25.02.2022
Control Indoor Humidity in Winter Conditions to Save in Multiple Ways
Old man winter has settled right in for a long visit, meaning cold temperatures, inclement weather, and a need to spend more time indoors are upon us. With that said, it’s surprising how many businesses don’t prioritize proper humidity control in their operating environments. Whether you’re a candy maker or an aerospace manufacturer, keeping conditions just right with adequate relative humidity (RH) can create the ideal atmosphere for your employees, visiting clients and other occupants.
Today, let’s explore why controlling indoor humidity in winter conditions matters so much, because as it turns out, taking the right precautions can help many businesses save on money and operational headaches.
Flu Prevention
Airborne infection control is especially important during the dreaded flu season. If you operate a hospital, clean room, nursing home or other healthcare-associated environment, be aware of how your ventilation system and indoor relative humidity control functions. Implementing a proactive humidification strategy is a must as it can reduce the spread of person-to-person contagions.
But how does the flu spread in the first place? To simplify, clumps of bacteria and viruses housed in air moisture are dispersed into the air freely when the indoor relative humidity is too low (less than 40 percent). These are known as aerosols, and they can be home to various bacterial strains, allergens, and other nasty infectious microbes. With proper humidity control achieved by keeping RH levels between 40% and 60%, the aerosols will be captured and settle more quickly. In winter conditions, particularly during flu season, the presence of germs or infectious airborne microbes indoors can increase.
Cut Down on Absenteeism and Downtime
On the subject of airborne infection control, workers who pick up an airborne infection are susceptible to throttling back their performance and taking more sick days. Obviously, this is not the fault of the employee, but it’s a preventable event that damages productivity and health. Products such as our EL Series of electrode steam humidifiers are ideal for offices and manufacturing environments when it comes to regulating indoor humidity levels. Therefore, if an employee unknowingly comes to work with the flu, you have a fighting chance in minimizing the spread, protecting both your workers and your bottom line.
Free Natural Cooling
Evaporative cooling is a process that can help cool your indoor space and regulate the indoor temperature. Our evaporative humidifiers enable operators to regulate relative humidity and control how warm or cool an environment is, which is perfect for sensitive applications such as food storage, data center management, and warehousing no matter the time of year – and that’s just the tip of the iceberg! Evaporative cooling represents an effective solution for climate control and cost savings.
Increased Equipment Longevity
What do printing presses, server rooms, manufacturing equipment and desktop computers all have in common? Well, they’re a serious investment, sensitive to environmental conditions, costly to replace, and can slow your operations down if they require frequent maintenance or break down on a regular basis. One of the most significant ways to save money with humidity control is to maintain an indoor environment that is ideal for equipment to operate in peak condition for longer. In most cases, the ideal relative humidity range prevents everything from dust buildup in exhaust vents to electrostatic discharges that can fry circuit boards. Therefore, proper humidity control can effectively extend the lifespan of your equipment while lowering the risk of breakdowns, short-outs, data loss, and reduced efficiency.
Optimal Worker Performance
The best-performing employees are those who aren’t suffering from irritability, discomfort, or illness. Having a humidification solution, be it an evaporative humidifier or otherwise, is beneficial for employee’s ability to work productively and efficiently by providing comfortable and safe breathing air. It can even influence moods, which is ideal for reducing workplace conflicts and making faster progress on collaborative projects.
Cost Control
Inconsistent RH levels in winter can represent higher operating costs for your business. By keeping temperatures and air moisture content under consistent control, your operations won’t have to endure unforeseen fluctuations in energy billing. In fact, with solutions such as Condair’s industrial humidifiers, many applications benefit from a further reduced carbon footprint thanks to their energy efficiency and high dependability. From single-person households to sprawling industrial complexes and corporate offices, ensuring proper humidity control means having an ideal option that accommodates every application with reliability and efficiency in mind.
Comfort and Wellness
Ever spend the Christmas holidays at a loved one’s house where the air is drier than the turkey on the dinner table and peppered with airborne dust? This scenario of low relative humidity can be found in industrial and commercial environments as well, and at a much larger scale.
When we crank the heat, shut the windows, and prepare to hunker down for months of cold weather, the amount of hydration introduced to indoor air drastically declines. This creates a host of problems including respiratory issues, itching and discomfort, dry eyes and lips, trouble focusing and staying alert, increased dust particle presence, and a higher risk of electrostatic discharges.
Quality Control
Quality control is critical to many specific applications that require consistent relative humidity levels and air cleanliness. Coatings will be smoother and less prone to production errors, paint spraying booths can operate without the dangers of an electrostatic charge triggering an ignition, and healthcare environments can reduce the spread of illness and maintain indoor spaces conducive to patient recovery with less risk of infection.
Controlling indoor humidity in winter with an industrial humidifier is essential to a happy, healthy business. Keep employees safe, production at its peak, and customers satisfied all while lowering general costs with the help of today’s high-efficiency solutions, and you’ll never want to go back. Contact us at Condair today to learn more about our available industrial humidifiers, commercial humidifiers, evaporative coolers, and other solutions.
Helpful Links:
