Ah, winter, when cold weather drives up your energy bills, causes your skin to chap and makes your nasal passages feel like a desert. Running a humidifier can help with that discomfort. Could it also help lower your heating costs this winter?
Humidity can play a big part in how your body actually reacts to the temperature inside, like the "feels like" temperature for indoors.
"An 80-degree day with low humidity feels great. But on an 80-degree day with really high humidity, you don't want to be outside," said Glenn Gault, CEO of Gault Heating & Cooling, an Ohio-based HVAC contractor. "That's how much of a difference humidity can make."
People most often associate humidity with sweltering summer weather, but it can also play a role in your home during the cold months. Here's how humidity affects your indoor climate — and how adjusting the humidity in your home can help keep you cozy all winter long.
How does humidity affect comfort in your home?
You probably don't know your home's relative humidity — a figure that expresses the percentage of the amount of water vapor needed to saturate the air at a given temperature — unless you keep a hygrometer on hand or use a smart thermostat. But you can probably tell when the air feels very dry or damp in your house.
"Most people don't know what the percentage is. They just know that it doesn't feel right," said Gault, noting that most people feel comfortable in the range of 35% to 60% relative humidity during the winter months.
Signs of overly dry air in the home can include dry sinuses, chapped or cracked skin, and frequent shocks from static electricity — all common occurrences during colder times of year. Because warm air can hold more moisture than cold air, winter also tends to be drier. It can be challenging to maintain comfortable humidity levels during very cold weather, especially in homes with leaky windows or gaps in floors or walls that let outside air in. Sealing those gaps can help make your home more energy efficient and maintain the humidity levels you prefer.
Too much or too little humidity can lead to issues in the home, Gault said. Severe swings from more humid air to drier air can contribute to wear and tear on building materials like wood flooring over time. Humidity levels consistently above 60% can lead to mold growth in damp areas like basements as well as an increase in the presence of dust mites, which may contribute to allergy issues in some people.
Cool mist and warm mist humidifiers with adjustable nozzles are generally more useful since you don't need to reposition the entire machine to direct the water vapor toward the center of the room.
Can a humidifier save you money in the winter?
With more humidity in your home, you may be able to set your thermostat at a lower temperature while feeling warm enough and avoiding the discomfort of dry air. Those small reductions can add up: You can save up to 10% on your heating and cooling bills by setting back your thermostat 7 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit for 8 hours each day, according to the US Department of Energy.
However, you're more likely to benefit from greater comfort in the home than huge reductions in heating bills, Gault said.
"Upping your humidity in the wintertime can make your house feel more comfortable, often at a lower indoor temperature, but savings are on the minimal side," he said. "I think we're normally doing this for more health reasons."
Types of humidifiers
If you do want to add moisture to the air in your home during winter, you have two options: portable humidifiers and whole-home humidifiers.
"If you're just trying to humidify a small room, that's pretty easy to do with portables," Gault said. "When you're trying to do a whole home, typically you're going to use a whole-home humidifier."
Portable humidifiers come in several different styles and have a much lower startup cost, while parts and installation for a whole-home humidifier can cost anywhere from several hundred to a few thousand dollars, depending on your house.
Whole-home humidifiers are easiest and most cost-effective to install in homes with ducted HVAC systems. If you have radiators or mini splits, an HVAC contractor would have to install ductwork to be able to distribute moisture from the humidifier throughout the home.
Dreo showed its latest smart humidifier technology on the show floor at CES 2025.
Can a dehumidifier save you money in the summer?
More humid air in winter can help your home feel more comfortable at a lower temperature. The opposite is true in summer, when high humidity can make the heat feel even more oppressive, whether indoors or out.
In fact, much of the energy your air conditioner uses goes toward removing moisture from the air in your home, not just blowing cold air, Gault said. He recommends variable capacity or modulating air conditioners and heat pumps, which are better at dehumidifying warm air in summer than standard or single-stage models because of their longer run cycles.
"Variable capacity air conditioners can pull quite a bit more water out of the air," Gault said. "People who might have been setting their thermostat at 68 or 70 degrees in the summer are sometimes happy at 74 or 76 degrees in summertime."
Like humidifiers, dehumidifiers come in portable and whole-home models. Portable dehumidifiers are best for one particularly damp area, such as an unfinished basement. A whole-home dehumidifier works well to protect a finished basement or help maintain lower humidity levels throughout the entire home.