Dry Air, Dust, and Minnesota Winters: Fixing Indoor Air Quality

Minnesota winter air holds almost no moisture. When your furnace heats it, the relative humidity indoors can drop into the teens — dry enough for static shocks, cracked woodwork, chapped skin, and a cough that never quite goes away.

Humidity: aim for 30 to 40 percent

A whole-home humidifier tied into the ductwork holds the whole house at a set level instead of one room at a time. Too much is its own problem — condensation on windows means you are running too high for the outdoor temperature, and the setting should come down as it gets colder outside.

Dust and particulate

A one-inch fiberglass filter protects the blower, not your lungs. A media air cleaner with real depth, or an electronic air cleaner, captures far more without choking off airflow the way a too-restrictive filter in a too-small cabinet will.

Fresh air

Newer homes are built tight, which is good for energy bills and bad for stale air. An air exchanger brings in outdoor air and tempers it against the air being exhausted, so you get ventilation without throwing away the heat you paid for.

If you are not sure which of the three your house needs, that is a conversation worth having before you buy equipment — most homes need one or two, not all of it.