Humidifier

Whole-Home Humidifiers in Lincoln, NE

By the second week of January, half the houses in Lincoln are full of people getting zapped by the light switch. Hardwood starts opening gaps along the seams. Somebody wakes up with a nosebleed and blames the furnace, which is partly fair.

Cold air can’t hold much moisture. When it leaks into your house and the furnace heats it up, the relative humidity inside can drop into the teens. That’s drier than a lot of desert towns, and a tabletop humidifier in the bedroom doesn’t touch the rest of the house.

A whole-home humidifier mounts on your furnace and adds moisture to the air going through your ductwork, so every room gets it. Bill’s has been installing them on Lincoln furnaces for decades. Call (402) 477-1371 and we’ll tell you whether your system is a good fit.

How dry is too dry, and how humid is too humid?

More isn’t better here, and this is the part most people get wrong. In winter, moisture inside the house finds the coldest surface it can, which is usually your windows. Run the humidity too high on a below-zero night and you’ll find water on the glass by morning, and eventually mold on the sills and in the walls.

The right setting moves with the outdoor temperature. Here’s the guide we set controls by:

Outside temperature	Indoor humidity to aim for
40°F and up	Up to 45%
30°F	40%
20°F	35%
10°F	30%
0°F	25%
−10°F	20%
−20°F	15%

Nobody wants to walk to the basement and change a dial every time a cold front comes through. Most of the humidifiers we install use a control with an outdoor sensor that adjusts the target on its own. On a Lincoln winter that swings from 40 degrees to 10 below in the same week, that’s worth paying for.

Which kind of humidifier fits your house

A bypass humidifier is the most common one we install. It uses the furnace’s own heat and blower to push air through a water-soaked pad, with a small duct that loops some of the warm air back around. It’s simple, quiet and the least expensive to run. It does need a water line and a place to drain, and a little of the water goes down that drain instead of into the air.

A fan-powered humidifier works the same way but has its own fan, so it puts out more moisture and doesn’t need the bypass duct. That helps when there’s no room for the duct, or in older houses that lose moisture as fast as you add it.

A steam humidifier boils water electrically and sends steam into the ductwork. It costs more up front and to run. It’s also the one we recommend if you heat with a heat pump, because the air coming off a heat pump isn’t warm enough to make a pad-type unit work well.

Your house has a say in this too. A 1920s place in Near South or around Country Club, with original windows and plenty of gaps, loses moisture constantly and needs more output. A newer, tighter house in Wilderness Hills often needs very little, and over-humidifying it is the bigger risk. We look at the house and the furnace before recommending a size.

What a whole house installation involves

We mount the humidifier on the furnace’s supply or return duct, tie it into a cold water line, run the drain to a floor drain or condensate pump, and wire it to the furnace and the humidity control. Most installs take a few hours. You’ll get a written price before we start.

If you’re already planning a new furnace, add the humidifier at the same time. It’s less labor than coming back for it later. Here’s how we size and install furnaces in Lincoln.

Keeping it working

The water pad is the part that wears out. Minerals in the tap water build up as scale, and a crusted pad barely humidifies at all. Plan on a new pad every heating season, sometimes sooner. On a bypass unit, close the damper in the spring so you aren’t humidifying your air conditioning, and open it again in the fall.

We check and change the pad during the fall furnace visit in our furnace and AC maintenance plan, so it’s one less thing to remember.

Too much moisture instead?

Summer is the opposite problem here: sticky air, a damp basement and a musty smell. That’s a job for a whole-home dehumidifier, not more air conditioning. If dust, allergies or odors are the bigger worry, see our indoor air quality options.

Questions people ask

What humidity should my house be in the winter? Usually between 30% and 40%, lower when it’s very cold outside. At 0°F, about 25% is the most your windows can handle without condensation.

Why are my windows wet or frosty in the morning? The humidity is set too high for the outdoor temperature. Turn it down until the glass stays dry, or use a control with an outdoor sensor.

Can I add a humidifier to my existing furnace? Yes. Most forced-air furnaces can take one. We need room on the ductwork, a cold water line nearby, and a way to drain.

Does a humidifier work with a heat pump? A steam humidifier does. Bypass and fan-powered units depend on warm air and lose most of their output on a heat pump.

How often does the pad need changing? Once a heating season at minimum. Mineral scale from tap water clogs it, and a clogged pad stops adding moisture.

Will a humidifier cause mold? Not if it’s set correctly. Mold comes from running the humidity too high for the outdoor temperature, which is why we set every unit to a target that drops as it gets colder.

Call Bill’s

Bill’s has kept Lincoln houses comfortable since 1952, and the family that started it still runs it. Call (402) 477-1371, or ask for a humidifier quote online.