Dust is a fact of life and one that finding a effectual way of dealing with it is not always the easiest thing to do. Humidity is something you may not associate with the amount of dust in your house. But it can play a huge part.
Does a humidifier help with dust?
Yes. By using a humidifier to add moisture to the air you can significantly reduce dust. When the air is damp, airborne dust particles will absorb the humidity and get too heavy to float.
Humidity will also will also give the dust and adhesion effect that will keep it from stirring up into the ambient air.
Want to learn more? Check out our full Humidifier Guide here.
What does Humidity have to do with dust? Is it a help or is it a hindrance?
The answer is both. Low humidity has its issues and high humidity has its issues when it comes to controlling dust.
Low humidity and dry air can make your surfaces, as well as your air, extra dusty where as high humidity can help feed dust mites and facilitate the growth of mold. Both of which are common household allergens.
Dust has the ability to create havoc anywhere.
It can have an negative effect on your:
1.Respiratory System – Dust is made up of multiple components that are considered allergens
2. Skin – dust can clog skin pores which makes acne spread easier as well as dry out your skin and your lips.
3. Household electronics like laptops – laptops and computers tend to get very hot when dust settles on the components located inside. Not only does it make you where electronics get hot, we can make things like switches and volume knobs staticky.
4. Plants- if your plants are covered in dust, you can affect photosynthesis and cause your plants to be malnourished for lack of sunlight.
5. Etc.
Honestly just about anything you can think of can be affected by being inundated with dust.
And the anatomy of dust can be just downright gross.
Some of the many components of dust include insect waste and decomposing insects. As well as shed skin and pet dander. Along with bacteria and pollen and every other microscopic particle, is there any wonder that dust could induce allergies and mess with your respiratory system?
Do humidifiers help purify air?
Yes. Humidifiers can add moisture to the air that will purify the air by causing the dust floating in the air to clump together and become too heavy to stay airborne.
Adding humidity to a dry room can actually have a washing effect on the air.
But though humidifiers can temporarily freshen your air by dampening the dust and preventing it from floating, they will do nothing to completely remove the dust.
To get rid of the dust you are going to need an air purifier.
The majority of air purifiers pull air through a series of filters including a HEPA and a carbon filter.
HEPA filters are able to capture particles as small as .03 microns which would include particulates like pollen and pet dander.
Other pollutants like off-gassing and odors are adsorbed by a carbon filter.
Does an air purifier help with humidity?
Unfortunately no. Air purifiers do not do anything to add or subtract moisture from the air.
Seems a little unfair that a humidifier can have a cleaning effect on the air but an air purifier you can do nothing to humidify a room. But there are air purifier/ humidifier hybrids like Air Washers that can be purchased that can potentially kill two birds with one stone.
But there are issues with having too much humidity that make that type of device useless in the hot humid months.
Can you use an air purifier and humidifier together?
Yes. The use of an air purifier can only compliment the use of a humidifier and leave the air that much more pure and easy to breathe.
But there is one caveat. If the air is too humid, condensate can cover the filters and make them less effective.
Carbon filters do not mix with humidity and are basically useless when the humidity is too high.
Though humidifiers are usually only pulled out in the winter months when the air is dry, an air purifier is needed every day of the year.
Low humidity is not the only tissue that creates problems with dust. Or more specifically, dust mites.
Dust mites sounds scary because they sound like they might actually bite you. But the truth is dust mites do not bite and what makes them dangerous is that they are so minuscule that they are easily breathed in where they can cause nasty allergy symptoms.
How they relate to humidity is that they actually get their nourishment from humidity. So when the humidity is high, dust mite populations skyrocket.
2. Dehumidifier
Controlling humidity during the hot muggy months is not about using a humidifier to add moisture back into the room, it is about reducing the amount of humidity in your home by the use of a dehumidifier.
High humidity has the ability to hold higher levels of indoor air pollutants than low humidity.
And because the problems like dust mites and mold spores that thrive and high humidity, the indoor air quality can be much worse when the humidity is higher indoors.
A dehumidifier can help reduce the level of humidity in your home and help put a stop to the exponential growth of mold and dust mites that happens in moisture.
Summary
Humidity can help reduce dust by simply making the dust wet and unable to float. It also causes the dust to have an adhesive quality that keeps it from moving around.
a humidifier is a device that you can use in your home that will help you control dust by adding moisture to your air the same way that moisture is added when humidity levels go up outside.
But even though humidifier will help keep the dust population out of the air, it will not purify the air or keep it safe from the allergens that travel in dust.
To completely remove dust allergens, you will need an air purifier.
Most air purifiers simply pull dust through a filter where it is captured.
They can do nothing to add or take away moisture from the air.
So even though a humidifier might help with dust control, a air purifier won’t help with adding humidity to the air.
But that’s assuming that your air is too dry.
What happens when you have the opposite problem? High humidity?
Dust is also a problem in high humidity because dust mites flourish in high humidity and dust mites are one of the most persistent household allergens that creepy and make your air quality unbreathable.
When the air is over humidified, a dehumidifier is a device that can reduce the amount of humidity in your air and give you a welcomed relief from dust mite and mold spore allergies.
Just remember that the collected water in the dehumidifier has the aforementioned allergens residing in the pool with it. So don’t drink it. And don’t let your pets drink it. But it’s probably safe to water the grass or flowers with it.
