Especially during harsh Canadian winters, many homeowners experience a lack of humidity in their home that can negatively affect their overall home comfort and their health. If you’ve noticed that your home is lacking humidity, you may be curious about investing in a humidifier, however, with several options available with both portable and whole home, it can be difficult to choose which system is best for you. Luckily, our experts have listed the difference between a whole home and a portable humidifier to help you choose the best system for your home.

Whole Home Humidifier
A whole home humidifier is the more heavy-duty choice. It’s a large system that connects with your home’s existing heating system to provide moisture and humidity to the air that is dispersed throughout your home. Although whole home humidifiers are initially more expensive than their portable counterparts and require professional installation, overall they are very low-maintenance systems that will add humidity to the air in your entire home without the need for constant cleaning, moving, and refilling.

Portable Humidifier
A portable humidifier is different from a whole home humidifier in many ways. Primarily, the size and functionality of a portable humidifier is what differentiates it from its whole home counterpart. A portable humidifier is a very inexpensive system that is set in one room to add moisture to the air. It works well to humidify just one room at a time and must be refilled with water and cleaned-out often. While a portable humidifier is small, compact, and inexpensive, it cannot add humidity to the air of an entire house and requires constant maintenance.

The Right Choice For Your Home
Comparing a whole home humidifier to a portable humidifier is very similar to comparing a furnace to a space heater. A furnace is going to consistently heat your whole home while a space heater may be a good option for supplementary heating. The right choice between a whole home and a portable humidifier really depends on your personal needs. If you live in an apartment or somewhere where you can’t make foundational changes to your heating system, then a portable humidifier may be right for you. However, if you’re a homeowner, it may be beneficial to invest in a whole home system instead of several small and high-maintenance portable humidifiers.

Interested in installing a whole home humidifier?
Contact Fahrhall for more information or to book an installation appointment.

Fahrhall has been proudly serving the Windsor-Essex and Chatham-Kent regions since 1967. Our team of HVAC experts is dedicated to providing our customers with quality service and equipment.

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