture is absorbed and dissipates. This is why people buy humidifiers for the winter period.
It goes out your chimney as steam. This applies if you have a gas, oil or coal heat. Hot water heat or electric heat does not dry the air out. The other factor is in the winter time outdoor humidity is usually lower than in the summer and when you heat up the air it can hold more water so if it’s holding the same amount of water the relative humidity goes down.
ifyou put a bowel of water in the room by fire or radiater it will make a big difference to the air or dont have it on so high.
Short answer: Due to basic physical laws, cold air holds less moisture than warm air. When we heat up the cold outside air, it has very little moisture in it and feels very dry.
The long answer is rather long. Feel free to ignore it if you like.
In the winter, you are taking outdoor air and heating it up. As you heat it up, the air is ABLE to hold more and more moisture, but no more moisture is being added. So it feels much drier. By the time it is heated up, it may only be holding 10% of the amount of water that it could hold. (Even if, in the cold outdoors before you heated it up, it was holding 100% of the water it could hold.)
When it is humid out, the water condenses on the outside of your soda glass. The warm, water-heavy air cools when it hits the glass. It can’t hold all that moisture, so it condenses on the side of the glass. In the winter, the opposite happens. The air is heated up, and so it “wants” to hold more and more water. It feels drier.
Some people will tell you that forced air heat somehow takes more moisture out of the air than other types of heat. While there are tiny differences between the different types of heat, the overwhelming reason why your house is dry is the same for all heating types. Cold outdoor air is heated up and feels dry.
Great question.