Can a Modern Boiler Help Reduce Dust and Dry Air in Autumn?

Can a Modern Boiler Help Reduce Dust and Dry Air in Autumn?

Are your sinuses feeling the woes of cooler, very dry air? As boilers turn on with the arrival of cooler weather, Chicagoans find their indoor air to be dry, dusty, and irritating. It’s a common problem for northern climates where humidity levels drop along with the temperature.

Dry, fall air dehydrates your nasal passages, making it easier for inflammation to occur as your sinuses deal with mold and ragweed, and shifting barometric pressure. Plus, it’s dry, so your mucus thickens. This is why you’re feeling the effects of the dry air both inside and outside your home.

If your heating system impacts air quality within your home, you’re going to feel it. However, a modern boiler can help reduce the dry air and dust you’re exposed to.

The Problem With Dry Air

Why is dust so bad in the fall? Much of this comes down to the cooler outdoor air. You’re closing your windows, focusing on sealing any leaks to make your home airtight, and turning on the heat.

This traps dust and dander, two of the most common household allergens. Your boiler heats your rooms, but the air currents keep recirculating the dust and dander. If there’s any mold in your home, that adds to the problem.

With a furnace, hot air circulates using fans that move the air through the home in ducts. A hot water or steam boiler heats water, and circulator pumps move that hot water or steam through pipes to baseboards, radiators, or radiant floor systems.

Water expands as it heats up, so systems also have an expansion tank to prevent the water from going backwards into the water supply and creating contamination or damaging plumbing fixtures.

Pipes have metal fins that absorb heat and release it slowly, which heats the baseboard. Heat slowly releases into the room over time. Once the water loses heat, it goes back to the boiler, where the process repeats.

Boilers tend to be less drying than a furnace, but they’re typically more expensive and require floor space within your basement or other space within your home. You also have pipes running to each room in your home, so leaks may occur and need urgent repair.

The baseboards and pipes in your rooms collect dust. When you fire your heating system up for the first time in the fall, the smell of burnt dust is noticeable. It’s important to keep the metal fins on the piping clean of dust. A fin comb can loosen the built-up dust, pollen, and dirt, but you need a powerful vacuum, such as a shop vac, to clear the loosened dust and grime.

If you don’t take the time to clean these areas, the heat is less efficient, and you’ll smell the dust as it travels with the warm air. This can impact your health, too.

How That Dry Air Impacts Your Health

Ideally, you want the air within your home to be in the 30% to 50% range. Showering with your bathroom door cracked can help increase humidity in nearby rooms. It’s not always enough.

Dry air impacts your floor, wood furniture, and window frames. They can shrink, warp, and even crack. This is just the impact on your home. It also makes you uncomfortable.

When your skin is dry, it’s itchy and uncomfortable. Inside your nose, dry skin makes it easier for viruses to get through and make you ill. It also increases the risk of a bloody nose. None of that is fun. It’s why you need to keep your home’s indoor humidity at the ideal level.

You can rely on a humidifier to do this for you, but humidifiers only add humidity to a certain area surrounding the appliance. It also creates issues with mildew and mold. If a humidifier isn’t cleaned properly every few days to a week, microbes may grow.

Furnaces and Older Boilers Add to Your Troubles

A furnace is, by far, the biggest cause of dry air in a home. If you have a furnace, you do need to take steps to keep your humidity levels at the recommended level. However, it’s easy to add a central air system to a furnace system because you have ducts in place.

Modern boilers are often very energy-efficient, quieter, and last longer. They’re also an expense and require the pipework that travels throughout your home.
However, an older boiler isn’t going to be efficient. It’s going to run at high temperatures and cycle frequently. This creates cycles of sudden heat that dry your indoor air. It also drives up your heating bills. If your system is older, it’s time to consider the benefits of new technology and modern boilers.

Discover the Benefits of High-Efficiency and Modulating Boilers

Today’s high-efficiency boilers have an AFUE over 95%. AFUE stands for annual fuel utilization efficiency, which measures how efficiently a heating system converts fuel into energy. Years ago, 80% was standard, but systems are far more efficient now.

You want a system that’s over 95%. This means that 95% of the fuel used goes into heat output, while the remaining 5% is lost through ducts, vents, or chimneys.

Also, consider the thermal efficiency. This is the ability of a heat exchanger to transfer heat from combustion to the water being heated. Condensing boilers often fall in the 92% to 95% range, which is ideal. Non-condensing boilers usually average 85%.

Installing a modulating boiler is ideal. The boiler varies its heat output instead of turning on and off. It matches the temperature in the room to ensure the output matches the goal temperature. By avoiding cycling on and off, less energy is consumed.

The other benefit to ending on/off cycles is that the air doesn’t dry out as quickly. On really cold winter days, air may become drier, leading to static electricity, but overall, it’s easier to maintain the ideal indoor humidity.

Look at high-efficiency, modulating boilers that offer these features.

Doubles as your home’s water heater
Stainless steel heat exchanger
Systems with no conversion kit required for natural gas or propane (dual-fuel)
Thermal shock resistance
User interfaces for self-diagnostics using AI
Wi-Fi connectivity

The bottom line is that a hydronic boiler or steam boiler heats water to warm your home. It’s not going to dry the air as badly as a forced hot air system. That doesn’t mean that you couldn’t consider a couple of additions to make your system even better.

Improve Air Quality With Two Additions

While boilers are less likely to dry the air to unbearable levels, they’re not going to prevent dry air completely. There are two things you can do to improve air quality.

Air Purifier: Boilers don’t have ducts with an air filter, but that doesn’t mean your home is dust-free. Invest in an air purifier that uses HEPA filters to remove dust, dander, and other particulates from the air.
Steam Humidifier: Steam humidifiers are less likely to form bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Digital humidistats are targeted to release just as much steam as needed to keep your home’s humidity levels in the target range. That keeps the humidity from being too high, which helps dust mites thrive, but also keeps your air from being too dry.

Air Blue Can Help You Have a Comfortable Home

How old is your existing boiler? If it’s been more than 10 to 15 years, talk to a specialist in today’s energy-efficient boilers. You can have a toasty, warm house while also enjoying clean, dust-free air.

Air Blue Heating and Cooling maintains and installs HVAC systems in and around Chicago. We provide free estimates and help you determine if it’s time to upgrade your boiler or if your existing system is working effectively.

New boiler installations come with a lifetime installation guarantee, 2-year equipment test drive guarantee, and 3 years of maintenance. Those benefits alone help you save money. Get a free quote today and breathe more comfortably when you’re at home. Call us to learn more.