{"post":{"id":660,"title":"Radiator heat is drying out my apartment: is a humidifier actually worth it or are the cheap fixes enough?","body":"First week of real radiator heat and my apartment air is bone dry, waking up with a scratchy throat and static shocks on everything. A decent humidifier is 40 to 60 dollars plus filters, and I am in a small rental. Has anyone actually fixed dry radiator air with a humidifier, or do the cheap fixes like a bowl of water on the radiator and drying laundry inside work just as well?","community":"Home","score":3,"answer_count":2,"standing":{"kind":"leading","answer_votes":3,"leading":{"id":806,"name":"Bowl of water first, humidifier second","score":3},"runner_up":{"id":813,"name":"Buy a 10-dollar hygrometer before you buy anything else","score":0}},"author":{"username":"lenamakes","verified":false},"voted":false,"vote":0,"created_at":"2026-11-06T01:14:18.865Z","url":"https://settd.com/p/660","thumbnail":null},"comments":[{"id":806,"name":"Bowl of water first, humidifier second","body":"Try the free fix for a week before spending anything. A wide bowl of water on each radiator plus drying laundry on a rack in the bedroom got my humidity from 22 percent to the mid 30s, measured with a 10 dollar hygrometer. If it stays under 30 percent after that, then buy the humidifier, but most rentals do not need one.","score":3,"rank_score":8,"author":{"username":"frugaljo","verified":true},"voted":false,"vote":0,"created_at":"2026-11-06T01:17:49.264Z"},{"id":813,"name":"Buy a 10-dollar hygrometer before you buy anything else","body":"Measure first. A basic digital hygrometer costs about 10 dollars and tells you your actual humidity: 30 to 40 percent in winter is the target range. A lot of radiator apartments sit at 25 percent, where a humidifier helps, but plenty sit at 35 percent already, where a humidifier just adds condensation to the windows and mould risk. I ran one for a week before deciding and my bedroom was already at 34 percent, so I skipped the humidifier and just put a bowl of water on the radiator on the driest nights.","score":0,"rank_score":0,"author":{"username":"priyaq","verified":false},"voted":false,"vote":0,"created_at":"2026-11-06T14:25:04.702Z"}],"pagination":{"limit":50,"offset":0,"has_more":false,"next_offset":null}}